Today was our second full day in Beijing! We got up at the same time, had our breakfast, and were out on Beijing by 8:30!

Today we visited the Forbidden City (故宫), Tiananmen (天安门) and had a Hutong (胡同) tour!

The Forbidden City was absolutely huge. It contains 999 buildings and is considered to be a palace. In ancient times, the Chinese believed the gods in the heavens had a palace of 1,000 rooms, so as a sign of humility they build a palace of 999 rooms. Today, there are 980 buildings still standing. Obviously only being there for a few hours only allowed us to walk through 5 or 6 of the courtyards, but it is fascinating in that the further you move towards the center, the more extravagant the buildings. There are 3 doors to first enter: only the emperor could use the middle door. His empress and concubines would enter through the left, and the officials through the right gate. After examinations, the student with the best scores could walk through the middle gate to accept his high achievement; he could only do this once however. I took a lot of 360 degree panorama shots of the palace, so when I get home I can show you just how big the Forbidden City is! It was built in 1420 as well!

Tiananmen was so huge! It is actually the third largest square in the world, and it can hold up to 600,000 people! On one side is the People's Congress Building, in the middle there is the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the Mao Zedong Mausoleum faces another corner. Finally, the National Museum of China and Great Hall of the People sit across from each other at the other two ends of the square. These kinds of buildings reminded me of the architecture one can find in Washington, D.C..

After going to these places, we again had another full course traditional Chinese meal waiting for us! Went to bed early because we were going to visit the Great Wall and move on to Nankai University in the morning!

We woke up in the morning, and went on our way to Tianjin! Our tour guide for this entire trip, Xiao Xin, told us all about life for young adults in China. It was really interesting to talk to her about the cultural differences for a few hours! We arrived at the Great Wall with 1.5 hours to spend, but we were determined to get to the top no matter how long it took. We climbed up the JuYongGuan section of the Great Wall(居庸关的长城), and we made it to the top after 45 or 50 minutes of steep climbing! We then bought some stuff at the top where salespeople could be found, and we continued back down for another half hour. We were so high that we were literally in the clouds, but the view was amazing from up there of the surrounding cliffs and forests! We got pictures on the top as well! Chairman Mao used to say "You're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall", so we had to do so to fulfill that famous Chinese saying!

After we finished at the Great Wall, we ate a late lunch at a large shopping center that was nearby, where I also bought a few more trinkets. Finally, we were on our way to Tianjin to Nankai University!

We arrived at Nankai at about five o'clock and had dinner around 6 in their special meeting room! Entering Nankai, there is a large statue of Zhou Enlai at the southern gate--he is one of the most famous people in modern Chinese history, serving as a past Premier of China. (周恩来)

After dinner, we took a tour of the campus! Believe it or not, Henry Kissinger was actually declared an honorary professor at the University. In the center lies a huge lake called Xinkai Lake (新开湖). Many students sit around the lake during the day, and couples are known to sit around it during the night time.

The campus is gorgeous! It is about one third or one fourth the size of Michigan State University's campus, but is still quite a large university. It is considered to be one of the best 20 universities in China, kind of like an equivalent of American Northwestern University for law school or such.

We called it an early night, as we had to get up for an 8:30 commencement into the university and my first day of classes! Stay tuned for an update at the end of my week about how my first week at Nankai was! Hope all is well back in Michigan for anyone who is reading this! Bye for now!

-Adam