October 10th - touring more of Beijing and the Great Wall

    The sky is full of more smog than yesterday.  We toured a Jade factory, spending lots of time there so we would spend money.  We complied!  We took pictures of some of the more interesting large pieces.  There are many colors of jade.

table and stools - $68,500 American

$25,800 American.  This is a common dragon for a homeowner to keep near his door (probably not this big or expensive).  Annie told Tom and I that it is said money will come through its mouth.  Since it has no asshole the money will stay in the house!

There were 2 large eagles.  One was $15,000 and one $17,500 U.S.

    Next we visited a cloissone factory and its store.  Beijing is the only place in China where it is made.  We watched craftsmen working with it.  The basic structure of a piece is brass and small strands of wire are added before the cloissone is added.  There were many beautiful pieces. 

    The Great Wall stretches over 4000 miles and was constructed between the 5th century B.C.  and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Empire from attack.  It is estimated that between 2 and 3 million Chinese died during the centuries long construction.  The top of the wall is 3000' above sea level.  We walked on the Badaling section.  I was surprised at the height of the individual steps and had a heck of a time climbing them because my back was bothering me.  I reached as far as I was going to walk and watched a couple and their 12-13 month old girl reach that spot.  The baby started crying and twirled around so quickly that I gasped, afraid she was going to roll down the steps.  They moved her and she did it again.  Suddenly mom picked her up and held her out over one of the "holes" in the wall!  I thought, good grief, please don't let her drop her.  We were high enough that she would have been hurt badly.  The child quit crying and I saw pee coming from the slit in her pants.  Had I heard a whistle I would have known what was going to happen!
    There are some shops and a tearoom across from the Wall, none of which was there in 1972.  We bought ""I walked the Wall" t-shirts and a neat teacup.  (Tom's shirt was mismarked and will barely fit me.  That size was hanging up, but we didn't remove ours from the bag).  We drove away from the Wall on the same road with steep hills as the Olympic bicylists used for their races.  Huge letters in a forest by the Wall said "One World, One Dream" - from the Olympics.

    Next we walked the Secret Way.  It is lined with marble statues of animals that were built 600 years ago and has a small temple.  This is near the Ming Tombs.  Tom was very disappointed that we weren't taken to the tombs as they were with Dr. Kissinger.  They were a highlight of the trip for him.  After the tombs were built the workers were killed because they knew where the entrances were.  Thirteen emperors are buried there.  The Chinese used Feng Shui to decide where to build them near the mountains.  They were placed allowing the emperor to be laid where they could "see what the people in the Forbidden City were doing."

Tonight we attended the Peking Opera.  It was terrible and I wanted to walk out so badly.  The female singer screeched, didn't sing.  It was like a fairy tale and the words were flashed on the wall in Mandarin and English.  The band had instruments that sounded like clanging pot lids.  The noise was horrendous.