Heading into this trip, I was familiar with China’s history – I taught a great deal about it in both my World History and AP World History courses…but I still wanted to learn more about the 20th and 21st century history in China and had a feeling I actually knew very little about today’s contemporary China. I tried to enter this program with as few expectations and preconceived notions as possible and it is turning out to be a wonderful thing. Each day I have been soaking it all in and making as many observations as possible…I am still trying to wrap my brain around this incredibly complex and intriguing country!
2011 China is really not remotely what many people have stereotypically envisioned in their heads – although if you were to ask me to define what it actually is on the spot I could not do that yet… I am currently striving to construct a working description for you…but I think I will spend the entire month working to really describe it all. But what I can tell you is that the China of the Great Leap Forward that evokes stories only comparable to Stalin’s collectivization campaigns and the China of the oppressive Cultural Revolution, are not even remotely the China that exists today. It is certainly a country that defines itself as being communist…but in reality is a socialist system with a market-based economy that does not have freedom of speech or freedom to access all the information they may choose. However…it is a country that has a Louis Vitton exhibit in their National Museum, streets of Gucci, the Gap, and Starbucks all rolled into a shopping strip, but one that has an internet firewall so restrictive I am going to great lengths to attempt to post this message. It is incredibly complex. The album below is from our flight in and our first full day here in Beijing – I hope it is the first of many to follow, although it will all be several days behind do to the restrictive nature of posting photographs and blog entries.
Our first full day we visited the Forbidden City, National Museum, and Tiananmen Square! It was an incredibly iconic and amazing day – and the National Museum is brand-spanking-new, as it has been closed for years undergoing renovations and just opened to the public in the past few months. It was amazing to be some of the first in the museum to view such a unique space. It was amazing to visit the Forbidden City only two weeks after I walked the grounds of Topkapi and the Dolhambahce Palace – both of which existed at parallel times – my historian’s brain was on a compare and contrast overload! And it was surreal to walk Tiananmen Square and think of all the many things that have occurred there…(more on that later).
I will do my best to keep my facts straight and to be as accurate as possible. For those back home if you have questions, please let me know and I will do my best to answer them!
All the best from Beijing,
~Mrs. Hals
Day 5 - Forbidden City and Tiananmen JPGSClick on the image above to view the images!
| https://picasaweb.google.com/115051500693139274056/Day5ForbiddenCityAndTiananmenJPGS?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCL-Vkr7h1t3QPg&feat=embedwebsite" style="color:#4D4D4D;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;">Day 5 - Forbidden City and Tiananmen JPGS |
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