Early in January, we boarded a United flight and 13 hours and 30 minutes later we landed in Shanghai, China where we began a tour under the tutelage of Keren Su, an accomplished photographer who was born in China, but now lives near Seattle, WA.  He is the head of China Span (see http://www.chinaspan.com) and an affable individual.  Amongst our small group of travelers were several existing friends and others who have since become friends.  We were in China to photograph some of its famous wildlife in Winter, enjoy the world's largest ice festival and to attempt to see our final crane species, Siberian Cranes.  Those readers who have been to China will probably agree, it was a REAL eye-opener in terms of the friendliness of the people and the economic power-house that is rapidly emerging.  Our trip also confirmed the concern for the environment, which many Westerners find lacking, must come from the Chinese people themselves.  

After a non-stop flight from SFO to Shanghai, we engaged a taxi to our hotel using a pre-printed sheet as our driver spoke NO English.  We ate dinner and went to bed in an attempt to recover.  The following morning we walked over this bridge and took a quick photo of our hotel-the Broadway Mansion (tan building) as we began our stroll along the Bund.  This area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River facing Pudong in the eastern part of Huangpu District. 

The Bund usually refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road, as well as some adjacent areas. The Bund is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai where building heights are restricted.

It is a mix of historical buildings and new construction.

Oriental Pearl TV Tower is the modern symbol of Shanghai City. Standing beside the Huangpu River and the Bund with a height of 468 meters (1536 feet), it is the tallest TV tower in Asia and the third highest in the world. The Bund is situated on the east bank of the Huangpu River.  The new finance and commercial houses cluster together along the south of the Bund while along the west there is a wealth of grand buildings in the European architectural styles of the nineteen-twenties, thirties and early forties. Marshal Chen Yi's statue looks down on the square where lively musicians gather to play and sing bringing pleasure to the many people who stop by to listen. At night bright lights add to the happy atmosphere as people stroll along the wide riverside promenade.

Pudong area in the day...

The People's Heroes Memorial to the right and the Pudong area by night...

The city is a real mix of modern and ancient...

Nanking street is like a giant outdoor mall...

The Shanghai Museum is located on a corner of the People's Square and houses ancient Chinese art.  It is divided into 11 galleries and 3 exhibition halls which occupied our interest for several hours.

Shanghai Opera House is the modernistic building in the left foreground.  There are many beautiful buildings throughout this part of the city.

Another view ...

Some of the faces were very interesting and showed a real depth of character.

Many of the traditional food carts were staffed by older residents.

After a long drive, we arrived in Huangshan.  It is marked by the X in the preceeding map and a prefecture-level city centered near the Huangshan Mountains in southern Anhui province.  Its urban area was originally the city of Tunxi.  Huangshan is the southernmost prefecture-level city in the province.  Huangshan, one of the most famous mountain peaks in China, is a popular tourist attraction. In 1990, Huangshan was listed as a World Heritage Site.  

We wondered through the 'old town' area where time seemed to have stopped.

Rich filmed a silk-screen wall hanging of Red-crowned Cranes, which we eventually purchased.

We proceeded upward into the Huangshan Mountains.  Huángshn; literally Yellow Mountain), is a mountain range whose area is famous for its scenery, sunsets, peculiarly-shaped granite peaks, Huangshan Pine trees, and the views of the clouds from above.  Mount Huang is a frequent subject of traditional Chinese paintings and literature. 

Riding up the mountain in a funicular, Dean looked out and saw a man carrying a door up the carved steps of the mountain through the snow.

Wearing ice crampons for traction and dressed warmly, we explored the mountains over often slippery trails.

Looking carefully, we did find some color amongst the gray, black and white.

A pagoda crowns a small peak in the snow-covered mountains.

Where the water wasn't yet frozen, we saw some beautiful reflections.

Finally we had blue skies outlining the snow-covered Huangshan pines.

Every post had a snow-cap...

Flying northward, we arrived in Beijing, China as underlined in the map.

Following a quick overnight we bussed out into the countryside to walk and photograph the Great Wall in a more remote location than where many tourists do.    It was near the village of Jinshanling.  We were rewarded with expansive views absent others.

The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 6th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from Xiongnu from attacks during the rule of successive dynasties.  Several walls, all referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BC. The most famous is the wall built between 220–200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.  However, little of it remains.  It was constructed much farther north than the current wall, which was built during the Ming Dynasty. 

