China

Each of the 3,000 stone stele (tablets) at the Forest of Stele in Xi'an is a hand carved reproduction of a Chinese Caligraphy that recorded an important political or cultural moment in China’s history or demonstrates a major calligraphy style of the great masters.

Watch prints of the caligraphy bring produced by rubbing ink on wet rice paper applied to the surface of the stele. Then learn the basics of Chinese Caligraphy yourself, taking your work (and brush) home.

If you want to experience Chinese night markets there is no better city than Xi'an, with almost a dozen different markets scattered around the old city.

Each night market focuses on a the street food of a particular region of the country, so in the course of an evening you can take your taste buds on a virtual tour of the entire country.

Our favorites are the barbequed beef or lamb skewers, Steamed Dumplings, Fried Dumplings, Steamed Pastries, Roti, and hotpots. The fried scorpions are interesting...

If you like medieval forts you'll love Xi'an.

At the heart of Xi'an is a 14 square mile city laid out as a perfect rectangle surrounded by a massive wall. The wall is 40' high, 60' thick at the bottom, 40' thick at the top, and it's surrounded by a moat. It's further protected by corner towers, watch towers, and ramparts, all of which are connected by a wall-walk along the top hidden behind a parapet.

The wall walk takea 4 hours on foot, we'll use suspension bikes!

One of the greatest archeological discoveries in the world was made less than 50 years ago.

In 1974 some peasants digging a well discovered a life-sized clay soldier. They had stumbled across the long lost mausoleum of Emperor Qin (he declared himself "first emperor" after defeating the various kingdoms and unifying the country).

Since then thousands of soldiers, horses, chariots, and weapons have been unearthed.

The great wall of the First Emperor of Qin.

By the time he was 38 years old King Zheng of Qin had conquered the six major kingdoms between his kingdom and the east coast. He unified the kingdoms and switched his title from king to emperor by declared himself "Qin Shi Huang" (first emperor of Qin).

Qin's dynastry - pronounced "Chin" - became modern day China. The 13,000 miles of unified northern wall became the Great Wall of China.

It took over a million workers and fourteen years to complete the Forbidden Palace.

It was built for Zhu Di (the 3rd Ming Emperor) after he moved the capital to Bejing. Over the following 500 years it was home to another 13 Ming emperors and 10 Qing emperors including Henry Pu Yi (last Emperor of China).

Today the Chinese refer to it as the "Former" Palace. It is currently in the midst of a 16-year project to return it to pre-1912 condition (when Emperor Puyi was evicted).