They're at it again...

Mom and Dad set their sites on China as the next installment in their adventures. Mom bought some text messages and is sending me updates, which I'm supposed to share with "everybody." I have been forwarding updates to sisters and aunts and cousins, but I thought a blog post might do more justice.

Stay tuned... there are many adventures ahead for them in this trip.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Third Update: Sunday, October 9


Sunday, October 9

Heaven's temple, meal with local family, pearl factory, Hot weather, people nice.  GPS will not work.  No talk of politics allowed.  Great food.  on to Shanghai!

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Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is a worthwhile visiting place in Beijing. It is much bigger than the Forbidden City and smaller than the Summer Palace with an area of about 2,700,000 square meters. The Temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty to offer sacrifice to Heaven. As Chinese emperors called themselves 'The Son of Heaven' ,they dared not to build their own dwelling,'Forbidden City' bigger than a dwelling for Heaven.

The Temple of Heaven is enclosed with a long wall. The northern part within the wall is semicircular symbolizing the heavens and the southern part is square symbolizing the earth. The northern part is higher than the southern part. This design shows that the heaven is high and the earth is low and the design reflected an ancient Chinese thought of 'The heaven is round and the earth is square'.

More here.

File:11 Temple of Heaven.jpg  File:Temple of Heaven Inside.jpg

File:Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China - 010 edit.jpg

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