Michigan vs. OSU kickoff: 4:30am

3:45am: Alarm goes off.

4:15am: Catch a cab outside of our apartment complex by tapping on the window and waking up the driver.

4:30am: Arrive at the Goose & Duck bar.

4:45am: Professional poker is still being shown on the televisions, Michigan fans getting testy.

4:47am: Derek is getting testy. He makes it clear that he did not call ahead to the bar to make sure they were going to show the game in order to get up at 3:45 in the morning to watch professional poker. Stacey busy chatting with some Michigan fans.

4:50am: John, the manager of the Goose & Duck, assures us that the game will be on soon. He is just waiting for the correct satellite signal. We don't believe John because he said the same thing to us about the Vikes game in Week 3 of the season at 2am (that signal was never found).

4:51am: We catch a cab and head to Frank's Bar with about 25 other testy Big 10 football fans (the scene outside of the Goose & Duck was much like an episode of the Amazing Race--everyone was frantically trying to wave down a taxi).



5:05am: Arrive at Frank's. The game is on the big screen and we've missed the first two scores: Michigan 7 - OSU 7.



5:15am: Derek, with Newcastle in hand, is a happy man. Also in the photo is Conor, one of Gavin's classmates from his summer program.



5:20am: Run into a couple of Edinians. Although they graduated from Breck in 2004 (which is the year I graduated from law school--I feel old), we chat about people we know in common and about the Tremendous Twelve from the Perkins at 50th and Vernon we all crave. Michigan fans celebrate a touchdown.



8:30am: We satisfy our Tremendous Twelve craving by ordering Beijing's version from Steak and Eggs. American breakfast sure does beat Chinese congee (porridge).

9:50am: We arrive home. Life as a sports fan with a half-day time difference isn't for the feint of heart.

Pictures from our June 2006 visit: Wangfujing

Wangfujing street (Simplified Chinese 王府井) is one of the Chinese capital's most famous shopping streets. Much of the road is off-limits to cars and other motor vehicles, and it is not uncommon to see the entire street full of people. You can get just about anything along this strip--from Nine West pumps to live scorpions on a stick.

Pictures from our June 2006 visit: Peking University (Beida)

Peking University (Traditional Chinese: 北京大學, Simplified Chinese: 北京大学, pinyin: Běijīng Dàxué), colloquially known in Chinese as Beida (北大, Běidà), was established in 1898, and is one of the oldest universities in China. The Times World University Rankings in 2006 rated Peking University as the best university in Asia, and ranked it 14th in the world.



My brother, Gavin, did his summer study abroad at Peking University this
year--so we were able to check out his dorm room and campus life. And here we are doing our classic China pose.

Pictures from our June 2006 visit: Houhai

Houhai is Beijing's newly-developed old town of western nightlife--full of small bars and pubs located around Houhai Lake. Most cafes and restaurants are individually owned and have their own unique style and service.

However, if you scratch at the surface of Houhai, just behind the western facade are your traditional Beijing neighborhoods, or Hutongs. Just hop on a pedicab for a glimpse into the past. Nightfall often brings many of the locals, young and old, to the small public square in Houhai, where they enjoy dancing throughout the evening.

Houhai and adjoining lakes Xihai and Qianhai— collectively known as the Back Lakes were dug out in the Yuan Dynasty (14th century) to berth barges from the Grand Canal, bringing goods from around China and beyond to the Emperor in his nearby Forbidden City.

Pictures from our June 2006 visit: The Forbidden City

Under the Ming and Qing dynasties, Beijing was divided into walled sections or cities--the Forbidden City (or Gugong, meaning Imperial Palace) was the innermost and the most important because it was the residence of the emperor. Construction of the original palace buildings began in 1406 and took 14 years to complete. Between 1420 and 1923 the palace was home to 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Entry was forbidden to all but those on imperial business until 1911, when the last emperor, Puyi, was overthrown, although he was allowed to remain in the palace for several more years.



The Forbidden City occupies 7.75 million square feet and there are allegedly 9,999 rooms, one less than the mythological number of 10,000 rooms in heaven. It is also surrounded by a 170-foot-wide, 19.5-foot-deep moat and a 33-foot-high wall with a perimeter of 3.75 miles.



The many halls, pavilions and gates are painted red, symbolizing happiness and auspiciousness. Yellow, considered a royal color, is represented in the glazed tiles of the roofs. Usually mythological animals decorate the curved ends of the roofs. The more animals, the more important the building.



A royal throne in one of the halls.



A dog statue made of gold.



Here we are just outside the Hall of Imperial Peace, located in the Imperial Garden.



