Our next stop on Friday was the jade factory. Jerry had given us a great talk about the significance of it, and then when we arrived we were given an educational tour. The silk tour we went on Saturday did the same thing, and I will admit being knowledgeable about the products makes you want to buy them more, but also it helps us to understand China more.
The maroon statue is a pixu, or money dragon, made up of parts of various animals (that Uncle Bunky is a plagiariser!). People like to have the pixu in their homes because it helps save money because the pixu eats "but never poo poo". So, money goes in but never leaves :)
The boat, which is made from one piece of jade, took 3 workers 2 years to make. Very big and very impressive1
We heard a lot about the 2008 Olympics. Here is a picture of the jade that was inlaid on the medals. It was very important to China for the medals to have a piece of Chinese culture on them.
Here is our guide "Andy" showing us the family ball. It was what the worker were working on in the first few pictures. From right to left shows the 4 stages the jade must go through. When complete, the ball has 2 spheres, one inside the other, yet it's still made from 1 piece of jade. It symbolizes the strength of the family. We bought a smaller version, and it's the only thing we bought in the showroom. Real jade is quite pricey!
Here are some pictures of other items for sale, all made from single piece of jade:
The Terra Cotta Warrior (which we will be seeing the real thing this week!) was $53,500, and the table was a whopping $480,000!
The most expensive kind of jade is jadeite, and it's the kind that changes color when you wear it.
Oh, we also had lunch on the second floor of the jade factory, which was served family-style via the biggest lazy susan you've ever seen. However, our plates were the size of salad plates. (The next day at another family-style lunch, our plates were saucers. It's pretty clear to me why our country has an obesity crisis.)
Next we passed the Olympic Village, the veniew for tennis (I think?), the water cube, and the bird's nest (where the opening and closing ceremonies were held). I failed miserably at a picture of the bird's nest.
So, we still were not done with our Friday outings. Our next stop was Hutong Lane, the old downtown...or as my mind immediately characterized it: "the have nots". We rode rickshaws (Spelling?) through this area. I quickly noticed public bathrooms on pretty much every block; most people in this area do not have their own "wash rooms". We rode down alleys, where we narrowly avoided hitting cars, other rickshaws, people, etc.
This excursion was also the first time we were hounded by vendors, who followed us on our tour. We stopped at the below house for Jerry to explain to us. This door way is in far contrast to everything else we saw in this area. Notice the 4 posts above the door - those indicate that the house behind was owned by the highest ranking people.
We stopped at a house to meet some local people. I immediately noticed they had 2 posts above their door. The inside was as tiny as it looked. We entered through a dining room (the kitchenette was to the right), then passed into the sitting room. It had a very large flat screen TV, but no couch only stools. This family had a private washroom, and very steep stairs led up to 2 bedrooms above us. Turns out this guy is a kung fu master, and his older son lives in Houston, TX (he gave us all a card on him). It was an extremy interesting experience.
Doug and I had been awake since 1:30 am, so we were barely capable of talking on the bus ride back. After room service, we were in bed by 6 pm.
Notes: On Saturday we went to orientation in the hotel and had lunch, then went to Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the silk factory. I will post this at some point, but the laptop battery is getting low, and none of the adapters have a 3-prong plug. I'm hoping I can borrow one from the hotel, but I'm saving the battery for the much-awaited AnnHelen posts. I am typing this at 4 am Sunday morning, and we are leaving Beijing today for Xian, Shaanxi at 8 am. TODAY IS GOTCHA DAY!!!
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