First Day in Beijing

Summer Palace. A place for the emperor's family to get out of the city--they made a man made lake.

Summer Palace, it's a beautiful retreat for the mperor!

We don't know wwhat the name of this bird is--but our guide tells us it means good luck!

Summer Palace-emperor's home.

Great Wall! Unfortunately I got sick so we couldn't climb and had to take a cab back to the hotel. But it was an amazing sight indeed. VERY, VERY COLD!

A view of the Great Wall of China/

Today we went to the Emperor's Summer Palace, the Jade Factory and The Great Wall. The temperature was 32 degrees, but the wind chill had to be in the negative digits-it was COLD. We got to see more of Beijing as we traveled and the city just never seems to end. It is positively, absolutely HUGE!
We learned several things about China from our tour guide. There are 56 nationalities (55 of those being minorities). Their most important symbol, the one we see at the Chinese restaurants during the Chinese new year, means happiness. If they have clothes to wear, a roof over their heads, food to eat, family and work, then they are happy. Their favorite color is red-for example their national flag is red. The color red has a dual meaning. One, they believe the color red scares off evil spirits, and two, red stands for happiness/good luck. You see red everywhere you go. All the electric signs in "Beijing" are in red. Brides wear red on their wedding day. The family name is the most important name and always comes first. Wives do not take their husbands name, because it is more important to honor their family. In other words, if we did the same thing, I would be referred to as Rohrer, Ann Elizabeth. Jade is considered to be more precious than diamonds and gold. It is "shiny", it is hard but yet can be shaped. These characteristics represent the Chinese people and how they view themselves.
On adoption: It has only been within the last 20 years that the Chinese government began to allow foreigners to adopt their children. Up until that time they felt that the children would have been abandoned twice. First by their parents and then by their government. They slowly began to change their view and recognized that the most important thing for their children was to give them parents and a family. Everyone who has asked us why we visit China are so excited to know that one of their children will be getting a family very soon! As Americans we could learn from this attitude!