Beijing Day 4: Jade Factory, Great Wall, Cloisonne Factory

In the morning we got on our little touring van and started out toward the Badaling section of the Great Wall. Along the way we made a stop at a government-run jade factory. Inside we were immediately met by a docent of sorts who toured us through the steps of jade carving, while we looked on at a line of men at little carving desks working away. She also gave us a jade quality lecture to prepare us for our "shopping experience." And then we entered the showroom--full to the gills with all things jade. Dragons, fish, monkeys, foo dogs, jewelry... So we started roaming around, followed very closely by "jade ladies", who persistently pushed for our purchase of whatever we happened to be looking at. One jade lady tried to sell me a foo dog the size of my bathroom, saying "maybe we ship this to you?" Hilarious. But the jade is beautiful here. We've seen jade at several places over the past few days, but the quality here is much different. Jade has a long history in China and is highly revered, as it is said to bring good fortune. Because Kennedy's name contains 'Yu'--means jade--we wanted to get her a jade pig, as she was born in the year of the pig. Well, the jade pushing ladies were quite skilled, and we wound up with an entire zodiac set (small--nothing bathroom sized), a couple different pigs for Kennedy's room, a dragon (me), rabbit (Dan), another pig (Kennedy), and a gift for someone... Yep, the credit card finally came out. Jade is seriously expensive.

Back on our little van, we continued on to the Great Wall at Badaling. Badaling is a restored section of the wall and is swarming with tourists--99% of which are Chinese. The sight of the wall is as incredible as you'd expect. It winds through rocky, seemingly forbidding mountains...it looks as though the mountains themselves might have pushed the wall up, as it's hard to even comprehend the human labor it took to build this. As far as the eye could see, the Wall snakes around. It's quite stunning, and I'm doubtful that photos will do it justice. We climbed out this section for an hour or so until the visitor pathway ends at an ancient, unrestored section. The hike up was often steep and the steps were often tremendously uneven ranging from 3 to 14 inches tall in the same set. Along the way, the "Holy Crap! I'm standing on the GREAT WALL!" sensation was spine-tinglingly (is that a word?) awesome. (Holly made a point to tell me to bring my cell phone and call someone from the Great Wall, so she was the recipient of my phone call at 10pm U.S. time. You wouldn't believe how clear the cell reception was--10 times better than from my kitchen...odd.)

We took a gazillion photos here. It was so fun to see our travelmates' daughter climbing around on the wall. She is such a trooper. Most kids would have been all "carrrrrrry me, I'm tiiiiiired", but not this little powerhouse. She just kept plowing forward, up all these steps half her height. She is such a joy to travel around with and keeps us laughing with her adorable voice and funny little comments. We feel so lucky to have such an awesome group.

As we climbed back down, we ran into some very persistent post card and t-shirt vendors who seemed incapable of taking "bu yao" (don't want) for an answer. The Wall is lined with vendors every few feet selling post cards, t-shirts, marble etchings, palm paintings, and other Great Wall-themed wares. We found an older lady selling postcards who was relatively meek by Great Wall vendor standards, and Dan engaged in the cursory negotiating...and then gave her full asking price of approximately USD $1 for her set of postcards. The negotiating is almost required here, but it is difficult to engage in it when you know how little money was asked for in the first place and how little that person has.

Back where we started a couple hours later, Dan purchased a fabulous Chairman Mao t-shirt and we hopped back on our touring van. Chandler announced that we would be having a traditional Chinese lunch on the way home. Our van wound through the mountains, alongside the Wall at times, until we arrived at the Friendship Store. The Friendship Store is a government-run store that includes a government-run cloisonne factory. (Notice a theme here?) Before lunch, we toured the cloisonne factory. What an incredible art. The workers start with a copper vessel and then attach copper wire to it creating a scene or pattern. After this, the voids between the copper wire are filled in with watery enamel powder and the piece is fired and then filled again (up to 7 times) to build up the enamel. Then the piece is polished and burnished and the visible edges of copper electroplated in gold. It is such an involved process.

Lunch was at the Friendship Store restaurant. Pork meatballs, lemon chicken, pork "noodles" with scallions, oxtail soup, etc. Oh, and did I mention the pale, nasty french fries? Yep, french fries. Introduced to us with a smile as, "American food." Hilarious. (No one ate the fries, by the way.) On the table was small green bottle of some sort of traditional liquor whose name is escaping me now, so let's just refer to it as 'nail polish remover'. Dan and Jill's Mom Judy were the brave souls who tried this crap. The smell alone...holy crap. And the taste testers say? Nasty.

After lunch, we shopped for a bit. We bought some beautiful cloisonne for gifts and bought an incredible papercutting of the Great Wall. Chandler told us that papercutting is a very traditional Chinese art form and that there are no knives or lasers used to cut these, just tiny scissors. When you look at it, it hardly seems possible that something so detailed could possibly be crafted from folded paper and scissors. What a great way to commemorate our Valentine's Day--the day before meeting Kennedy--on the Great Wall.

Next we rode in our little van to the Bird's Nest Stadium and Water Cube. Holy mackerel, the Bird's Nest Stadium is jaw-droppingly amazing. The "sticks" in the "nest" are so much bigger than pictures convey. Standing next to it gave me goosebumps! A few self-portraits with it and the Water Cube and an hour of wandering the Olympic area later, we were back on our van headed to the hotel.

The van ride was funny. Chandler informed us that we should spend some time tonight "settling down" and preparing questions for the orphanage staff who will accompany the children. They way he told us to "settle down" just cracked us all up. (He said it in a way that, in our American context, sounded like we had been out partying and actin' a fool and now needed to get ourselves under control. Hilarious. What I'm sure he meant was more like, "Tomorrow is a big day. Take some time to relax and prepare.") He handed us our plane tickets to Nanchang on thus bus and advised us that we would leave for the airport at 9:00am on 2/15, arrive in Nanchang at 2:00pm, be at the Galactic Peace Hotel by 4:00pm, and that the kids are arriving at 5:00pm. HOLY CRAP!!!! Chandler also told us that he would ask the orphanage staff to stay as long as we needed them to to get our questions answered.

I can't believe that after 3.5 years we will actually have her in our arms in less than 12 hours. It is mind-boggling to think about it--absolutely amazing. I am not sure what our internet connection will be like in Nanchang, but we will do our absolute best to get something posted just as quickly as we can. I know you're all waiting to see her! For now, some pictures from February 14th: