1. Modern China July,2004 NCTA Study Tour

2. Aerial view of the Forbidden City

3. The Imperial Summer Palace

4. Beijing license plate

5. Chinese graffiti on the Great Wall

6. Note the air quality issues !

7. A night shopping area in Beijing

8. Wanfujing – a pedestrian area

9. A very busy night spot.

10. Mao Zedong’s portrait

11. Hutong Tour in Beijing

12. The Chinese government is busy removing Hutong’s before the Summer 2008 Olympics come to Beijing. They are going to be a way of life from the past. They are crowded but offered a unique type of urban life.

13. Hutong bedroom

14. Small streets and houses

15. A memorial to Red Guards in the Hutong neighborhood

16. Narrow streets & rainy weather

17. Hutong area from above

18. Beijing Drum Tower

19. Climbing up to the tower area.

20. Drums told the time for half the day.

21. Drums

22. Small houses without sanitation.

23. A pedicab we took on a tour of the Hutongs.

24. Prince Gong’s Mansion

25. Prince Gong was a bureaucrat who built several lovely homes for himself. Eventually he was charged, tried and executed for dishonesty.

26. Lovely painting under the roof

27. His fish pond and pavilion

28. The tea room area.

29. A restaurant with Qing greeters

30. A throne fit for an emperor

31. How a lady would have traveled.

32. A lovely picnic spot.

33. Beauty all around you.

34. A lily

35. Typical appetizers.

36. Dumplings shaped like many things. What you select tells something about you.

37. Our sleeper car to X’ian

38. Our Qing hostess

39. Terrace Farming from the train to X’ian

40. Chang’an, the start of the Silk Roads

41. A walled city with an existing moat. Notice the air quality!

42. A coal fired electric plant

43. More than 1 million people live in caves because they are energy efficient.

44. Old & new. Everywhere you look there are construction cranes !

45. This is a memorial for the dead.

46. A large display of some Chinese gods

47. Chengdu, western China

48. Even in western China !

49. A busy street in Chengdu

50. A rural home outside Chengdu

51. Farmers going home across a board walkway

52. A pre-school in Chengdu

53. Nanjing license plate

54. YANGTZE River Bridge capitalism meets communism

55. A shipyard on the Yangtze

56. Lots of river traffic

57. Construction everywhere

58. Few cars but this is changing fast !

59. Small & narrow streets

60. Nanjing street scene

61. The Grand Canal from the train.

63. Shanghai

64. The Chinese government is working hard to make Shanghai the financial center of all of Asia. They have spent a lot of money and time meticulously planning every aspect of its development at their Urban Planning Center. All housing, arterial roads, business areas, sports centers are placed carefully on a huge map.It was incredible to see their plan being built and well into construction.

65. Shanghai Urban Planning Centre

66. Origin of the Chinese Communist Party

67. Deng Xiaoping

68. You can find Starbucks everywhere.

69. Bamboo scaffolding

70. Drying laundry

71. Jin Mao Tower

72. We spent about 1 ½ hours talking to an architect involved in building Jin Mao Tower. The design comes from a Chinese pagoda. Feng Shui was incorporated into the design and landscaping. It is one of the 10 tallest buildings on Earth.

73. Inside Jin Mao Tower

74. The ladies room mirrors

75. View from the observation deck of Jin Mao Tower.

76. Shanghai license plate

77. Typical apartments

78. Notice the air quality !

79. A typical small store

80. Ads are universal

81. Pepsi in the south

82. Regular transportation

83. The old and the new

84. The river in smog

85. Hong Kong

86. Actual blue sky !!!

87. Hong Kong by sunset light

88. I traveled across China for 3 weeks, visiting 9 cities. There were very few bright and sunny days. The air quality across China was generally poor except right after a heavy rain when the air was washed clean of all the smog. I was grateful for the rain so I could breathe more easily.