China

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I was in northern China for the Great Wall of China Marathon (I did the 1/2 marathon).

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Photos

Beijing Zoo
On our first morning you and I walked from the hotel to the subway, rode it up to the zoo, and went to visit the pandas.

Giant Panda
The Giant Panda is the rarest member of the bear family and some scientists believe Pandas are a species separate from bears. By 2005 the Chinese Gov't had established 50 reserves for Giant Pandas by protecting more than 2.5 million acres for them. The average female Panda gives birth to only 2 cubs in her lifetime.

Panda
Giant Pandas were first described to the western world by French Missionary Pere Armand David in 1869. A Panda eats 84 pounds of bamboo in a day (it eats for 12 hours/day).

School Children
on a field trip in the Beijing Zoo. Beijing is a 3000 year old city.

Boat ride from Beijing Zoo to Summer Palace
It was an hour ride along the river which leads into the lake that the Summer Palace resides on.

View Of Front Of Palace From Boat
I'm sure it's a beautiful view on a clear day (am not sure how much of the haze was due to the weather being overcast and how much was due to the smog of air pollution).

Jade Belt Bridge
Lake Kumming was entirely human-made for the creation of the imperial gardens of the Summer Palace and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.

On "17 Arch Bridge"
The Summer Palace was where Chinese royalty went in the summer, away from the main palace known as the Forbidden City. (I like numbers with a 7 in them- perhaps because I was born on the 17th, in room 707, at 7:07am, and weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces.)

Summer Palace Was Built From
1406 to 1420 and the gardens date back to 1152 AD

Longevity Hill As Viewed From Kumming Lake
China spent $44 billion readying Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games, of which $17 billion went toward reducing the air pollution.

U.N.E.S.C.O. World Heritage Site
In December 1998, U.N.E.S.C.O. included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "A masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value.".

Front Of Palace Looking Out Toward Lake
from Logevity Hill.

View Of Lake Kumming
from Longevity Hill (which several of the palace buildings rest on)

Fu Dog
The (lion-headed) fu dogs were imperial guardians with mythic protective powers popular in architecture from 206 BC - 220 AD. They’re always shown in pairs with the male being the protector of the structure and the female being the protector of the inhabitants. Their job is to guard against evil spirits and harmful people from entering a home. Fu dogs are believed to be the inspiration for the tailored breeding which led to the Pekinese and the Pug breeds (both of which originated in China).

Entrance Gate To Lama Temple In Beijing
The Yonghe Lamasery was formerly the office of the enuchs in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In 1694, under Emperor Kangxi's reign (during the Qing Dynasty), a residence for Prince Yinzheng was built on the site.

Incense Offering At First Courtyard In Yonghe Lamasery
The temple complex smelled heavenly, not only from the incense but mostly from the white blossoms on ornamental trees of the monastery grounds. The custom when approaching a Buddhist temple is to burn incense as an offering, to bow, and to extend heart-felt respect and appreciation for the teachings to gain enlightenment- and I added a special prayer of my own.
In 1744 the Qing Dynasty formally changed the status of the grounds to that of a Lamasery and it became the national center of Lama administration of Tibetan Buddhism.

Lama Temple
Falundian (Hall of the Wheel of the Law) is the building for Lamas reading scriptures and holding Buddhist ceremonies. The Falundian Hall's architectural style contains attributes of both Tibetan and Han Nationalities. It was formerly the dwelling of the Emperor's wives. This is a statue of Tsong Kha-pa, an ancestor of Lamaism.

Lama Temple
This is inside Yongyov-dian Hall. The statue on the left is Amitayus (Longevity Buddha, in the middle of this 3 Buddha hall) and to the right is Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine or Healing Buddha). To the left is a 3rd Buddha which is Simhanata, Wisdom Buddha).

Tsongkhapa
(1357–1419), whose name means “The Man from Onion Valley”, was a famous teacher of Tibetan Buddhism and who founded the yellow sect of Lamaism also known Gelug tradition whose 2 distinguishing characteristics are:
* The union of Sutra and Tantra, and
* The emphasis on Vinaya (the moral code of discipline)

Comments

[Will]

twas great
we had a blast, lets all do it again in 2013- please come join us in savannah in november for the rock and roll marathon