China Travel Blog

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I recently travelled to Xi’an, China and came across this gem of a poster outside a local bar. Apparently it teaches women how to behave and what to do when a guy calls them:

1. When you get a call from a man do not believe he just want to discuss some philosophy with his valuable time, however it is perfect to prove your charm.
2. Emphasizing this is nothing but a game, if you play the game try your best, it will make you happy, nevertheless, it will cost you a lot if you still serious for this game.
3. Man is apt to self-worth, so you can make he confused without any effort. By the way this kind of people is interesting and dangerous. Be careful!
4. When you be enamored of someone, don’t receive his invitations but keep him at an arm’s length.
5. Don’t drunk before men’s invitation, because he may still invite you to have a drink. Don’t ask he pay a big bill that will make him unhappy.
6. Leave before you drank and don’t forget explain to you female partner.
7. When you plan to make a call to a lovely men, remember wear your glasses and breathe smooth without gum. Come down.
8. When you get a ring please wait for others speak first because men like women who are mysterious.
9. Don’t believe what a man said in a call. The best way to understand him is talking with him after he drunk.
10. Don’t hung up the call rudely, if you don’t want to talk with him you can speak softly, ’shi t’.

Such words of wisdom.

A friend recently forwarded me this touching story from the mountains of Chongqing, China -

An incredible love story has come out of China recently and managed to touch the world. It is a story of a man and an older woman who ran off to live and love each other in peace for over half a century.

The 70-year-old Chinese man who hand-carved over 6,000 stairs up a mountain for his 80-year-old wife has passed away in the cave which has been the couple’s home for the last 50 years.

Over 50 years ago, Liu Guojiang a 19 year-old boy, fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu Chaoqin..

In a twist worthy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, friends and relatives criticized the relationship because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children.

At that time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman.. To avoid the market gossip and the scorn of their communities, the couple decided to elope and lived in a cave in Jiangjin County in Southern ChongQing Municipality.

In the beginning, life was harsh as hey had nothing, no electricity or even food. They had to eat grass and roots they found in the mountain, and Liu made a kerosene lamp that they used to light up their lives.

Xu felt that she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him, ‘Are you regretful? Liu always replied, ‘As long as we are industrious, life will improve.’

In the second year of living in the mountain, Liu began and continued for over 50 years, to hand-carve the steps so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.

Half a century later in 2001, a group of adventurers were exploring the forest and were surprised to find the elderly couple and the over 6,000 hand-carved steps. Liu MingSheng, one of their seven children said, ‘My parents loved each other so much, they have lived in seclusion for over 50 years and never been apart a single day. He hand carved more than 6,000 steps over the years for my mother’s convenience, although she doesn’t go down the mountain that much.’

The couple had lived in peace for over 50 years until last week. Liu, now 72 years, returned from his daily farm work and collapsed. Xu sat and prayed with her husband as he passed away in her arms. So in love with Xu, was Liu, that no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife’s hand even after he had passed away.

‘You promised me you’ll take care of me, you’ll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?’

Xu spent days softly repeating this sentence and touching her husband’s black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.

In 2006, their story became one of the top 10 love stories from China , collected by the Chinese Women Weekly. The local government has decided to preserve the love ladder and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.

Navigating your way around the maze that is China’s cities has just gotten much easier with our new Personalized Map Service. In three easy steps, you can now create and share your very own personalized interactive English China map that shows:

• A map at a location and zoom level of your choosing
• A popup text bubble at any location you desire. The text bubble can contain any information you wish, for example: an address, directions, date and time of the meeting place, etc
• Your map’s recipients can drag, zoom in, zoom out or view the map full screen

Click here to start creating your personalized interactive English China map

Here are some example personalized maps that can be created:
The Bird’s Nest - National Stadium in Beijing
Peter’s House Party
South entrance of Nan Luo Gu Xiang

Visitors to Beijing and Shanghai now have a powerful new tool to browse the top tourist attractions, restaurants, nightlife and shopping destinations in China’s two most cosmopolitan and vibrant cities! Using FunTouristAttraction.com’s interactive attractions map, at a glance you can:

• See where the city’s top attractions are located
• Compare different attraction’s star ratings using the color-coded labels
• Quickly find different types of places (attractions, restaurants, nightlife and shopping destinations) using the color-coded labels

View the Beijing interactive attractions map
View the Shanghai interactive attractions map

FunTouristAttraction.com’s pan-able and zoom-able interactive attractions maps make it super easy for tourists to:

• See which subway stations are closest to their favorite attractions
• Plan their own walking tours to fully experience the sights, sounds and smells of the city that are impossible to experience from a tour bus
• See where the best attractions are geographically clustered within the city

Planning your own self-guided tour in Beijing and Shanghai is now a piece of cake!

Beijing is a great city to visit – there are so many new and interesting things to see, do and eat here.  I highly recommend watching at least one show or performance in Beijing – you will more likely than not return with many cool stories, videos or pictures for your jealous friends and relatives back home : ) Listed below are what I believe are some of the best shows and performances in Beijing for tourists and visitors:

Afunti Dinner Show
Enjoy a Xinjiang-style dinner (lamb kebabs and beer!) and an excellent show with plenty of kungfu, belly dancing, acrobatics, lucky draws and audience-participation games.

Da Zhai Men Dinner Show
Walking into this restaurant is akin to taking a time machine back to the Qing dynasty. You will be presented with great Chinese food and a variety of performances such as: Wu-Shu, Acrobatics, Kung-Fu and Chinese Opera.

National Theatre for the Performing Arts (The Egg)
Come watch a Chinese opera, ballet, play or international orchestra in the most impressive opera house in the world: a beautiful egg shaped titanium and steel structure nestled on a shimmering sheet of water.

Massage
While not strictly a “show” or “performance”, a massage also allows you to sit back, relax and enjoy! I consider getting a massage one of the must-dos for Beijing visitors – it’s certainly one of the most relaxing and pampering experiences a person can have.

Pyongyang Hai Tang Hua North Korean Restaurant
If you have a large group (6 or more people), reserve a private dining room at the Pyongyang Hai Tang Hua North Korean restaurant to try some great North Korean style barbequed meat, seafood, wine and dog soup(!). Halfway through dinner you will be presented with a very well done performance of traditional Korean dance, girls in frilly retro costumes playing various musical instruments, karaoke, etc. The friendly restaurant staff are all from North Korea.

Thank you for visiting our new website and blog. Stay tuned - we plan to introduce many exciting new features and content to www.funtouristattractions.com in the next few months!

Got questions, feedback or suggestions? Please send them to funtourist123 at gmail dot com.