PICTURE OF A DREAM COMING TRUE
My dream: To go to China
Eric's dream: To show us the Forbidden City and Great Wall
Inside the Forbidden City
For hundreds of years, only the Emperor, his
family, servants and concubines were permitted
to live inside the Forbidden City. This is
where the movie "The Last Emperor" was made.
Later, in Fushun, we visited the prison where the
last Emperor, P'u Yi, was imprisoned for several years.
An excellent site for information about P'u Yi is The Last Emperor of China
Inside the Forbidden City
Vv, Gail, Eric at Tiananmen Square, with the entrance to
the Forbidden City in the background. The mausoleum of
Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, who died in 1976, is
at one end of Tiananmen Square. His body is on display there,
surrounded by many guards. An information site for Chairman Mao
is at Mao Tse-Tung
Dottie and Andy at the Monument to the People's Heroes at Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square at night
Although I felt very safe here because of the low crime rate
and the presence of soldiers and policemen, I couldn't help
thinking of scenes etched in my memory from television coverage
a few years ago of the dead and injured during a demonstration.
See Tiananmen
An interactive site that is fun is at Around Tiananmen Square
The second part of the dream comes true
Dottie, Andy, Gail at the Great Wall
Andy fulfilled his dream of climbing the Great Wall and
going as far as he could. We stayed near the bottom, but Andy
walked a great distance, much of it a very steep climb.
A FANTASTIC slide show of the Great Wall is at
Walk the Great Wall of China