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Background: For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.

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By CharM
June 11th 2008

Shandong Province

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

Tai Shan from the bottom

From the Shanghai area my plan was to travel north to Shandong province, then head east to Xian ( the pottery soldiers) and wiggle my way north - with some important stops along the way - to Beijing, the final leg. Around the first of May is a humungous holiday in China, when half of China moves one way and the other half the other. I am a firm believer in not getting entangled in these events as they can be nightmares as far as finding places to stay and reservations on transportation. So, my goal was to see a couple [View Full Entry]

Looking over the tops of temples on Tai Shan

By Chooky77
June 10th 2008

Mount Taishan

Asia » China » Shandong » Tai'an

This past weekend was one of the few long weekends in China so Trevor and I decided to take advantage of the extra day and took a trip to Tai'an where we would climb Mount Taishan, one of the 5 sacred mountains in China. It is both a UNESCO heritage site and a world heritage site, the first in the world. The mountain is in Shangdong Province, the journey from Beijing on the fast train took just under 4 hours. The ride was smooth and rather pleasant. Arriving in Tai'an we were not too sure what to expect but we knew [View Full Entry]

By HRowBrazil
June 9th 2008

International Church

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

Empty lot behind the dorm next to ours

Luckily for me, I met a guy who knew Qingdao really well the night before and he was an American! Scottie is an aeronautics specialist from Missouri who has been teaching English at QU for the last 3 years and his mom came over to teach as well within the last year. They took me to an international church that is held in a big banquet hall on the top story of the Haixin Dasha (Hisense Bldg). You have to have an international passport to get in because it is not a censored service but Taiwanese and Hong Kongers are allowed. [View Full Entry]

By HRowBrazil
June 7th 2008

From PEK to TAO

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

Getting the Daily Assn.
Workers at restaurants and shops in China are gathered outside waiting for their assignment and inspection which I have yet to figure out is daily or weekly.

This morning we took the bullet train from Beijing to Qingdao. The ride took 6 hours and would have taken 11 by regular train, so I didn't complain. I was really jet-lagged and tired on this ride so I didn't snap as many pictures as I would have liked but I still got a few of the countryside. I had my camera locked up in my bag at the station so I didn't get any pictures of Beijing station either but definitely will when I go back in August. The train station looked just like it did in the 80s when [View Full Entry]

By China Chris
June 3rd 2008

The Beer Capital of China

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

I Want to Live Here
I took this one right outside the brewery. No explanation needed.

Hello again my blog readers. I apologize for my long lapse in not publishing blog entries. A combination of factors is to blame. Partially it is just me being lazy, but also, the pace of my travels slowed down a lot for a while. I decided to take it easy for a couple of weekends because my travel companions, Matt and Michelle, scheduled a few trips that I did not really want to go on. Not too much has changed here. The weather has gone from cold to insanely hot (compounded by the pollution problem), and I have grown my hair [View Full Entry]

By Chris and Laura
May 20th 2008

Climbing Mount Tai'shan

Asia » China » Shandong » Tai'an

Beginning of the climb

I first read about Mount Tai'shan in Michael Palin's book "Full Circle" and added it to the China 'must do' list!! It is a total of 6660 steps to the top and it's believed that you will live for 100 years if you make it all the way. Many Chinese emperors have done the climb, some more than once and many people make the pilgrimage to the top each year. It said in the guide book that it would take about two hours to get to the 'Midway to Heaven Gate' and another 2 hours to get to the 'South Gate [View Full Entry]

By Amicu
May 18th 2008

a map of where we went in the Spring Hoilday

Asia » China » Shandong » Tai'an

Where we went on our trip. [View Full Entry]

By pohl position
May 11th 2008

Bavarian China

Asia » China » Shandong » Qingdao

View of Quindao
This is from the revolving Mushroom observatory.

China has a history of being forced to conceed certain areas of its land to colonial powers. Although many may be aware of British, French, and Japanese territories, I was suprised to learn that the Germans had a concession of land as well. Qindao is located on the East coast of China on the Yellow Sea across from Korea. It is a strategic location and is China's 4th largest port. Germany invaded the town in 1898 and established a naval port after 2 of their missionaries were murdered. They didn't hold it for long though. In 1914, the Japanese took over [View Full Entry]

By pohl position
May 10th 2008

Stairway to Heaven

Asia » China » Shandong » Tai Shan

Stepping Up
Lots and Lots o stairs!

Although I didn't get a chance to climb Mt. Fuji, I knew there would be other mountain climbing opportunities on my trip. I wouldn't have to wait very long and a week into China, I found myself climbing Mt. Tai Shan. Tai Shan is the most revered of China's five sacred Taoist peaks. Emperors, Chairman Mao, and even Confucious himself has risen to the challenge of reaching its summit. It's said that if you climb Tai Shan you will live to be 100 years old. I'll let you know in 2078 if that's true or not. The mountain is 1545m above [View Full Entry]

By Jake427
April 12th 2008

Inflation, recession, stagflation, oh my!

Asia » China » Shandong

Speech
We are required to give two speeches per semester. There are really no criterion for the talk so you can pretty much just talk about anything. I decided to talk about the subprime crisis, other econ... [more]

Last week I gave a speech entitled: "The End of Loose Money: Subprime, The Credit Crunch and What it Means for China." I gave the obvious, yet necessary disclaimer before the speech that I am not an economist, affiliated with the real estate industry and/or an expert on the material in any way shape or form, BUT I do enjoy reading about such topics and find them worthy of further discussion. I would say that the speech was partly intended to introduce economics-related vocabulary to the students and partly intended to explain the current economic landscape in the United States and [View Full Entry]

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