Located just outside the northern gate of the Forbidden City lies the 57 acre Jingshan Park. Built in 1179, the park represents the highest point in Beijing, rising almost 160 feet. The man-made hill (Jingshan Hill) was formed with the dirt dredged to form the moat surrounding the Forbidden City. Within the park are five scenery viewing pavilions which afford spectacular views of Beijing. Unfortunately they were under renovation when we visited so we could only get a view looking east, instead of the view overlooking the Forbidden City.

Pictures from our June 2006 visit: Tiananmen Square

Scene of the tragic student demonstrations in 1989, Tiananmen Square is the largest city square in the world (880m by 500m; 440,000 m²). Open to the public, each sunrise the national flag is hoisted with military precision.

The Tiananmen Gate has survived since 1651. Along the square are the Monument to the People's Heroes (1958), Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall (where Mao lies in state), the Arrow Tower, and Qianmen. On the west side is the Great Hall of the People, Museum of the Chinese Revolution and the Museum of Chinese History.

Pictures from our June 2006 visit: Peking Duck

Beijing's famous dish! It's delicious.

Pictures from our June 2006 visit: The Temple of Heaven (Tiantan)

Built in 1420, Tiantan became part of the city during the Qing dynasty, when the Manchus extended the city walls. It is China's most famous temple and stands within a 667-acre park.

The whole area is enclosed by a wall, the northern portion of which is round (heaven) and the southern half square (earth). Shown in the picture above is Qiniandian (Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests). It is an 1890 replica of the building destroyed by lightening the preceding year. It was here that the emperor came to pray for a good harvest during the first lunar month each year.



Constructed without nails, this has wooden mortise and tenon joints and wooden brackets on supporting pillars. The 28 pillars (representing the constellations) are made of nanmu hardwood. The four large ones represent the seasons, the 12 inner pillars are the months of the lunar calendar and the outer 12 are the two-hour periods into which the day was traditionally divided. Together they become the 24 solar periods of the year.

Pictures from our June 2006 visit: The Great Wall continued...

Walls were first built as barriers between states during the Spring and Fall period--the oldest was built by the Kingdom of Qi in 500 BC and extended for 300 miles. When China was finally united in 221 BC under the Qin, the existing walls were linked together to protect the new China from invaders from the north.

The Han emperor extended the wall, but it was not until the Ming dynasty in the 14th century that an imperial regime was to have total control over its entire length again. The early Ming emperors almost entirely rebuilt the wall, extending it westward over 4,000 miles from Shanhaiguan to Jiayuguan. It was never to play such a significant role in Chinese history again--with the advent of the Manchus, who controlled the territory on both sides, the wall fell into disrepair.

Pictures from our June 2006 visit: The Great Wall

The ride up to the first leg of the climb! These carts are like ski-lifts, it's all about timing.





Although the present wall dates mainly from the Ming dynasty, at least 20 states and dynasties were involved in its construction over a period of 2,000 years, following different routes or building extensions according to need. Stretching 3,700 miles, the wall was garrisoned by up to a million soldiers and was complemented by over 1,000 fortified passes and 10,000 beacon towers.

Our pictures were taken at the restored section of the wall at Badaling, 45 miles northwest of Beijing. Other sections open to foreigners are at Simatai (60 miles northeast), Huanghua (40 miles north) and Jinshanling (56 miles northeast). These areas are much less commercialized (aka--less "I've Climbed the Great Wall" T-shirts for sale, which Derek does own).

I hope these factoids and stats I throw out are not boring our readers (but I know the curiosos appreciate it).

Unfortunately, the day we climbed the wall it was a bit hazy. These pictures definitely do not do the wall justice--it is truly amazing.

Pictures from our June 2006 visit: Ming Tombs

The tombs of the Ming emperors are about 15 miles from the Great Wall and 30 miles north of Beijing. Only 13 of the 16 emperors are buried here--the first Ming emperor is buried at Nanjing. The second emperor's whereabouts are unknown, and the seventh emperor is buried somewhere in Beijing. Three tombs are open: Dingling, tomb of the 13th emperor (died 1620), and the only excavated tomb; Changling, the largest, tomb of the third emperor (reigned 1403-1424); and Zhaoling.

The tomb area, once surrounded by a 25-mile wall, is approached via a sacred way. It begins at a commemorative gateway erected in 1541, passes through a vermilion gatehouse and then between stone animal and human figures.

Greaky, Snowden, Rain and Curl...

These are the names of some of my fantastic students (they selected their English names themselves back in high school).

In addition to practicing law full-time, I am teaching two college classes at a local university (Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications). I teach four hours a week: American Current Events with college seniors and American Novels/Short Stories with college sophomores. The students are all very eager to learn...and they love Kevin Garnett. I am enjoying the experience.

The students call me Professor Mitchell. The title has grown on me and so now I make Derek address me in the same manner.

The following are pictures of campus and one of my classes.