February 29, 2008 at 8:38 pm | China, History, Random
- Posted by Jason |
Does anyone here know what the Summer Palace in Beijing China is? Let’s just say if it were not for the even more gigantic and unfathomably humungeous Great Wall, the Summer Palace would be much more known worldwide. In a couple sentences: The Summer Palace covers 2.9 sq kilometers, which is huge. (75%+ is a lake. Although it is important to note that the lake is man-made, and the earth dug-up to make the whole that the lake now fills, was used to make a mountain.) The rest is, or was, a spectacular array of gardens, pagodas, palaces and such.
So what is the big deal? The French and British destroyed most all of the Summer Palace nearly 150 years ago, and the Chinese are now undertaking the task of rebuilding it. I bet they will skip the lake this time around. Now they are not rebuilding the original, they are rebuilding a replica (as exact as they can) in a different location. I can’t tell which is more spectacular. Check out the following two articles for more. Thought this little piece of news was kinda fun.
http://www.timesnow.tv/NewsDtls.aspx?NewsID=6047
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/19/content_7630722.htm
Below is a link to a Wikipedia article on the Summer Palace:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace
February 18, 2008 at 7:00 pm | China, History
- Posted by Jason |
A Friend sent me this story and I had to share it. I think one of the main reasons I am fascinated with China is because so much of their history, the good and the bad, seems like it is out of some bizarre fictional story book. Read on and you will know what I mean. I read this story and don’t doubt its validity one bit.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid a discussion of trade in 1973, Chinese leader Mao Zedong made what U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called a novel proposition: sending tens of thousands, even 10 million, Chinese women to the United States.
“You know, China is a very poor country,” Mao said, according to a document released by the State Department’s historian office.
“We don’t have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few of those to you, some tens of thousands.”
A few minutes later, Mao circled back to the offer. “Do you want our Chinese women?” he asked. “We can give you 10 million.”
After Kissinger noted Mao was “improving his offer,” the chairman said, “We have too many women. … They give birth to children and our children are too many.”
“It is such a novel proposition,” Kissinger replied in his discussion with Mao in Beijing. “We will have to study it.”
(Source - CNN)
