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.
 | IMG_7661S.JPG (1280 x 960 - 204K) |
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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 | IMG_7669S.JPG (1280 x 960 - 182K) |
Temple at the summer palace
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 | IMG_7683S.JPG (1280 x 960 - 210K) |
View of the temple from the lake.
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 | IMG_9129S.JPG (1280 x 960 - 179K) |
Tibetan temple in Beijing, next to a very tall Buddha I wasn't allowed to photograph.
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 | (1280 x 853 - 107K) |
Buildings along the lake at summer palace, with temple in background
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 | (1280 x 853 - 88K) |
Boats ply the lake at the summer palace
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 | (1280 x 853 - 121K) |
The marble boat, a boondoggle of the Empress Dowager at the summer palace
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 | (1280 x 853 - 104K) |
We're trapped at the Cloisonee factory by the tour company, so I make fun of the sign.
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 | (1280 x 853 - 113K) |
Trapped at the Cloisonee factory, I watch them paint it
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 | (1280 x 853 - 118K) |
The restaurant that claims to have originated the Beijing Duck has its ducks in a row. It was good duck.
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 | (1280 x 853 - 145K) |
A main pedestrian plaza in downtown Beijing after dark
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 | (1280 x 853 - 132K) |
The night market in Beijing, with stalls selling all sorts of foods and the usual trinkets.
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 | (1280 x 853 - 160K) |
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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 | (1280 x 853 - 107K) |
A shot of bicycle commute, south of downtown at 6pm
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 | (1280 x 853 - 136K) |
Another shot of the bustle and bicycle commute of Beijing.
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 | (1280 x 853 - 105K) |
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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 | (691 x 1024 - 44K) |
Pillar in the center of Tien An Men square.
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 | (1280 x 853 - 101K) |
Chinese line up to get into the "Mao"soleum to see Mao's embalmed body.
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 | (1280 x 853 - 99K) |
The told me not to photograph the police in Tien An Men square, so of course I did.
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 | (1280 x 853 - 104K) |
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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 | (1280 x 853 - 158K) |
Incense burns at Tibetan temple. Nonetheless, it is not advised to shout "Long live the Dalai Lama" here.
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 | (1280 x 853 - 183K) |
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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