In 32 days I will be flying overseas for the first time in my life, not only will I be going overseas, but I will be going to Beijing, China. It feels very serendipitous that my first trip over the ocean is to China. I have been enthralled with Chinese culture for as long as I can remember. I even learned a little of the language in college, taking the only semester the course was ever offered. I will only be gone for 10 days and know that I will in no way get to see everything I want to see, but just to be there and soak up the history and culture is going to be AMAZING! Luckily, I am not going alone, I will be going with a group of 10 people from my UNI cohort. We will be meeting teachers and students from all over the world at the Flat Classroom Conference. I cannot wait to be completely submersed in culture from all over the world and see what these high school students will be able to accomplish. As we prepare for our trip, each participant has taken on a role to help us to make the most of our 10 days in Beijing. Being a history teacher, I chose to take the role of historian. Using what I already know about Chinese history, I have chosen the following attractions as our must-see destinations:
- Great Wall of China (Badaling)
- Forbidden City
- Temple of Heaven
- Tiananmen Square
- Ming Tombs and the Sacred Way
I have also found other destinations that would be great additions to the ones above:
- Ancient Observatory
- Badachu (Eight Great Temples)
- Hutong
- Confucius Temple (Capital Museum)
- Great Bell Temple
- Guangi Temple
- Lama Temple
- Lugou Bridge (Marco Polo Bridge)
- Niujie Mosque (Ox Street Mosque)
- Peking Man Site
- Temple of Azure Clouds (Xiangshan Park)
- Temple of Recumbent Buddha
- Museum of Dabaoti Han Tomb
I found these sites to be the most helpful in finding information for Beijing historical sites:
