Left for the Forbidden City at 9:00 AM. (See Shutterfly Photo Gallery pictures). The Forbidden City is named as such because only the royal family – emperor, his family and those serving the emperor could live in the royal city. The city is comprised of as many as 100 palaces which stretch for a mile or so. The royal city was built in the early 1400’s during the Ming dynasty and existed through the Qing dynasty and until the Boxer Rebellion in 1911. The vastness of the city with its attention to ornate details which all carried special significance was more than one could comprehend in even several visits, Mr. Wang who has been to the city several times since he was a little boy was still learning details he was not aware of….in part because the history of the city spans almost 600 years. After our tour of the Forbidden City, with another 100,000 people or so we had lunch at a very modest but traditional Chinese Restaurant. After lunch we all went home for a rest before taking off for the Royal family’s Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was built in the 1600’s during the Quig Dynasty by the mother of the emperor who wanted a cooler place for her son during the hot summer months. She created a hand dug lake that must be a mile wide by two miles long and around which the palace is built. The different buildings in the Summer Palace are connect by the longest outdoor corridor in the world measuring about a half mile in length.After time at Yuxuan’s home to shower and get cleaned up we went out for a 7 pm dinner. This was again a elaborate dinner in a private dinning area. After dinner we began a discussion of Yuxuan’s future plans which the parents had made. Yuxuan had no opinion what she should do after high school so the parents had determined she would study art and design. They wanted to know what courses she needed to take over the next two years to get into a good art and design school. Both Mengli and Vivien helped me try to explain to the parents that it was important that Yuxuan participate in the decision of what her future goals should be. They expressed appreciation for my role as a "grandfather" in Yuxuan’s life and asked if I would continue guide her studies.
We got home around 11:00 p.m. and all watched some World Cup Soccer as we waited for Mengli and Yuxuan to return home which they did around 12 midnight. Vivien and I also looked at the Program of Studies for an art school which Yuxuan would like to attend in NYC. In the midst of the conversation we somehow got talking about how clear the skies were in Dover and how you could see thousands of starts and Vivien commented, “I haven't seen a star since I was a little girl.” The reason is that the amount of pollution that surrounds Beijing and so many Chinese cities.
