The Winter Games are over in South Korea but will restart in China in 2022. With the past Summer Games of 2008 and now the Winter coming up, there has been a resurgence of visitors to the area. Most expect this to increase over the next few years, so if you want to get ahead of the crowd, now is the time to plan your trip.
Herb and Jackie of Del Webb took what they described as “an awesome trip to China in October for 15 days.” They gave such an excellent analysis of their trip, and most of the story is in their own words.
“It was an exciting trip to see many unusual sites and excursions.”
Immediate impression: “what a different country than the United States! Very clean, everyone we saw had jobs, every city had tons of bicycles, motorbikes, cars, and buses. You took your life into your own hands trying to walk across the street – pedestrians do not have the right of way! Oh, I forgot to mention the mass amount of Chinese people everywhere!”
The Great Wall of China. (Photos provided)
China is the most populous country in the world, just barely ahead of India with over four and a half times the population of the United States. Both countries, US and China, are approximately the same size, so imagine the US with 4X the number of people! Think commuting in Chicago is bad now?
Their first excursion in Beijing, the Temple of Heaven from the Ming Dynasty where emperors prayed and paid homage to heaven. The Ming Dynasty lasted 276 years from 1368 to 1644. Next stop, the 2008 Beijing Olympics site; a major jump forward in time. Afterward, they visited a beautiful, huge jade shop. They had never seen so much jade and in such a variety of different colors!
And what would the visit be without a stop they were really looking forward to – The Great Wall of China! What a site to see! They had two and a half hours to explore it. Well, of course, Herb and I wanted to climb the Wall for as high as we could go. Steps upon steps straight up on an unbelievable amount of stairs! We made it to the top of the section! And, at the top, what a surprise: a gift shop, and I bought myself a T-shirt that read – “I climbed the Great Wall of China.” Boy, were we tired that night!
The next day they went to the largest public plaza in the world, Tiananmen Square, also built during the Ming Dynasty. Thousands of people were there, so you had to make sure you stayed with your group or you could get lost! Then on to the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. This walled complex was once the residence of Chinese emperors. It consisted of 800 buildings and 9,000 rooms. Needless to say, you had better keep up with the group!
The city of Xian features a collection of life-size statues called Terracotta Warriors, which were excavated from a farmer’s field in 1974.
Because China is so large, their next stop required them to fly to Xian, the ancient capital of eleven dynasties. Upon arrival, they went to a museum with artifacts, treasures and murals depicting life in ancient China dating back to the Han (206 BC–220 AD) and Tang Dynasties (618 to 907). A lot of history. That evening, to their delight, they had a 20-variety dumpling dinner.
China’s city parks are wonderful. We visited Xingqing Park, which is located in the center of Xian. Herb and I participated in the morning dance exercise with the older citizens of the town. We had a lot of fun and the people enjoyed us being participants.
In the city of Xian, we visit the archaeological site of the magnificent Terracotta Warriors, a vast collection of life-size soldiers, horses, and chariots that were entombed with China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. In 1974, local farmers discovered them and they are still being excavated today. Each soldier’s face is unique and supposedly modeled after actual people.
We leave Xian and fly to Chengdu. In the morning it’s off to see the famous stone Buddha. It stands 230 feet high and dates back to 713 AD. A boat takes us to the impressive, larger than life statue carved into a cliff face along the river.
This next stop is the reason Jackie took this trip! We traveled to the Chengdu Panda Research Center. Pandas are an endangered species and this is the largest panda breeding facility in the world. At this time, it has 80 giant pandas and a nursery for the baby pandas. In addition to the familiar black and white pandas, there are also red pandas, which look more like a red fox.
After the preserve, there was a 5-hour bus ride from Chengdu to Chongqing for a 3-day river cruise on the Yangtze River and through the three gorges. From Chongqing, the ship sails to Shibaozhai to visit a 12-story pagoda built into the side of a cliff face. It rises almost 100 feet high and was constructed without any nails during the Ming Dynasty.
Their last inter-China flight was to Shanghai. First stop upon arrival, the Yuyuan Garden built during the Ming Dynasty with beautiful pagodas, lakes, and pavilions. Next, the Jade Buddha Temple built during the Qing Dynasty to enshrine two beautiful jade Buddha statues. Shanghai is the most populous city in the world, with a population of more than 24 million, but a very modern city with beautiful new buildings on one side of the river and the older buildings on the other side of the river. Beautiful flowerbeds line the river walkway.
On our last night in Shanghai, we were taken to the Shanghai Circus Acrobatic Show. The show was amazing. The next day we left Shanghai to return home to Chicago on a 13-hour flight.
We were exhausted for about a week or so after we got back.
We hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we did. Now it’s on to our next adventure!
