Beijing - Day 1

My first impression upon arriving in China was the automobile traffic. Beijing has a population of 13 million people and 3 million private cars. When I was here in 1980, we saw a lot of truck traffic, but very few private cars. Now it looks just like L.A.

My second impression was the air pollution. China has a very rapidly expanding economy and they are burning a lot of coal to generate the electricity needed; this, coupled with a lack of emission controls, leads to smoggy air and hazy views.
 

Despite the heavy automobile traffic, we saw a lot of bicycle traffic, with large parking areas for bicycles near subway stations. In this picture the bicyclists are in a dedicated bicycle lane, but we also saw them intermingled with traffic, as well, and not one of them wearing a bicycle helmet.
 

Our first tour stop was Tiananmen Square, the largest public square in the world. It is dominated by Chairman Mao's mausoleum (shown here) at one end and the entrance to the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City) at the other end.
 

Beijing will host the 2008 Olympics, so a lot of construction (stadiums, new athletic facilities, housing, expressways, subways, etc.) are being built in preparation for it. This sign shows a countdown, 415 days, to the start of the Olympics. They will open on 8/8/2008; the number "eight" is considered a lucky number in China.
 

The four intrepid travelers in the Forbidden City; this huge pot was used to hold water for firefighting. At one time the palace had 308 of these pots, although only a few were gilded like this one.
 

Next on our agenda was a rickshaw ride through a hutong, which is an old Chinese neighborhood. The rickshaws are now pedal-powered bicycles (actually tricycles), rather than being powered by a walking person.
 

The streets of the hutong were narrow and pedestrians, rickshaws, bicycles, and cars were going every which way. Our ride took us to lunch in a home and to a kindergarten.
 

The kindergarten we visited was a private school and had children from about 3 years old up to six years old. The class we visited was just coming in for a snack. The school must get a lot of tour groups since the kids were not surprised to see all these westerners. They were friendly to us and would come up and shake our hands.
 

Two of the kids enjoying their watermelon. The kid on the left kept giving this V for victory sign. How can you resist those big eyes?

Sylvia is demonstrating her skill with chopsticks, although they also gave us forks and every restaurant we have been to so far. Picking up slippery food with chopsticks is not so easy; Sylvia is doing pretty good here.  Our tables were generally a mess by the time we were done, though. Our dinner that night was a special dinner - Peking duck; it was very good.