The Great Wall we visited stretches over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles) from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. At its peak, the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men.  It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall.

Periodically the Great Wall had guard towers where the soldiers had lived and fought from within their confines

Up early, Dean returned to the Great Wall with others to capture this image as the sun rose.  Unfortunately, the cold temperatures contributed to a rare asthma attack for Rich and he returned to the inn to treat it. 

Into the distance the Great Wall continues...

After a late breakfast, we bussed back into the hustle of Beijing traffic... 

After lunch we visited The Temple of Heaven, which is described as the grandest cult architecture complex in the world, and a masterpiece of the Chinese people created in ancient times. It covers 2,700,000 square meters (667 acres), which is nearly four times the area of the Forbidden. The temple was constructed in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and was enlarged during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Emperors of the two dynasties used to worship the heaven and pray for rich harvests, as the feudal emperors thought they were the son of the heaven.

The complex has two parts: the inner temple and the outer temple and is surrounded by two high walls. The two walls are elaborately constructed: the north section of walls is semicircular while the south section is square. This layout of walls reflects the ancient Chinese concept of the cosmogony: the sky is round and the earth is square. The primary buildings in the temple are the Altar of Prayer for Good Harvests in the north and Circular Mound Altar in the south. They are lined in the central axis of the whole temple and connected by a 36-meter-long bridge. Subsidiary buildings include Imperial Vault of Heaven, the Hall of Abstinence, a Bell Tower and relatively small halls.

Rich is standing in from of the Altar of Prayer for Good Harvest.  It was where the emperors prayed for favorable weather and ample harvest. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, the principle building of the altar, is thirty-eight meters (125 feet) high. It was built on a three-tiered circular terrace which measures six meters (twenty feet). The roof of the hall is covered with dark blue glazed tiles which represent the color of the sky. With three circular balusters on the terrace, the grand hall seems much loftier.

The structure of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is a wonder. The pavilion-style hall was built entirely of wood, but it has no crossbeam or purlin inside. Twenty-eight pillars support the three-tier building, with the four in the centers symbolizing four seasons of a year. Twelve pillars on each side to present twelve months and twelve Shichens of a day (a unit of time used by the ancient Chinese, one Shichen is equal to two hours).

The following morning at our first stop two of our friends, Buff (riding) and Linda (pedaling), decided to take a rickshaw for a spin near the Drum Tower and a bordering hutong neighborhood.  "Hutong" literally means a small street or a lane between two courtyards. There are thousands of hutongs in Beijing City. Most of them were built in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties (1271-1911).

Notice the contrasts between the hutong and newer areas as seen from the Drum Tower upper level.

Situated at the northern end of the central axis of the Beijing Inner City, the Drum Tower was built in 1272 during the reign of Kublai Khan. At that time it was known as the Tower of Orderly Administration (Qizhenglou). In 1420, under the Ming Emperor Yongle, the building was reconstructed to the east of the original site and in 1800 during the reign of Qing Emperor Jiaqing, large-scale renovations were carried out. In 1924, the name of the building was changed to the Tower of Realizing Shamefulness (Mingchilou).

The first level of the Drum Tower is a solid square terrace four meters high, 55.6 meters long and 30 meters wide. The front and rear of the terrace are pierced with three arched openings and the two sides with one opening each. The broad, squat multi-eaved wooden structure built atop the terrace is impressive with its red wall and yellow glazed roof.

In ancient days, the Drum Tower was the time keeping center for the whole city and was equipped with bronze clepsydras (water clocks) and 24 drums that were beaten to mark the hours. Among the 24 drums, only one survives. Its head is made of an entire ox hide and is 1.5 meters in diameter. A sword score on the side of the drum is a souvenir of the Eight-Power Allied Forces invasion of Beijing in 1900. The four bronze clepsydras, which once functioned in the Drum Tower, were reputed to date from the Song Dynasty. Set between these four devices was a large bronze gong, which through a series of mechanical devices was linked to the water clocks and sounded each quarter of an hour. When the system of telling time with incense coils, which burned for hours were introduced, the clepsydras fell into disuse.

In the Qing Dynasty, the hours were marked at night beginning at 7:00 p.m., a procedure that was popularly called "setting the watch." At this hour, the drums were sounded 13 times. After the watch had been "set" in this fashion, each subsequent two-hour interval was marked by a single drum beat. Civil and military officials oriented their lives around these time signals.

