The capital of china is dry, with wide streets and many highly modern
sections meant to be a showpiece of China. It features the giant
Tien An Men square and Forbidden City, plus much else. People from Shanghai
seem to hate Beijing and vice versa in a New York vs. L.A. rivalry. Shanghai
is all bustle and humidity, Beijing more repressed due to the presence of
the totalitarian government.
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The roof of the pathway in the summer palace has paintings of all the places the emperor would visit. He took painters along, an ancient version of the snapshot
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Temple at the summer palace
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View of the temple from the lake.
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Tibetan temple in Beijing, next to a very tall Buddha I wasn't allowed to photograph.
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Buildings along the lake at summer palace, with temple in background
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Boats ply the lake at the summer palace
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The marble boat, a boondoggle of the Empress Dowager at the summer palace
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We're trapped at the Cloisonee factory by the tour company, so I make fun of the sign.
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Trapped at the Cloisonee factory, I watch them paint it
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The restaurant that claims to have originated the Beijing Duck has its ducks in a row. It was good duck.
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A main pedestrian plaza in downtown Beijing after dark
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The night market in Beijing, with stalls selling all sorts of foods and the usual trinkets.
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Is it just for the tourists? Stall in the night market sells grasshopper, scorpion and other bugs on a stick. Tasty and expeditious.
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A shot of bicycle commute, south of downtown at 6pm
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Another shot of the bustle and bicycle commute of Beijing.
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They paint the faces of the actors for the Beijing opera. We skipped the opera, which deliberately sounds shrill, to tour the town at night.
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Pillar in the center of Tien An Men square.
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Chinese line up to get into the "Mao"soleum to see Mao's embalmed body.
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The told me not to photograph the police in Tien An Men square, so of course I did.
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Surveillance truck in Tien An Men. I pretend to be photographing K. with long lens. Notice their camera is pointing right back at me. I hope they have a good picture of me.
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Incense burns at Tibetan temple. Nonetheless, it is not advised to shout "Long live the Dalai Lama" here.
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K. browses the Silk Alley, home of tons of fake name-brand products at 10% of the price. The WTO wants it closed.
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