TRIP DAILY DIARY: ASIAN-AMERICAN CULTURAL EXCHANGE

04/27/04 - 04/28/04 - TUESDAY FLY TO BEIJING; WEDNESDAY - SUMMER PALACE, WEDNESDAY NIGHT: ACROBATS

Steve and Chris enter the grounds to the Summer Palace along the great corridor. The corridor has a number of pavilions where the painted ceiling beams meet in great geometric detail.Each section of the walkway has painted scenes depicting myths and stories from China's past.	The man above right, is brushing prayers onto the pavement upon which we walked to get to the Summer Palace.
Chris, Joey, Fei and Asa in front of the Longevity Rock above. The Empress' favorite flower, the peony, fills the gardens, top right; a dragon, r-bottom, guards the entrance along with one of the many great brass "fire-extinguisher" tubs used in both the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City for fire control. They were kept full of water winter and summer.
	The brass lion, left, is guarding one of the courtyards of the palace, while the guardhouse above is part of the fortifications of the Summer Palace grounds.
Steve, Taylor and Joey (in orange) spontaneously formed a pyramid for this picture of one of the gates leading into the Summer Palace grounds.	Joey getting some loving by his buddies Taylor and Steve in this picture of the Marble Boat (which the Dowager Empress commissioned from the tax money she extolled from her subjects). The boat is for show only and never floated although it sits in the lake on footings.
The Summer Palace overlooks a huge lake and by being near water and at a higher elevation is cool in the sweltering hot Beijing summers.	Courtyards abound; built up the mountain to create the stepped palace. The roof lines are magnificent!
	Left, top: Owen capturing roof lines; Left, bottom: Steve looking out over the Summer Palace. Above, left: Taylor and Joey in front of the Summer Palace's main structure. Above, right: a gilded statue of Quan Lin in the temple of the palace. She is the Chinese goddess of purity and this is an original statue, not a recast one, that survived the Cultural Revolution.