At seven o'clock in the evening, the drum was beaten followed by the bell to inform people it was time to go to sleep.

At nine o'clock, eleven o'clock, as well as one and three o'clock in the morning, only the bell was beaten to avoid disturbing sleepers.

At five o'clock in the morning, the drum was beaten followed by the bell to inform people to rise.

Next we visited the Summer Palace, Yiheyuan in Chinese.  It is the most celebrated imperial garden in China. The garden came into existence early in the 1750s and had once been a summer resort for the emperors.  Here the Long Corridor runs along the frozen Kunming Lake with Longevity Hill above, topped with several halls: the Hall of Dispelling Clouds (Paiyundian), the Tower of Buddhist Incense (Foxiangge) and the Hall of the Sea of Wisdom (Zhihuihai).  The Hall of Dispelling Clouds with red pillars and yellow tiles is the most splendid building of the whole palace. The grand Tower of Buddhist Incense, towering 41 meters (134.5 feet), is the symbol of the Summer Palace. The Hall of the Sea of Wisdom on the top of the Longevity Hill is a Buddhist hall. The outside of the hall is decorated with glazed tiles..

Rich enjoyed practicing his Chinese with other visitors to the Summer Palace who were curious about his video camera.  In the background is the Seventeen-Arch Bridge.  It is the only connection to the Nanhu Island.  It was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). No matter how you look at the great bridge, it is beautiful, like a rainbow or an ornamental ribbon.  The Seventeen-Arch Bridge is an imitation of the celebrated Marco Polo Bridge (Lugou Bridge) in Fengtai District, Beijing.

As the name suggests, it has seventeen symmetrical arches, with the largest one in the center and the others diminishing in size on either side.  The bridge is 150 meters (164 yards) long and 7 meters (23 feet) high.  The bridge is decorated with 544 delicately carved lions. These vivid lions, sitting on the white marble balusters, have different expressions and postures as demonstrated below.

A talented caligrapher scripted mirror image characters on the sidewalk with large brushes.  Noting we were Americans, he wrote one in English - see below -

In front of the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity are bronze phoenixes and dragons, with hollow abdomens. When incense was burnt inside, they would smoke, adding aroma to the atmosphere during the ongoing court in the hall. In the courtyard, four unusual stones, dark in color and with holes, represent the four seasons of the year.

The Long Corridor (Changlang) at 728 meters (796 yards) in length is the longest of its kind in the world. Running from the Yaoyuemen (Gate of Inviting the Moon) in the east to the Shizhang Pavilion in the west, the corridor includes 273 sections, all decorated with paintings. Along the corridor, four elegant octagonal pavilions are interspersed in order, each of which symbolizes one season of a year.  The corridor is an exceptional art gallery, featuring more than 14,000 pictures of landscapes, flowers, birds, human figures and stories on its beams and ceilings. It is also an excellent carrier of the Chinese culture, including traditional art, history and literature. Of special note are the pictures of human figures depicting stories that give a lively account of long history of China.

We noted Red-crowned Cranes amongst the many birds illustrated.

Returning to our hotel, we saw the Beijing National Stadium,  also known as the National Stadium or colloquially as the "Bird's Nest".  It was designed and built for the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.  Located in the Olympic Green and costing ~ $423 million, this stadium is the world's largest steel structure.   The design was awarded to a submission from the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron in April 2003 after a bidding process that included 13 final submissions. The design, which originated from the study of Chinese ceramics, implemented steel beams in order to hide supports for the retractable roof; giving the stadium the appearance of a "Bird's nest". Ironically, the retractable roof was later removed from the design after inspiring the stadium's most recognizable aspect. Ground was broken in December 2003 and the stadium officially opened in June 2008.  This is how it appeared in mid-January 2007.

Having rested, our group walked to the nearby Donganmen Night Market just off  Wangfujing Street.  It had some very unusual 'fast food' offerings:

The food booths themselves are quite small but very busy.

Sea horses, scorpions, grasshoppers, ... YUM!  YUM!

This vendor ate scorpions with real GUSTO as none of us desired to do so!

Sea stars anyone???

Heading out the next morning, the SMOG was obvious.  Both of us had burning eyes and irritated throats during our touring of Beijing.  But we perserved...

