We landed in the airport and got amazed over the freshness, cleaness and modern desin. We walked the streets and wondered about the old streets and allies that simply weren't there anymore. We visited the university where Mao Zedong himself used to be a librarian, and where the first discussions and dreams about a revolution was developed among young intellectuals in the 20s. We wandered around between the buildings in the Forbidden City. We got blinded by the neon lights and ate barbecued snake. It was our first meeting with a totally different and new culture.
The airport in Beijing.
Old women's dormatories in the university we visited. It was founded by foreign missionaries, and the irony of that is that it was also the place where the first dreams about a revolution were developed by young students. Here we sat down on the grass, under the still warm autumn sun, and listened to a young former student. He told us about these transforming times in Chinese history, about the demonstrations 1989 around Tiananmen Square and the situation in China today. Himself he served as a deacon in the underground church, something that still has to be kept a secret because it's illegal.
Tiananmen Square.
On the way to the Forbidden City, the palace for the old emperor and his hundreds of wives.