北京, China

.. Beijing - the heart of Asia

for me is beijing IS asia!!


it's the capital of the people's republic of china, and it's one of the most populous cities in the world. it has many times more people than in my whole country, and the differencs don't stop here.


but beijing has everything; a lot of history, exciting culture, beautiful sights, wonderful archtecture, impressive art, great shopping (yes, my suitcase was very full), tasteful food (i even tried snake but skipped the fish's eye), too much people/cars/ bikes, too much pollution.. but i really enjoyed china a lot.


here are some choosen photos from my trip in 2005:

i just love these beautiful flowers - in the forbidden city

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the summer palace
 颐和园 ,
- a variety of palaces, gardens, and other classical-style architectural structures.


it's included in unesco world heritage list:
"a masterpiece of chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value."

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the temple of heaven,
 天坛 also on unesco's list
the complex was visited by the emperors of the ming and qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to heaven for good harvest.

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great wall of china 万里长城


 originally built to protect the northern borders of the chinese empire against intrusions.
i climed only a little bit of the 8851,5 km - it was impressive, but also a sad to think about all the people who died while they were building it.

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the forbidden city 紫禁城
another impressive place
is the world's largest surviving palace complex built in 1406 to 1420. it's 961 metres x 753 metres, it has 980 buildings with 9,999 rooms (one less than in heaven), gardens. it has been the home for 24 emperors.
the palace complex exemplifies traditional chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in east asia and elsewhere.
is listed by unesco as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.


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tea house - tea, tea & more tea!
here did i experience the long tea ceremoneies and tea tasting

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beijing had a lot of culture to offer too

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chinese food is not only very tasteful, but also a little masterpice.

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one thing i didn't like about beijing:
all the pollution
this is taken on a "sunny day".. no clouds here!
my white topp turned grey during a day!

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i was so luck to visit some school, of course only a-key schools which are the best. this was a primary school and as a teacher i took some of the pedagogic with me home to norway! ;)

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another a-key school, and this is a physic lesson on a high school. very modern, but almost none could speak english! being a student in china means very long days,learning by heart, study hard.. only a few percent are accepted to universty!

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                                                 ♥ renie/ 雷娜特