Entering Tianamen Square, we were struck by its magnitude.  The geographical center of Beijing City, it is the largest city square in the world occupying an area of 440,000 square meters (about 109 acres) and able to accommodate 10,000,000 people at one time. We entered at the south end which contains the solemn Mao Zedong Memorial Hall.  Mao Zedong, the first chairman of the People's Republic of China (PRC), is greatly admired by the Chinese People. This hall was built in 1977 and is divided into three halls: the main hall, the north hall and the south hall with the remains of Mao Zedong laid in a crystal coffin in the main hall.  A tribute to the 'workers' is in front. 

Walking north, we arrived at the Meridian Gate (Wu Men), which is the main gate at the southern end of the Forbidden City. As the greatest of the gates, it is also the highest building of the Forbidden City. Five pavilions with golden glaze tiles, like five phoenixes, sit on the gate, thus the gate is also called Five-Phoenix Pavilion. Bells and drums reside in the two pavilions closest to the main pavilion. The bells would ring when the emperor left the Meridian Gate for the Temple of Heaven and the drums would beat when the emperor departed for the Ancestral Temple. Bells and drums also volleyed when grand ceremonies were hold in the palace.

Entering the Forbidden City, also named the Palace Museum, we were disappointed to learn that most of the buildings were being refurbished for the 2008 Olympics.  The covered one above is the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihe Dian).  It is also called the 'Hall of Golden Throne'.  It is the grandest hall in the palace and the largest wooden structure in China.  It was originally constructed in 1402 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), but burnt down years later.  The present-day hall was rebuilt in 1695 by Emperor Kangxi, a sagacious emperor in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). During the dynasties, the hall was used to hold ceremonies on grand occasions like the Emperor's enthronement, birthday and wedding day, the dispatch of generals to battles, the Winter Solstice and the Spring Festival.

This imposing hall is about 27 meters (88.5 feet) high and stands on a three-terrace base of white marble. The base is about eight meters (26 feet) high and decorated with balusters with artistic designs of dragons and phoenixes. Many stone dragons' heads on the balusters serve a practical purpose of drainage. On rainy days over one thousand dragons on the terraces spout rainwater from their mouths at the same time. A marvelous scene!  On the terrace are laid a sun dial and a standard measure which symbolize the unity of the state.  There is also a pair of bronze cranes and a pair of tortoises, suggesting longevity.  Eighteen bronze vessels, which are actually incense burners, are arranged in order.  Three stairways lead to the hall and the one in the middle has a huge stone engraving with dragons playing with pearls.   

The Hall of Preserving Harmony (Baohe Dian) is the last main hall in the Outer Court. Like the Hall of Supreme Harmony, this rectangular wooden hall has multiple eaves with ten different animal statues at each corner.  In ancient China, the number of different animals on a house was a sign of its rank. A group of ten animals is the maximum and ONLY seen on imperial palaces.

Amazingly, we found a Starbucks Cafe within the Forbidden City.  It had opened in 2000 at the invitation of palace managers, who needed to raise money to maintain the 178-acre (82-hectare) complex of villas and gardens.  But critics said the U.S. based franchise was inappropriate and an anchor person for Chinese state television led an online protest, saying the coffee shop diminished Chinese culture.  It closed in July, 2007.  Newspapers wrote that the 'froth over Starbucks' at Beijing's 587-year-old Forbidden City had highlighted Chinese sensitivity about cultural symbols and unease over an influx of foreign pop culture.  

We posed with this little girl and her mother as both had been very curious about seeing foreigners.

This is the Gate of Divine Might, which is the north gate of both the Imperial Garden and the Forbidden City. You can start your visit from this gate, but it is where we ended ours.  

After lunch nearby, we drove to a ceramic cloisonne' factory.

Many of us were fascinated by the intricacy of the Chinese ceramics and enjoyed our tour of this remarkable factory where the majority of the workers are deaf.  We were allowed to wander amongst them as our conversation did not disturb their progress.

The detail which they created was remarkable.  Photographs or drawings were frequently used to inspire the patterns created.

Next we flew ~2 hours north to Qiqihar (pronounced chee chee har) underlined above.  It has ~895,000 people, mainly Han Chinese with the resident minorities being, among others, Manchu, Daur, and Mongolians.  Close to Qiqihar are numerous wetlands and the Zhalong Nature Reserve, which is famous in China for being home to numerous Red-crowned Cranes.

