DID YOU KNOW ... ?
Many Americans are unaware of China’s
contributions to world civilization.
Here are just a few:
a73 Paper — 1,800 years ago
a73 Gunpowder — 1,700 years ago
a73 Compass — more than 2,000 years ago
a73 Tea — 5,000 years ago
a73 Silk — 5,000 years ago
The Great Wall of China spans more than
4,000 miles. Terra-cotta soldiers (facing page)
stand in the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang.
young women, walking on to attend to his every wish were The Great Wall
the crumbling fl agstones of 10,000 eunuchs and 9,000 concu- The next day we departed our fi ve-
the vast courtyards. I noted bines. This Imperial Court’s extrav- star hotel to board a bus for a journey
not one wore sunglasses. agance of power lasted 500 years. to the Great Wall. To board the bus,
As we walked over a Now, instead of opulence, I saw we had to run a gauntlet of peddlers
stone bridge and through poor people in shoddy sandals tot- who were hawking faux designer
a central doorway — which ing black garbage bags into which watches. Cries of “Five dollars!”
was once only used by the they tossed plastic bottles discarded were heard echoing down the street.
emperor — I visualized by the crowd. Fake pearl necklaces and baseball
scenes from the movie “The As two in our tour group stopped caps with the Beijing 2008 Olympics
Last Emperor,” in which the to light cigarettes, Fred rushed up logo also were on sale.
title character paraded by and warned, “Smoking is forbidden On our way out of the city, I
the yellow-tiled pagodas in in the Forbidden City.” It was the noticed couples swing dancing in
his golden palanquin. Ready only smoke-free air I found in China. tree-shaded parks and even beneath
1 0 2 M I L I T A R Y O F F I C E R S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 8 PHOTOS: ABOVE, MIKE KEMP/GETTY IMAGES; FACING
PAGE, CHRISTOPHER ARNESEN/GETTY IMAGES
SSept_china.indd
102ept_china.indd 102 88/11/08 4:37:25 PM/11/08 4:37:25 PM
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