China

I recently had the privilege of taking a trip to China.  I can say without hesitation that it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Things I did not know:

The Chinese culture is thousands of years old, but the Peoples Republic of China is actually less than 70 years old.

The Great Wall is really not a wall, it’s  a road through the mountains to move troops.

There are 9999 rooms in the Forbidden City. It was called Forbidden City because all citizens, unless they were part of the royal family or their servant, were not allowed in the city.

Beijing had a inner city.  There was a wall that surrounded this section so of the city.  The wall was 24 kilometres long.  Most of this wall was torn down by the Chinese government to make way for now what is call Loop 2, a highway.  This saddened me.

The average class size in the schools is 42 students per class. WOW.

All students take a test called the GAOKAO to get into college.  This is a very hard test that determines the quality of college you get into.  But all students do get into a college.

This is just a small list of the things that I learned.

I also learned that I WANT TO GO BACK!