Red-crowned Cranes breed in large wetlands in temperate East Asia and winter along rivers and in coastal and freshwater marshes in Japan, China, and the Korean Peninsula. There are two main breeding populations: a migratory population on the East Asia mainland (northeastern China and Russia) of perhaps 1,200 birds, and a resident population on the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan of about 900 birds.

These birds are 'resident' species.

Beautiful in flight or displaying on the ground...

This was our first experience photographing 'habituated' birds, who were let out to fly, but returned to the protection of the pens where they were fed and watered.

Rich was pleased to discover many Long-eared Owls perched in the trees near the Reserve Headquarters.

Many of our fellow travelers were surprised to learn this was a Life Bird for us as it can be seen in the US, also.

After 2 days filming Red-crowned Cranes, we piled into a cramped bus and drove 3 and a half hours to Harbin.  Harbin is ranked as the tenth largest city in China.  It serves as a key political, economic, scientific, cultural and communications center of Northeastern China.  It is originally a Manchu word meaning "a place for drying fishing nets". Harbin bears the nicknames "The Pearl on the swan's neck" because the shape of Heilongjiang resembles a swan.  It is also known as "Oriental Moscow" or "Oriental Paris" for the architecture in the city.

Harbin is also known as "Ice City" for its long and cold winter. This city is most famous for its beautiful display of ice sculptures in the winter.  Nearby is the Helongjian Siberian Tiger Park, which was established in 1996.  It is home to nearly 800 Siberian Tigers. 

We boarded a small bus and drove into the reserve, which had electronically controlled gates between the various enclosures.  Siberian Tigers are the largest member of the cat family in the world.

Rangers drove about in protected vehicles as the tigers knew these cars brought wild game.

A Guinea Fowl is thrown into the air from a ranger's vehicle and the tiger springs into action...

Before the Guinea Fowl can land, a Siberian Tiger runs up and utilizes the vehicle to leap into the air and grab the unsuspecting bird.  The bird had obviously had some of its flight feathers clipped.  We had mixed feelings about photographing these animals eating such 'game'.

However, we did enjoy being able to watch the cats closely from the safety of the bus.

We were glad to be within the safety of the bus.

The animals were beautiful and appeared well cared for in the reserve.

During the 2 days we visited the reserve, we saw mating on several occasions.

One afternoon we drove to Sun Island Park to see this year's snow sculptures.  It was a cooperative effort with carvers from the city of Montreal, Canada.  Near the entrance we were greeted by a group of Canadian Calvary astride their giant horses.

Quebec City's Chataeu Frontenac was part of a huge slide.

This sculpture of Niagra Falls with Maid of the Mist set a record for size.

Later we went to the Eighth Annual Harbin Snow and Ice Festival through this entrance.

A multi-storied ice pagoda glowed...

This is the Sino-Korean Friendship Tower and a couple of churches to the right.

One of the gothic styled churches constructed from large ice cubes...

Girl on a swing ice sculpture was at the competition downtown.

An icy slide in the center of town near our hotel ended on the river where the ice for the festival some distance away was cut, also.

Small sleds were pulled by a single dog led by its master.

Rich engaged a Tibetan man in conversation at the airport while we awaited our flight to Chengdu, underlined in the map below, which is the eastern portal to that region.  This is the region severely impacted by the powerful earthquake that hit China in May of 2008 just before their hosting of the Summer Olympics.

Going for a walk after breakfast we interacted with a van load of kids.

These women set up a sidewalk shop to sell vegetables locally grown.

The contrast of ancient and new apparent in Chengdu, too.

Driving out into the mountains, we traveled to the Wolong Panda Reserve Research Center ~3 hours from Chengdu.  It was damaged by the May 12, 2008 8.0 magnitude Sichuan earthquake, too, and 7 of the staff were killed.

Our hotel room was NOT heated so you can see where Dean read and what he wore to be warm.

A sculpture near the reserve entrance...

This is the bridge across the Pitiao River into the Woloong Panda Reserve -established by China in 1958 to assist the declining panda population.

The first ones we saw were high in a tree.

They are VERY good climbers.

It was easy to watch them for HOURS.....

They spend many hours each day consuming bamboo leaves, which makes up the majority of their diet.

One of our fellow travelors, William Turcek, shared several of his images with us, too.