About a 40 minute car ride from the Huangya Pass Great Wall in Ji County (northern China, outside Beijing and north of Tianjin) lies a vast tomb complex called the Eastern Qing Tombs a/k/a “Qing Dongling.” What are the Eastern Qing Tombs (Qing Dongling)? The Eastern Qing Tombs are touted as the most complete and…
Read More![The [Great] Wall Less Traveled ... Hiking the Huangya Pass in Tianjin's Ji County](https://tongatime.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Huangya-Pass-Ji-Country-58.jpg)
If you happen to be visiting the Beijing area, you probably don’t have the Huangya Pass on your to-do list, but you probably do have The Great Wall of China. Of course you do. It’s THE Great Wall! The trouble is, which wall do you see? People don’t talk about that so much. In fact,…
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When our tour bus pulls into the Panshan Ski Resort at 8:30 in the morning, I peer out the frosty windows, unsure of what to expect. Our “guide” walks down the isle, collects a 300 RMB deposit from each of us — (a surprise because we’ve already paid our admission fee) — then disappears for…
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*This article on my experience locating and purchasing a genuine Flying Pigeon bicycle in Tianjin, China was published in JIN Magazine‘s January 2014 issue, and re-posted on the government’s tourism site, exploringtianjin (dot) com.* (UPDATE: Upon review, it appears that the article has been moved to a new China Daily website, so I have updated…
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The Forbidden City, like the Great Wall or the Terracotta Warriors, is on every top-10-things-to-see-in-China list. Oh, fine. Probably not on every list, but close enough. I think the first time I was introduced to this landmark was when I saw The Last Emperor waaay back in the day. The scenes of the Forbidden City,…
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So, we finally did it, the Grand Poobah of many What-To-See-In-China lists: The Great Wall! That serpentine wonder whose image graces practically every Chinese restaurant. That misty, sprawling feat of human endeavor recognized as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. That singular, man-made structure that is so magnificent in size and scope…
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