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One might think that the very young are quite different than older folks. I propose that we are all the same in one major way... We love a good story, and the best stories come from real life. History is full of tantalizing, sorrowful, tragic, and wonderful stories. Most exciting of all is the fact that we are all writing our own stories at this very moment. The choices we make will affect others' stories, and in no time at all, we become the stories that will be told in the future. I have had the opportunity to travel the tiniest bit, and each time I visit a new-to-me place in the world, I feel as though I have been changed. Touched by the people I meet and their stories, I can't wait to share those stories with my students, my colleagues, and my family. If any of the discoveries I make along the way are useful to you as well, all the better.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The Great Wall, Hutong, and Acrobats


July 6, 2013

Geeps!  It’s been tough getting time to chronicle my trip.  We are very busy from morning until late in the evening.  That’s a good thing.  Who wants to travel halfway around the world to spend all her time in the hotel room? 

Our Fulbright delegation is attending a variety of topically focused presentations and universities and middle/high schools that I will describe in future posts.  Intermittently, though, we are touring historic sites and cultural events.  On Saturday the 6th, we spent the morning exploring the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu.  The enemy watch towers are closely spaced here.  While there were plenty of other tourists, it is a spot that fewer tourists visit, so access to photo vistas was pretty good.  We took a cable car to our launching point, and then spent a couple of hours hiking around.  The experience was one that didn’t seem real.  Standing on the Great Wall and looking around at the surrounding jagged-peaked mountains, I tried to imagine the Mongols making their way across them to attack.  Hiking the challenging elevation changes helped me understand what a monumental physical feat the invasions would have been.  Never mind the "simple" construction of the wall.  What we see today is mostly the Ming contribution.  Throughout many dynasties, construction and rebuilding continued.  This is why I am here.  The stories I tell in school have a deeper dimension now.  Will I be able to convey that?  On a less academic level, I want to know how that little old lady with the sodas for sale got up there.  If she walked and drug that cart, I’m completely humiliated.



The afternoon found our group in rickshaws touring a Hutong district; an example of older Beijing.  Its streets are narrow and its architecture is traditional.  While on the surface it may seem as though this is a “low rent” district.  It’s quite the opposite.  The shops and residences sit below the drum and bell towers, and the district is historic.  One square meter of most homes is worth 40,000 RMB.  That’s about 6,667 U.S. dollars. 


Mr. Wang Jian Ping and his wife, Cai Gengxin, served all seventeen of us dinner in their home.  They were gracious hosts.  Mr. Wang (The family name comes first in China.) cooked an excellent meal and afterwards, came in to share some stories.  His family has a long tradition of cooking the finest food.  In fact, he tells about his grandfather who was one of thirty-six cooks for the last dynastic emperor.  The emperor’s cooks specialize in one dish only.  Mr. Wang’s grandfather made meatballs.


Sweaty, stinky, and tired, we topped off the evening by attending a performance of incredible Chinese acrobats. 


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