Monthly Archives: July 2010

I’ve been home for over a week now, but it has taken time to process everything – and to recover from the jetlag. Because of layovers it took 30 hours (all wrapped into one never ending day) to get home. … Continue reading →

I’m enchanted by Shanghai. I knew I would be impressed by the city, but it is truly mesmerizing. The skyline is like nothing I’ve ever seen. The towering skyscrapers are beyond compare. The word Shanghai brings to mind a lot … Continue reading →

As part of our tour of the city, we visited the Nanjing #1 High School. It is the top school of the city. Only students with the best scores are admitted. Although it is technically a public school, students in … Continue reading →

Anyone who has studied Chinese history is very familiar with the civil service examinations. In order to obtain any position with the government, one had to pass the civil service exams, which tested one’s knowledge of the Confucian classics. There … Continue reading →

Last night we took a flight out of Xi’an and arrived in Nanjing. We arrived too late to see anything last night, but we started our tour of the city this morning. Nanjing is an ancient city, but it is especially important … Continue reading →

Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter During the era of the silk road, Muslim traders settled in a section of Xi’an. Their descendents are still there, living in their own section of town. They consider themselves to be Chinese, but they have maintained … Continue reading →

Wild Goose Pagoda There is a misconception in history that ancient China was closed off to outside ideas. China imported many ideas from the Middle East and, most importantly, Buddhism from India. It traveled to China from India, and became … Continue reading →

This one is for the history teachers… In the US we put a lot of emphasis on the Han Dynasty. Textbooks say it was the most important because it lasted the longest and, as westerners, we see parallels with the Roman … Continue reading →

Most visitors come to Xi’an because it the site of the famous terra cotta warriors, the tomb of the Emperor Qin Shihuang, the man who unified China. As the emperor who unified the 6 kingdoms to create China, he had … Continue reading →

We flew from the modern metropolis of Beijing to the ancient capital of Xi’an. This is where China began. The Qin (pronounced “Chin” as in “China”) Emperor conquered the surrounding kingdoms, uniting them together as the Qin Empire. He is … Continue reading →