People speak the Beijing Dialect which belongs to the Mandarin subdivision of Chinese One of the four Ancient Capitals of China

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Pearl Hoover
6 years ago
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1 China Trip Notes Beijing Facts: Also known as Peking Located in Northern China Is a major transportation hub with dozens of roads and railways The city alone has nearly 9 million people People speak the Beijing Dialect which belongs to the Mandarin subdivision of Chinese One of the four Ancient Capitals of China Day one: Beijing Hosted 2008 Olympics Go to the birds nest Also known as The National Stadium Cost $423 million to build and took 5 years to complete Contemporary significance, not only held the 2008 summer Olympics, Paralympics. Has not had a significant event since the Olympics besides the Italian super cup and the opera of Turandot. The choice of china to host the Olympics was criticized by some because there were concerns about china s record on human rights on things like capital punishment, onechild policy, lack of freedom of the press and religion, along with a lack of labor rights My next stop was the Great Wall of China This has both Geographical an historical significance, because it was built to keep the Chinese isolated from the rest of the world and for protection from the Huns. The great wall is 5,500 miles long, and was built mostly by the Ming dynasty. The entire wall took 2000 years to build. The Chinese started building in 221 B.C, as a series of small walls that were later joined together by the Qing dynasty. One common myth is that the Great Wall can be seen from the moon with the naked eye. This is actually not true. Many astronauts have tried, even from low orbit, but none have actually reported being able to see it. My next stop was the Forbidden city

2 The Forbidden City has great Historical significance to China. The City was built in the early 1500 hundreds for the Ming emperor named Yung Le It was used as the emperor s metropolis. If a regular person were to enter the palace they would be killed immediately, it is one of the most dazzling pieces of architecture in the world. It is repainted every couple years but they do keep some buildings as the originals The complex consists of 980 building with over 8,700 rooms. It took over 15 years to build and took over a million workers to build it. The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 26 foot high wall and a 171 foot wide moat My Last stop in Beijing was the Summer palace This has Geographical significance to China because it stretches for 9.3 miles, and is the largest royal park in China The Summer Palace was constructed by the Jing Dynasty in the year 1750 and started out as the Garden of Ripples originally for the royal families. It was nearly destroyed, then rebuilt in the early 1900s and is now one of the most classical gardens of the world and a popular relaxing spot for tourists. Hangzhou/Suzhou Day two My first stop was the Suzhou silk factory This has Cultural significance, because it is one of the largest silk factories in China, silk is used a lot in China to make textiles and was used as early as 6000 B.C, one of the earliest discoveries of silk in China was made by Xi Ling-Shi when she accidently dropped a silk warm into her hot cup of tea and she observed that there was a thread that could be used to weave. One silk cocoon can produce 1000 meters of silk The Chinese use silk for a many things in their culture, and this is one of the biggest silk factories in all of China. My next stop in Suzhou was the National Embroidery institute

3 This has Cultural significance in China because in this building there are Chinese Craftsmen that make silk Embroideries that express Chinese culture. The only thing that tourist do not realize is that the silk embroideries are extremely expensive. My next stop was The Longjing Green Tea Plantation This is one of the largest tea plantations not just in China but the world. They call their tea emperor tea, or as we would know it, green tea. The tea is treated very well and made by hand so it is one of the most expensive teas one will find. The reason this plantation has cultural significance is that Tea is a very big part of Chinese culture. They believe that it is very good for your health and can even heal the sick. My next stop was West lake in Hangzhou West lake has Geographical significance because of its size. it is over 1,404 acres of water and has become a very big attraction for many people Its depth is surprisingly shallow on average it is only five feet. The lake has five distinct sections; the largest is called the outer lake. There is also the north inner lake, Yuehu Lake, the west inner lake, and the lesser lake. One of the cool features of these lakes is a man made island that has four little pools. at night they light candles jutting out of the water creating the impression of three moons. Shanghai Day three Shanghai Silk Rug Factory This is a factory where a mass amount of rugs are made and it really is an amazing process. They hand weave every single rug, and it can take months to create just one rug. They usually only have one person working on one loom which seems like it would slow the process down. The way that they make the designs on the rugs is the weaver looks at a piece of paper and weaves what they see with silk.

4 After the carpet is done it goes through a process of clipping to give the design more dimensions and make it stand out more. Although these rugs are beautiful they are extremely expensive My next stop in Shanghia was Yu Garden This has Historical significance in china because this garden is over 400 years old It is located in the middle of old town Shanghai it took twenty years for Zheng Yunduan to build and all of his savings; the reason he built it was to please his parents in their old age. The name of the garden translates into peace and comfort. One of the largest private gardens with the old style, it opened to the public in it is a very beautiful place filled with extravagant buildings My last stop in Shanghai was to take a tour of the Maglev Train system The train was first launched in 2003 and has contemporary Government significance because it was built by the Chinese government, at a cost of 1.4 billion dollars. Unlike most trains it doesn t use any wheels. it uses a magnetic cushion between the track and the train. It travels at a top speed of 267 miles per hours. It runs 19 miles going between downtown Shanghai and the airport and has no risk to the people even though there is no driver. Shopping Trip After a day of sight seeing In Shanghai I decided to visit a local market. This outdoor market sold everything from food to fabric. The strangest thing I saw were fighting crickets. In all the craziness of the market all I managed to buy was a deck of cards. The cards cost 50 Chinese Yuan which is about 7 dollars and 60 cents US.

5 Journal Notes: As I Reflected on China s society- I noticed that it is a lot like America there is a large middle class of people the rich live well, but the poor don t live as well,. There are still people begging on the streets Education within china- education in China is taken very seriously and they start as early as four years old. Unlike us they have very long school days. on average kids attend school 8.5 hours a day. but there are some schools that are 12 hours long with five hours of homework. History of the country and religion- I also learned that in it s history, China has had many dynasties and has gone through difficult economic times. Buddhism is the major religion in China, followed by Daoism and Confucianism. Holidays/festivals- the biggest celebrated holiday is the New Year celebration on January 1 st it is celebrated to start out a new year, followed by the spring festival where the Chinese people celebrate to thank God for getting them through the winter and the changing seasons Agriculture, business and industry- is basically the same as America there are similar jobs some more important some less important.

6 They also give the world a huge number of products because they work fast and very cheap The two things I will remember most about my trip to China are its buildings and its people. The architecture is amazing and the people were warm and friendly. Cultural Experience Before heading out for my first day of sight seeing I wanted to take part a truly Chinese cultural experience. I decided try Tai Chi Tai Chi is a Chinese system of slow meditative physical exercise designed for relaxation and balance and health Chinese Tea Ceremony After visiting the plantation, I decided to take part in another cultural experience A Chinese tea ceremony This ceremony focuses on what the tea tastes like, smells like, and how one tea tastes compared to the previous tea I tasted many different kinds of tea.

Standard Objective: To learn that China increased contact with the outside world, but eventually withdrew to isolationism.

Standard Objective: To learn that China increased contact with the outside world, but eventually withdrew to isolationism. Standard 7.3.4: Standard 7.3.4 Objective: To learn that China increased contact with the outside world, but eventually withdrew to isolationism. The Mongol Empire Who were the Mongols? Nomadic peoples