• Сб, 14:38: Xian Day 2 Part 2 - Pagodas, Walls and Kebabs http://t.co/6LyAAjVk

Following our morning at the Terracotta Armies we drove back into the City to visit the Big Goose Pagoda - built in the Tang dynasty this 7 story, square sided tower is within a Buddhist temple that honours the Buddhist  scholar Xuanzang who braved the wilds of western China and the Himalaya to travel to India to collect sutras, scriptures and ( Read more... )

• Чт, 13:58: Xian Day 1.5 - China History 101 Ch 1 and lots of Clay Blokes http://t.co/XEIDHnaw

The next day we flew to Xi’an in Shaanxi province. Xi’an is the ancient of China - called Chang’an - at the time, being the administrative centre for 14 dynasties. From the Zhou (pronounced Jou) Dynasty in ~1100BC to the Tang in the 900AD, Chang’an was the greatest city in China, and for much of that one of the greatest in the world; it was the ( Read more... )

The next morning we took the subway to Yongegong Lama Temple. This is Tibetan Buddhist temple, which is a type of Buddhism very popular in China, but not the main stream type practiced by most Chinese. This temple is one of the most important outside of Tibet itself, has some uniquely Tibetan features about it that set it apart from the typical ( Read more... )

Our second day in Beijing was spent at the main, most famous city sights; the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Temple of Heaven.

Beijing, its name meaning North Capital, is obviously the capital of China, but it has not always been so, and the main form and key components of the city were put in place when the Ming Yongle Emperor Zhu Di ( ( Read more... )

• Tue, 10:05: Beijing Day 3 - To Heaven and back again http://t.co/6DY8uHJg

• Пн, 04:26: I have now uploaded all of my Beijiing Photos! Make sur eyou check the Sub Folders too http://t.co/OVZmelF3

• Сб, 15:47: Beijing Day 2 - Ming Things and a bloody Great Wall. http://t.co/KoIafECT

Today we went to a host of sights North of Beijing; the spirit way, a Ming tomb and of course the Great Wall. We first drove for about an hour an a half from the hubbub of the city to the countryside of apple and peach orchards and fishing farms to our first stop at the spirit way.
This is a long paved avenue that acted as a access route to the Ming ( Read more... )