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Poetry on the Great WallI met up with a school group during my climb of the Great Wall. Here, two girls read romantic poetry. (I'm in the process of translating. Check back later for subtitles.) Temple of HeavenAda took me to the Temple of Heaven. Here we visited the "House of Heavenly Lord", an iconic building represented on many government seals. The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven (天坛 The Temple comprises three main groups of constructions, all built according to strict philosophical requirements: Tina, Ada, and Ada's neighbor's dogThe silly dog has no idea what Tina wants it to do. Lao She Teahouse mask danceAda and I arived well into the evening performance and would have been turned away if it wasn't for her disarming demeanor. She convinced the teahouse hosts to allow us in because her American friend "had come such a long way to see the famous Lao She Teahouse". There’s only one way to describe Chinese opera: Chinese vaudeville. The Lao She Teahouse has everything for a complete evening of stage entertainment. There was a Kung Fu show with demonstration of a myraid of styles, a storyteller who told a tale of Monkey (a traditional character in Chinese folklore), and my personal favorite The real silk road tourSilkworms are raised in climate controlled environments and fed mulberry leaves until they form cocoons. These cocoons are then boiled to soften them and the thread, which had taken the worm approximately two days to weave, is undone. However, unlike other regions in eastern Asia, the silkworms in this part of China sometimes form cocoons in pairs. Two silkworms work together to create a larger cocoon. Unfortunately, the strands from the "twin" cocoons are not usable to be woven into fabrics. The cocoons are instead split and stretch into a type of "silk batting" which is extremely strong, |