A Closer Look Inside Beijing

Aside from visuals of the Forbidden City, Americans often have a difficult time visualizing the real Beijing. This video clip hopefully will get you excited to see the real Beijing, courtesy of Lonely Planet.

Film Pick of the Week: The Last Emperor

Over the next several weeks, I will be posting some film ideas for you all that are film fans like myself. In my opinion, there is no better way to get a feel for a country than to experience the film from that country. I have a fairly sizable collection of Chinese films, and I find them to be some of the best explorations of the human condition. I also find that Chinese film provides the western viewer with a better understanding of the eastern psyche and culture.

Although it's not technically a Chinese film, but created by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci in 1987, The Last Emperor is a perfect starting point for trying to understand China's history from the fall of the last dynasty, the Qing dynasty, in 1911, to the republic period, to Japanese invasion which really launched World War II in 1937 (two years before Germany's invasion of Poland), to Mao's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. The Last Emperor is actually shot on location in China, and its crew was the first to obtain permission to do so by China's Communist government. Aside from being a history lesson, the film is beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and superbly written and directed. Bertolucci's masterpiece was nominated for 9 Oscars and won all 9 of them (the first film to pull off this feat as well, and the only one to do so until Peter Jackson's Return of the King in 2003). Again, although not Chinese, this is a great starting point in getting acquainted with 20th century Chinese history. Check out the trailer below...

Destination: Beijing

Ladies and gentlemen, for the next several weeks, we will be exploring many of the iconic sights we will be seeing in Beijing in July. In gearing up for next summer's trip as well, I have posted a number of links to various sites you may want to frequent on-line to get more aquainted with Chinese culture and society, including the national television and radio station sites. To begin getting pumped up for our visit to Beijing--China's political and cultural capital--click on the video screen below to get a video introduction to the city.

Welcome to our China Trip 2009!

I just want to issue a warm welcome to all of you that have chosen to travel with us to China in the summer of 2009. I'm very excited about our continued preparations for the trip. There will be frequent updates to this blog regarding the trip itself, including a special "attraction of the week" feature that will highlight some of the history and details of the sites that we will be seeing in China between July 14th and July 22nd, 2009. Until then, feel free to peruse the itinerary by clicking here. More updates will be forthcoming!