My Travels...  Faraway... Home is so faraway...
Xi' An... China's Past Beijing... China's Modern Shanghai... China's Future
So Far...
2nd November arrive in Shanghai
6th-7th November Hangzhou
Heading to Wuxi in two days
Heading to Beijing next week
Heading out west following
Contact:
Finally got a working cell phone...
To reach me in China..
Phone Number: 15900578087
(Use China Area Code First)
SHANGHAI
The modern city of China located in the center eastern coast. Shanghai served as a port city during the 1800s through 1900s; and thus has huge amounts of foreign influence. The city itself has had so many changes that has made it a bit different to its counter cities, more about materialism and wealth. Is western influence good?... Has it lost its culture?... 
Shanghai Night.. Airport heading to home... 
Shanghai Daytime The Bund and across the harbor... 
Mahagony shot of Nanjing Road (Huge shopping district)...
My great great grandfather's and grandmother's grave stones...
Shanghai Train Station heading to Hangzhou... (2 hour trip) I saw this in an architecture magazine feature..
 HANGZHOU
As one of the most renowned and prosperous cities of China for much of the last 1000 years, Hangzhou served as the capital of China during the Song Dynasty. It is located in northern Zhejiang province, eastern China, at the southern end of the Grand Canal of China. During the Song Dynasty the Emperor made many extravagant gardens in the area. 
Hangzhou is a considerably smaller city than Shanghai... Labor here is still like this in many parts of China..
Taxi Ride...
Me and my Grandfather.. Entrance to the Imperial Gardens...
 I am probably going to get a lot of shit for this picture... Me in a Comme' outfit picture...
TAIWAN #1 STILL!!!
Mountain Gardens... 
Mountain Tea House... That's a huge tea kettle... Coke Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm.... 
The lake located in the Imperial Gardens...
Imperial Gardens...
 Yufei's House.. Song's Great General
Statues of those that betrayed Yufei...
 I am now in butt fuck nowhere... The rural country side...
Hangzhou Song Dynasty... I wish I was that tall...
 XK China... New Chapter!... 
Waterfall in the Gardens... 
The Buddhist Temple of Hangzhou (NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED WITHIN TEMPLE)... Muhaha 
100 Monks in Gold...
These are kinda scary... They are HUGE too...
Pagodas and Urns (Sunset on the Temple)... 
Ooops... I'm especially not supposed to take this picture... Don't be fooled... this Buddha is HUGE and covered with gold... about 60 ft tall... 
All gold plated and wood carved.. the Woman Goddess.. there are a total of a 1000 heads and hands... 
This is the nastiest fucking toilet I have ever seen... And remakably this is what mostly all of the toilets look like.
Lucky I have a sitting toilet at Shanghai home... 
NO TOILET PAPER INCLUDED... You have to buy it and carry it around in China. Hello In Hangzhou... I'm bored... There's so many different kinds of beers here... but I miss beers I drink in America... 
Sunrise in the Modern City...
Sunset in the Old China...
Hangzhou Sunset... I leave Hangzhou with the sun setting and it is weird but there is some kind of peace, some kind of appreciation, some kind of mysterious power that is still here that has lasted for some hundred years. Here the city and the gardens merge together and the rural country becomes quiet and tranquil... perhaps it is the tea, or the people, or the incense... but one thing is true, it is intoxicating. I hear different stories of Tibet, Taiwan, and China's last 100 years of history from local people... who's to say they are wrong or we are right? Maybe it doesn't matter... because governments mean nothing... it's the people. After all, China's history began with the Han people and the first emperor... that some must give for the betterment of the Guo (Nation)... Back to Shanghai... BACK TO SHANGHAI The old shopping district of Shanghai... 
I don't know who this couple is... they just got into my picture... 
November 11, heading on a train to my Grandfather's Home Town... Wuxi... Wuxi Wuxi was founded 3000 years ago by two fugitive princes from northern China, who called the area Mei. Because of the tin deposits that ... Despite its location on the Grand Canal, Wuxi did not prosper as much as neighbouring cities. ... This place is the birthplace of my Grandfather... 
Family Picture at harbor gates to gardens...
This huge lock is located the shoreline opposite of the harbor... Couples purchase couple locks and lock them here... 
Sunset leaving the gardens on boat... 
Back to Shanghai... and then up North to Beijing...
BEIJING The capital of China, in the northeast part of the country. Founded c. 700 B.C., it served as Kublai Khan's capital (13th century) and the capital of China (1421–1911; 1949–). It is a major commercial and industrial center and the political, educational, and cultural center of the country. The municipality is bordered by Hebei province and Tianjin municipality and has an area of 6,500 sq mi (16,800 sq km). Lying on a broad plain in northeastern China, the city has been settled since ancient times and has been known by various names. It became the royal residence of Kublai Khan, who in 1272 named it Dadu. It was chosen as the capital of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) in 1421, which it remained during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911/12). 
