My family was in Beijing from Thursday April 20th to 28th 2008. That was the first time we visited Mainland China. By the way, Hong Kong still has a separate governmental administration from China, so you need a Chinese visa to go from Hong Kong into Mainland China. This separate administration will continue for another forty years or so. It was interesting to see the differences between the two places. For the first time in seven months we were not so limited by space as we feel we are in Hong Kong, Beijing is spread out and there aren’t as many thirty story high-rise buildings everywhere you turn.
Everyone is not rushing around so much as well. On the downside – people are poorer and the grey hue and lack of HK fashion and techno gadgets everywhere were glaringly different than we are used to seeing here.The Great Wall: It was a great privilege to visit the Great Wall of China, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is a major tourist attraction. You can hike up and down the mountain to the wall, or use cable car service. They also have a toboggan ride down the mountain, which the family thoroughly enjoyed!
Tiananmen Square: This is said to be the world’s largest public square. Around the square are the “Great Hall of the People” and the “Forbidden City” – the latter so called because it was off limits for 500 years.
We also visited the “Temple of Prayer for Good Harvest”, more popular known as the “Temple of Heaven.” It is located on a different part of Beijing city. Fundraising at the Carnival For Care for Children Organization: Among the activities we carried out during out trip was a fundraising carnival. Alex acted as one of the two clowns.
Henry helped with soccer, Chika had fun hiding eggs for the hunt, while Tamari helped with the jumping castle.During a different event (called Sunday Night Live), Chika and Tamari acted in a wordless drama performance. The drama took place during the intermission in the gospel-music s
how. 
