So not only have we had a lot of fun, but we've actually been learning a lot along the way too! We took a private tour to the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall in Beijing... here's some of the interesting facts we learned:

Ming Tombs -

1. Most of the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty are buried there. Their tombs have both an above ground and under ground palace because they believe emperors go on to another life. Their above ground palaces are rectangle because the Chinese believe that the Earth is a rectangle. The below ground palaces are round because they believe Heaven is round.
2. The bury all of the Emperors treasures in the underground palaces. They have only excavated one of them and found over 13,000 treasures... each made of gold, silver, jade, silk or some other expensive jewel/fabric. The Emperors currency and belongings were all gold and the Empress had only silver. All of the treasures were in perfect condition except the silk outfits.
3. In addition to the Empress, the Emperors had MANY concubines that all lived in the Forbidden Palace. One Emperor had over 3,000 Concubines. It's tradition that the Emperor's favorite Concubine be buried with the Emperor... ALIVE!
4. Forbidden Palace - Had 9,999 rooms because the number 9 stands for longevity. All of the Emperor's Concubines, children, workers (Females and Unix) lived in this palace.
5. You ask.. what is a UNIX?? I asked the same thing. Because the Forbidden Placed housed all of the Concubines, the Emperor was the only man allowed to be in the Palace. Therefore, if you were a man and wanted to work there... you had to be castrated and were then became a Unix.
6. 3000 Concubines??? Each Emperor must have had a TON of children right?? Wrong.. some did have as many as 100, but the Emperor had final say. As soon as the Emperor would have sex with a Concubine, a Unix would ask him "if she's pregnant, do you want her baby??" If the answer was no, the Unix would force this Concubine to drink a tea that had the same effect as the "morning after pill".
7. The Ming Dynasty was the 2nd to last Dynasty in China and built the longest Great Wall. The last Dynasty was the Ching.

Great Wall

1. Did you know there were several Great Walls? Each time the Northern Border of China changed... the Dynasty at the time would build a new Great Wall. The one that people are allowed to visit was built by the Ming Dynasty and over 4000 miles long... that's longer than the entire width of the US... CRAZY!
2. The Northern side of the Great Wall is much taller than the South side because that's where the intruders would approach. It's amazing the system they have set up there! They have a tower called the "Beacon Tower" that keeps watch and lights up to signal everyone else if danger is approaching. There were several holes built into the wall that were used for viewing, shooting, or pouring hot oil on anyone trying to climb up.
3. You can tell the Great Wall is built by hand... each stone is completely different and the steps are drastically different in size. There are portions of it that are flat and steep... these were used for quickly transporting needed items in times of crisis!
4. The portion of the Great Wall you are allowed to walk on has been restored. The original Great Wall that hasn't been touched is falling apart and is completely over grown by vegetation. You can see bits of the old wall along the drive up to the touristy section :)
5. We were told this was a true story ... "One of the Emperor's favorite Concubines would never smile. He tried EVERYTHING to make her smile and NOTHING worked. He knew how much she hated the General so one day he sounded the alarm at the GREAT Wall by lighting the Beacon Tower. He and his Concubine watched everyone RUN to protect the wall and when they realized that it was a prank... the General was FUMING! The Concubine finally smiled :) A few months later, the Wall was really under attack. The Emperor sounded the alarm and NO ONE came... they all thought it was another prank. The Emperor was unfortunately killed and the Concubine smiled again."

About Jane (our tour guide) and the Chinese culture:

1. Jane is 25 and still living at home. Apparently, most people live at home until they are married. She has a boyfriend, but never gets to stay with him because her parents (like most others) are very strict and enforce a 10pm curfew.. EVERY NIGHT!
2. Jane is an only child because there is a one child law in China that's used to control population. This is sad, but it's common that families would want a boy so they can carry on their name and have someone to take over their businesses so they would give birth at home and leave their newborn girls on the steps of orphanages. Their orphanages are flooded with little girls :( Today they won't let doctors tell you the sex of the child... this has helped control this problem a little, but it's still exists today.
3. Once a woman has a baby, she's immediately encouraged by the doctor to have an operation to ensure she won't have another. Most women choose to do this...even today.
4. What happens if you have a second child? It's frowned down upon in society, both children lose their health benefits (1st child gets them free), they must stay in a house/apt built for a 1 child family, and school is no longer subsidized by the government.

That's all we can remember right now. A little history lesson for ya :)

Love and miss ya,

Rach and Steph