Arrival in Beijing Train Station... outside facade... 
Modern Architecture in Beijing... 
Back entrance to the Forbidden City... Me, My Grandfather, My Great Aunt... 
The Temple of Heaven... 
My Uncle taking a picture of me taking a picture.. . The Throne of the Emperor... a total of sixteen emperors sat here... 
The huge marble Staircase leading to the Heavenly Palace... 
Entrance gates leading to Forbidden City... and behind me... Tiananmen Square... 
Tiananmen Square... 
The Underground Palace and burial place of some Ming Emperors... Entrance was originally sealed off... 
Emperor's marble throne... 
The Emperor's Tomb and the Tombs of his concubines... 
Bricks outside comprising of the top palace... If you look closesly a name is inscribed on each brick... If the bricks broke.. the later Emperors could seek justice on the whole family name...
 The Summer Palace of the Emperor, created in the Ming and Qing Dynasty... 
The Great Wall... 
Beijing Airport and Train Station... 
Beijing... 2008 Olympics... the feel here is so different then Shanghai.. some kind of center of power... some kind of authoritarian feel... A center for power for more than 1000 years... even the city planning focuses itself inwards... a reminder that this place lasted as the center of heaven for so many dynasties... And now... I take a train.. I follow the Great Wall and Silk Road to far out west... And this is when I do not know where the fcuk I am... OUT WEST No cowboys here... Very VERY few foreigners... 
I am tired from traveling so much... farms... 
Windmills... 
Desert... 
Urumqi... 
My travels so far... 
The travel has been long, tiring, and cold... It is peaceful here and very quiet... I feel like I am in a different world... somewhere China... but not China as well... Peace... Tranquility... for now I head to the old city of China... Xi'an. Xi'An Xi'an, capital of the Chinese Empire for almost a thousand years, was one of the world's great metropolises, rivaling and even surpassing its contemporaries: Baghdad, Constantinople, and Rome. It is also one of China's oldest settlements. At Ban Po, just east of the modern town, remains of a Neolithic village have been found. As one of the six ancient capitals in China, Xi’an served as the seat of 12 imperial capitals for 1,120 years after Chinese society had entered the civilized stage. Now as the capital of Shaanxi Province, Xi’an is the largest city in Northwest China with a population of 5.8 million, including 2.3 million in its urban districts. Such a history has made Xi’an a world-famous touristy city, a treasure house of cultural relics. The remains of past civilizations furnish evidence of every major epoch in China’s half a million history, making for a particularly illustrative textbook of Chinese culture. The history apparent in Xi’an is so ancient and continuous that the city has no parallel anywhere as a cultural site. 
The first unified Emperor of China, the Qin Dynasty... in his death he built a huge army to take with him to the afterlife...The Teracotta Army... 
Temples within the city of Xi'an... 
Xi'an Airport...  I'm so tired from traveling so much... Back to Shanghai for now... TIBET Region in Central Asia and the home of the Tibetan people. With an average elevation of 4,900 m (16,000 ft), it is often called the "Roof of the World". When the Government of Tibet in Exile and the Tibetan refugee community worldwide refer to Tibet, they mean a large area that formed the cultural entity of Tibet for many centuries, consisting of the traditional provinces of Amdo, Kham (Khams), and Ü-Tsang (Dbus-gtsang), but excluding areas outside the People's Republic of China (PRC) like Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Bhutan, and Ladakh that have also formed part of the Tibetan cultural sphere. When the People's Republic of China refers to Tibet, it means the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR): a province-level entity which, according to the territorial claims of the PRC, includes Arunachal Pradesh (presently under the administration of India). India considers Arunachal Pradesh as its integral part. Sikkim, Bhutan, and Ladakh may also be considered to be parts of cultural Greater Tibet in addition to Amdo, Kham, and Ü-Tsang. The TAR covers the Dalai Lama's former domain consisting of Ü-Tsang and western Kham, while Amdo and eastern Kham are now found within the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, and Sichuan. The difference in definition is a major sticking point in the dispute. The distribution of Amdo and eastern Kham into surrounding provinces was initiated by the Yongzheng Emperor during the eighteenth century and has been continuously maintained by successive Chinese governments. Tibetan exiles, in turn, consider the maintenance of this arrangement since the eighteenth century as part of a divide-and-rule policy. 
Fly and then Ride Train in... Listen to the music... but forget the words... your words can mean your life here... 
Potala Palace... Homes of the late Dalia Llamas... 
Beatiful is all I can say... Intimate... Religious... Nothing I can say that will give the feel... Even in the manner the country is in now... To Shanghai... Deja Vu... The City of Lights 
Lesson Learned...
I miss Soju... | 
QingTian85