We visited China in September of 2013. Here are some pictures and some observations:
Like here, Chinese wedding couples hire a wedding service. In their case, it is a complete package, photographer, restaurant, music, etc. The photographers supply at least two wedding dresses for the brides for the photos: the traditional red Chinese dress, plus a Western style white dress. They take the couple to picturesque sites for the sake of making the photos. Since these are the same places that we go on our tour, we saw them in a number of places. Here is a photo of two wedding couples preparing to be photographed at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. (One thing we also noticed is that the brides always smile, and the grooms usually scowl or deadpan at the camera.)
This in the north part of Beijing. The palace was burnt by English and French troops in 1860 because of Chinese resistance to their military expedition. This is where the Dowager Empress retired in 1860. She refurbished the palace by using funds that were allocated by the government for the modernization of the Navy (with disastrous results when it came to facing the Japanese a few years later). This is also where she imprisoned her nephew, the deposed Emperor, when he tried to introduce reforms that she and the old guard opposed. (We later took a ride in one of the dragon boats you see in the background on the lake.)
A "hutong" is the name given to the old neighborhoods with many households under a single roof in single-story houses with narrow alleys separating them. They've been mostly torn down, but there is now a movement to preserve them out of historical interest.
As
part of our tour, we took a rickshaw ride through one of these
preserved hutong neighborhoods, and visited one home. (The young woman
living there made traditional glass vessel paintings where she painted
the inside of the glass
with miniature scenes ... a very exacting job! She hosted the visitors
as a means of getting customers.) Here is a photo of the kitchen of this
old-style house.
You can reach the Great Wall by traveling about two hours north of Beijing. Along the way, on our trip there, in the middle of nowhere, we saw several clusters of new high-rise residences. Here's a picture of one of them. We saw many many more like this while traveling a week later on an excursion to Suzhou, a couple of hours west of Shanghai. (I don't know if all the people who live there also work nearby, or whether they commute to Beijing.) We were quite astonished by the level of new urban development. And yet, according to the guide, roughly 70% of the population still lives in the country-side.
Taking wedding pictures
Like here, Chinese wedding couples hire a wedding service. In their case, it is a complete package, photographer, restaurant, music, etc. The photographers supply at least two wedding dresses for the brides for the photos: the traditional red Chinese dress, plus a Western style white dress. They take the couple to picturesque sites for the sake of making the photos. Since these are the same places that we go on our tour, we saw them in a number of places. Here is a photo of two wedding couples preparing to be photographed at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. (One thing we also noticed is that the brides always smile, and the grooms usually scowl or deadpan at the camera.)
The Lake at the Summer Palace
This in the north part of Beijing. The palace was burnt by English and French troops in 1860 because of Chinese resistance to their military expedition. This is where the Dowager Empress retired in 1860. She refurbished the palace by using funds that were allocated by the government for the modernization of the Navy (with disastrous results when it came to facing the Japanese a few years later). This is also where she imprisoned her nephew, the deposed Emperor, when he tried to introduce reforms that she and the old guard opposed. (We later took a ride in one of the dragon boats you see in the background on the lake.)
Plantings alongside Tiananmen Square
We
saw these kinds of colorful plantings at several places on our trip. In
general, we were impressed by the attention given to keeping public places
clean and making them look attractive.
Dressing up
Inside
the Forbidden City (the imperial palace in Beijing, just north of Tiananmen
Square), people can rent period costumes and dress themselves up as nobility
from ancient times. Here is a cute shot of a girl whose family put into costume
to take a photo.
Visit to a hutong
A "hutong" is the name given to the old neighborhoods with many households under a single roof in single-story houses with narrow alleys separating them. They've been mostly torn down, but there is now a movement to preserve them out of historical interest.
New development in field north of Beijing
You can reach the Great Wall by traveling about two hours north of Beijing. Along the way, on our trip there, in the middle of nowhere, we saw several clusters of new high-rise residences. Here's a picture of one of them. We saw many many more like this while traveling a week later on an excursion to Suzhou, a couple of hours west of Shanghai. (I don't know if all the people who live there also work nearby, or whether they commute to Beijing.) We were quite astonished by the level of new urban development. And yet, according to the guide, roughly 70% of the population still lives in the country-side.
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