Beijing Day 2

Tienanmen Square

Tienanmen Square!

Inside the Forbidden City

Inside the Forbidden City (this is where the emperor and all this family resided. He had some 3,000 wives, so likely there were close to 15,000 wives and children living here! Fasinating!)

Inside the Forbidden City--even in frigid temps visitors swarm to this historical site.

This morning we went to a christian worship service for foreigners. It was very much like the "contemporary" services back home. Our guide also gave us some information about religions in China. There are 5 legal religions in China: Taoism (natural order of the universe), Buddhism (which has been in China for 2000 years), Islam (which you find mainly in western china), Catholic (has been in China since the 16th century), and christian. (Don't you find it interesting that they consider Catholics and Christianity to be separate?) 80% of chinese have no religion, but they do have two philosophies-Taoism and Confucianism. Taoism is a balance between humans and nature. Confucianism is finding balance between human nature and society. Our guide says that anyone in China, except for the military, may choose a religion. She says things are much better today. She can remember as a little girl you could not even speak about religion, but now you can have a religion.

This afternoon we went to Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City. I didn't find the Square as impressive as the Chinese find it. It is just a big open space that holds 500,000 people. It was guarded alot like the White House-but we have more security in DC than they did. In no way did I feel "uncomfortable". Now the Forbidden City was overwhelming! Just like everything else here in Beijing, it was HUGE and just kept going and going. The pictures will not do it justice! It was well worth being in frigid temperatures to see. Infact, it was when we were leaving the Forbidden City that it hit me-"I am in China"! I am no longer looking at pictures-I am actually here!
We have spent the last two days getting to know the other families and have enjoyed each minute. Most of us will be adopting children around the age of 2, and two families will be adopting 7 year olds. They are all wonderful and supportive people. We will miss them the next 5 days. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we will fly out the Jiangsu Province to meet our Natalie. I wonder what she is like? Tomorrow Brad and I will be parents-I wonder how we will handle it?