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I flew into Hong Kong and stayed there for a day on my own before meeting up with Steve Reynolds and his wife Susan (he organized this trip), and we flew into China. We started in Guilin by taking a cruise on the Li River. The hills in the region have been inspiration to many Chinese poets, writers, and artists. We also went caving at the Reed Flute cave which reminded me very much of many of the caves I have visited in the US. After enjoying a dance show, in the evening we got a good nights sleep and headed for Beijing the next morning.
We saw bikes in the country but in the city, it was amazing to see the fluid flow of bicycles around cars and buses turning through the bike lanes. upon our arrival we were shuttled to a park in the city where the royal palace once stood in the days of Kubla Khan. I walked in the same place where very likely, Khan greeted Marco Polo at the end of his long journey. We saw all the sites in Beijing, Tien Anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Ming Tombs, and the Badaling
section of the Great Wall. We also went to the zoo and saw a panda, and drove by an ancient tower which looked very much like an observatory. Next we went to Xian to see the Terra Cotta Army used in the grand funeral of the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Wang. It seems that since the Emperor owned the army, he wanted to be buried with his army, but instead of killing all the soldiers, clay copies were made of all the soldiers and they were sent into the afterlife with the Emperor to fight
his battles there. The large picture was taken off the web since we couldn't take pictures in the large building which is shielding the continuing excavation from the weather. We also went to see the Banpo Village which is dated back to 6000 BC. We attended our conference and on our day off insted of touring the places we had seen already with our tour, we decided to go exploring. We got to see the Tomb of Princess Yongtai who was supposedly poisoned by a very jealous Empress. We also saw several other tombs and a museum of the tricolored painted pottery found in some of the tombs we visited. We also got to see a farming commune and went into someone's house to see how the family lived. We also visited a school there and were serenaded by the children. We had great food throughout the trip!!

After a 10 day conference in Xian, there were several organized trips out to various places within China. I went to Dunhuang. We flew into Jiayuguan and saw the far western end of the great wall which is very different in character and not as wide as the Badaling section. There is a large fort built protecting the valley below the Jiayuguan Pass. In fact, the Dunhuang airport was not in service and so we had to travel by bus from Jiayuguan to Dunhuang. There we saw the Mogao Grottos but not the Anxi Yulin Grottos which are being renovated. We also saw the cresent lake near HUGE sand dunes just outside Dunhuang. This was my first taste of a REAL sand desert without vegetation and moving sand dunes. We walked to the top of a mountin of sand which was like scree, three steps up and two back. Several people in our party parasailed off the top for roughly $20 each trip. We also visited an underground gallery of paintings in the graves of some farmers from the Wei and Jin periods (220-420 AD). It is clear that the graves were robbed many times over the centuries but the paintings remained. After returning to Xian, Steve Reynolds and I continued our trip itinerary by flying to Guanzhou where we spent the day at Cheng's College which has been turned into a museum of sorts with small shops where one can buy hand carved bone, ivory and jade items. Then we went to the Yuexlu Park where we saw the Five Goat Statue, and other lovely scenic statues and plants. Finally we went to the Dr. Sun Yixian Memorial Hall where many concerts and events are held. We also toured the markets where one can buy anything you could think of to eat. That evening just before sunset, we were put on the train which would take us in to Hong Kong where we would catch our flights home. The most memorable images I have are of the people walking home from the farm fields along the train tracks and after sunset we passed by a small shack which looked like a small one room house. It was in the middle of several farm fields. I could see about 15 faces in a very dim light all sitting together outside on the porch. As we passed by I could see that they were all crowded around a small TV.