Road to China
Ruth Somerville can sum up her visit to China in just a few words.
"It was the trip of a lifetime," said the Butler woman, who traveled April 9 to 19 to the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an.
Somerville traveled with friends Carol Pribila of Butler and Susan Morgan of Slippery Rock. The ladies arranged the trip through the Pittsburgh Airport Area Chamber of Commerce, which offers annual guided international tours with Chamber representatives.
"I always wanted to go to China and I never thought I'd get there," said Somerville, one of about 100 tourists split into groups of about 25.
The tour group flew to Beijing and arrived in time to visit the famous Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant for dinner.The travelers were led into the elegant restaurant by ladies in traditional long red robes."They showed us how to eat the Peking duck, which came out in small, very thin slices," Somerville said of the dish, considered to be one of China's national foods. "You wrapped it in something almost like a wonton, a very thin type of bread, and ate it."The next day, they toured Beijing and first stopped at Tiananmen Square. Covering more than 120 acres, it is the world's largest city center and the site of several key events in Chinese history including the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.The area was monitored, Morgan said."If you looked up, there were loudspeakers for announcements and cameras that moved underneath," Morgan said.The plaza itself is named for the Tiananmen, or Gate of Heavenly Peace, which sits to the north.The gate separates the square from the Forbidden City, the Chinese imperial palace.The palace contained emperors and their households and served as the center of Chinese government for more than 500 years.Now a museum, the palace occupies 7,800,000 square feet, with 980 buildings and 8,707 rooms.They also visited the Temple of Heaven, a complex of Taoist buildings."It's where the emperor would go to pray for a good harvest," said Pribila.They also were able to visit the stunning Summer Palace, also known as the Garden of Ease and Harmony. The palace is recognized as a masterpiece of Chinese landscape and garden design."It wasn't just a building, there was a huge lake and a 17-arch bridge going across," Somerville said. "It's where the empress dowager would go."Located north of Beijing are the Ming Dynasty Tombs, which contain the burial areas of 13 emperors over about 15 square miles.Near the tombs were lush gardens and pavilions that served as a gathering place for locals, Somerville said."There was a karaoke singer, people playing cards or playing badminton, people line dancing or doing exercise," she said, listing just a few of the activities.The tour group also visited a section of the Great Wall of China, which spans more than 5,500 miles and is the world's largest man-made cultural relic.
The ladies then took an optional side trip and spent two nights in Xi'an, located in Shaanxi province in northwest China. One of the nation's oldest towns, its name in Chinese means "the eternal city."Their first destination was the Buddhist Big Wild Goose Pagoda, but the most impressive display was the site of the Terracotta Warriors.The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, spent decades constructing the army to guard his city-sized mausoleum.The life-size figures date from 210 B.C. and were discovered in 1974 by local farmers digging a well.Every warrior's face is different, Somerville said. "The emperor had artisans that would work on them and then he'd kill them," she said.The Chinese government estimates there are three pits containing more than 8,000 soldiers along with hundreds of chariots and horses. Most figures are still buried, though the government plans to excavate the site within a few years.They also visited the Banpo Museum of Early Civilization, which includes remnants of a prehistoric settlement."They have a lot of on-site museums," Morgan noted, comparing the Banpo Museum to Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village in Washington County. "Rather than moving artifacts, they build the museum around the site."The group returned to Beijing, where they visited several factories and shops.The Beijing Jade Carving Factory features the largest jade collection in China, Somerville said.The milky green gemstone is surrounded by centuries of tradition, she noted. "All the young girls' mothers would buy them a bangle, a solid bracelet of jade," said Somerville, adding that women wear them their whole lives. "The bangle absorbs the body chemistry and it brings out more colors in the jade."Another stop on the tour was a pearl farm, which included locally harvested sea pearls and fresh water pearls."The girl brought out a freshwater pearl culture and had the group guess how many pearls were inside," Morgan said.The person with the correct guess — 21 pearls — was given the culture as a souvenir.Later, from demonstrators, they learned about the life of a silkworm and the process of making silk.Embroidered silk was displayed and the detail and craftsmanship were extraordinary, Morgan said. "Each stitch was placed inside a stitch so it blended," she said. "It would take years to complete."
Somerville said the group saw just a small part of the vast country, and she especially enjoyed learning more about Chinese culture."My favorite thing was getting a concept of the evolution of the country, from the ancient past up to today and what's happening, and the way that the society is very slowly changing with the young people," she said.Politically, China still maintains strict control over its people, and the tour groups respected such boundaries."There was no communication barrier, you were only introduced to English-speaking people," Morgan said.Travelers had little interaction with the general public and only visited government-sponsored shops, she added."We really did feel that everything was controlled," Somerville said. "They're careful what they say because you don't know who's listening."The younger generation seemed to be more modern, Somerville said.Contrasts were evident between the traditional and the contemporary, she noted."From Beijing to Xi'an to Shanghai, there was loosening up, from that feeling of constraint to a looser, broader way of thinking," Somerville said.Overall, the women agreed the trip was well-orchestrated and gave them an accurate view of the country."There were no snags in our traveling, we felt secure and safe," Morgan said. "We laughed our way through China — the tour guide said we were the happiest group she's ever seen."
Area: 3.7 million square milesClimate: extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in northTerrain: mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in eastPopulation: 1.3 billion, the world’s most populous nation with more than 20 percent of the world’s populationGovernment type: Communist stateCapital: Beijing<b><i>Information from the CIA World Factbook and www.nationalgeographic.com.</i></b>
