Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is where the Emporer would make offerings to the Jade Emporer where he is believed to have descended from. It was said that during this ceremony the Emporer's divine power would allow him to see, feel and hear things that mere mortals would not. Standing on top of these massive marble structures, it is easy to see how you would feel like you are in heaven.

The Hutongs

The Hutongs are small communities of "middle class" Chinese. However, you can tell in these pictures middle class doesn't quite describe it. We were honored to meet Mr. Wong, who opens up his home to tourists where they can visit his traditional Chinese home and see how he lives. We rode to his home via rickshaw and could see the city streets of the oldest part of Beijing. Such a humbling experience.

Porcelain Factory

We toured a porcelain factory where we could see the historical changes in Chinese porcelain over time as well as the process. Check out the fish tea set!!

Pearl Market

We toured the Pearl Market here and saw how they extract fresh water pearls from Oysters. This picture is actually an oyster we picked out and they opened right in front of us! Of course, Vettie and I had to have some lovely jewelry from this place. (Matt has probably already seen the charge come through on the Visa. Sorry babe!! :)

Summer Palace

The Summer Palace is where the royal families of China would come to spend their summers (as the name implies!) It was renovated around the 1700's and is now a big Chinese tourist attraction and more like a park. It was such a serene and peaceful place.

There were so many students there as well. They are thrilled to try out their English and like to yell "Hello!" and "Bye-Bye!" whenever they see Americans. Pretty cool!!

Ming Tombs

Today we saw the Ming tombs guarded by the Sacred Way of the Animals. It was surreal to be in an emporer's tomb 9 flights of stairs underground. The tomb was excavated in the late 1950's and is the only one of 13 Emporer's tombs that has been located.

Factory Tours

We had the amazing opportunity today to visit both a cloisonne factory and a jade factory. (And ya'll know how Yvette loves a tour!!) Amazing!


The cloisonne process is an ancient Chinese art where copper wire is formed and filled and fired 6 separate times to get the beautiful finished pieces.














Also, the jade factory showed us how to tell the difference between real and fake jade. (Real jade has a high pitch when you hit it with other jade or any metal.) We saw this horse carving that is made entirely out of one piece. Such talent and artistry in this country!