The "Center
Empire" is really worth a visit, although if you do not
agree with the political situation over there. Unfortunately a
lot of treasures of the ancient empire were destroyed during the
culture-revolution. But what is still present is overwhelming.
Alone the Emperorīs Palace at Beijing, for which you should
spend a whole week, is worth the journey. But the Summer-Palace
of the Empress Dowager, the Sun- Temple, then Ming- Tombs, the
Great Wall too!
Our jouney then leaded us from Beijing to Xi`an, the town at the
beginning of the famous silk- road, which was the residence of
the emperors long before Beijing was. Next station was Guilin,
already rather far in the south of China. The cone-shaped
limestone mountains over there bring you to totally strange,
mystic world. Our trip continued via Guangzhou to Hongkong, which
then still belonged to Great- Britain. That means from the rural
idyl of Guilin and Guangzhou into the bustle of this town with
its skyscrapers, the low- approaching Jumbo-Jets, the boatpeople
and so on! A culture shock!
But China has impressed us so much that we returned to Beijing
one year later to get aquainted with that town on our own,
without a leader and without a fixed program. And this journey
too was really phantastic!
| The "Forbidden City", the emperorīs palace
in Beijing has enormous dimensions. Itīs really o town
of its own (it has an area of nearly 180 acres and 9999
rooms!) Because a lot of wood was used, everywhere huge fire-buckets with heating-facilities are positioned, wich were of course gilded in the inner area of the palace! |
 A (very) small part of the Forbidden City |
 One of those huge fire- buckets |
| In the middle of the Forbidden City there is the
palace Tai He Dian, which was used only at most important
occasions. No one except the emperor was allowed to use
the stairs in the middle. A throne is of course found in each of those innumerable palaces. |
 The main palace Tai He Dian |
 The emperorīs throne in the main palace |
| Left of the palaces there were the living rooms of
the emperorīs family, on the right side those of the
emperorīs concubines. The first entrance into the Forbidden City is the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tian an men) and in front of it the Square of Heavenly Peace which got a tragical fame in 1989 when a demonstration suppressed in a very bloody manner. |
 A road to the residential areas |
 The Tian an men and the Tian an men -square |
| In the large- scaled Summerpalace the empress dowager
ordered to build a schip of stone. And from where she
took the money? Out of the navyīs budget of course! The Suntemple was reseved to special regious ceremonies, where the emperor presented himself godlike to the people on a plate which figured the heaven. |
 The stone-made ship in the summerpalace |
 The main- pagode of the suntemple |
| The entrance into the valley of the Ming- tombs is
presented by an alley of stone-made ghost statues. Each
statue has its own meaning. The animal statues among them
are seen always twice: standig for the day and lying for
the night. Each of the tombs consists in a big construction of temples an a big hill behind which is actually the tomb. |
 A ghost-statue at the alley of the death |
 The tomb of the first Ming-emperor |
| The Great Wall, which has a lenght of more than 6000 km is really an impressive building. Itīs incredible, how people were able to build this wall beyond mountains and valleys But it isnīt everywhere stone-made. On plain areas where they didnīt find enough stones, it was made of wood and is nearly ruined nowadays. |  The Great Wall |
 ... and in front my little wife |
| At Xi`an in the year 1974 the terracotta-army of
probably 600 soldiers was discovered by chance. It was
destined for protecting the tomb of the first emperor of
China. The impressive is that there are no two statues which are looking equal. Even the lineaments of the different races where considered. |
 A part of the terracotta- army |
 A soldier of the terracotta-army |
| A special event is a tour by ship on the river Li in the vicinity of Guilin. Here you drive through an area with phantastic formed, nearly mystical looking limestone mountains. In ancient times this area lay below the sealevel and originated from a coral-reef. |  The "sugar-loafs" near Guilin |
 Four bamboo canes and the boat is ready |
| Cormoran-fischermen are seen everywhere at the Li-river. They put rings around the cormoranīs necks and then let them catch fish. But due to that ring they can only eat the smaller fish. The bigger ones get stuck in the throat and are taken away by the fishermen. |  Cormoran- fischermen at work... |
 ...and ready for tourists fotos (for money) |
| HongKong. The "fragrant harbor". But today
it does no longer smell as good as it perhaps did
earlier. But this town which was build on this rocky island because of its strategic good position is still overwhelming. In former times only pirates lived on this island (some people say still today a lot of pirates would live here :-))) |
 View from Victoria Peak to Hongkong Island |
 and to Kowloon on the mainland (Backgr.) |
| The "Dschunkes"-harbour Aberdeen; the harbour where the wellknown boatpeople live on their boats.The whole life happens on the water. But the number of boats decreases because decayed boats may not be repaired. The inhabitants then are billeted on small apartments. |  "Dschunkes" und "Sampanes" |
 The swimming "Jumbo"-restaurant |
| Famous and notorious was the approach to airport "Kai Tak", when the aircraft flew shortly above houses and even between scyscrapers. Only special airlines pilots were allowed to approach this airport. Nowadays the new Airport on the island Lantaui is in use. |  Approaching the Airport "Kai Tak" |
 The wellknown street view in Kowloon |
By the way a little story:
In Beijing the bicycle is still the generally used conveyance;
there are about 9 million bicycles in use.
But now the chinese minister of transport has decided, that the
front light and the rear light of so many bicycles could dazzle
or at least irritate the cardrivers. So every lighting at
bicycles was forbidden. In deepest nights these millions of
bicycles drive through Beijing totally dark and nearly
invisible!!!!
Did you manage to cross a road winding between the cars, you
still have good chances to go to the dogs by a biker you simply
couldnīt see.
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