Shanghai

I didn't spend too much time in Shanghai. I only went there to meet up with a friend. It was smoggy when I tried getting a picture of the skyline. I did get to go to a museum in People's Square. That was nice.

Qingdao-famous for the beer!

Next we moved onto Qingdao, famous for their beer! Qingdao used to be a German colony, so some areas of town look very German! I didn't get a picture of the more modern skyline, but I did get some of the beach. So many brides were taking pictures at the beach for their weddings. We stopped counting! On the way back from the beach we got caught in a storm. It was so beautiful. The last picture is Corey's building.

Qingdao

Xian-Terra Cotta Warriors

So the story goes, in 1974 farmers digging a well (I believe) unearthed on of these soldiers. Historians had no clue what is was, but they started digging and have now found 4000 pieces. A whole army! They were never recorded in history, so one can only guess why they were made. But it is assumed they were made to protect the emperor after he died (I guess he was a bit of a jerk). The army is made out of clay and each one is different. It is thought that they were modeled after the real army at the time!

We had to wait a while to get in. Come to find out it was because the President of Turkey was there! He never waits for me.....

Xian-Terra Cotta Warriors

Old Mosque in Xian (who knew?!?)

Despite of China having no religion, Xian has a Muslim population. We explored an old Mosque. It was nice! We also went to a temple that had writings from Confucius! Wow!

Xian

Sorry my blog is being stupid, so I am going to have to do it like this. Ok, so Xian was the capital of China for hundreds of years. A lot of the history of China surrounds Xian. I even read that the standard dialect of Mandarin comes from Xian! Wow. Xian is surrounded buy a huge wall that was built to protect the city. Today, five million people live inside the wall! Wow!