Three Thousand Images 
In June of 2007, David, Lydia, Nathaniel, and Travis took a 10 day trip to China. We visited the cities of Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Shanghai, and Suzhou. The trip was a fabulous opportunity to learn about the history and culture of China. Along the way, our family captured over 3000 images of the experience. We also wrote a travel diary that captured our thoughts and impressions along the way. What follows are the highlights of the trip. For each city, find a selection of our images, an excerpt from the travel diary, and additional information about the history and culture of the city.
...from our Travel Diary
"We are on our way to Beijing -all four of us, Nat home from college, David leaving work behind, Travis excited to be out of fourth grade and on to fifth grade, and me just hoping
everything I've planned...turns out to be real"
China is a vast country in size and diversity. In 10 days, we really only had a taste of the country. I think we all agreed that we would like to return some day and see more of China.
Our trip was planned with a local travel agency who specialized in packaging tours for groups or private parties. With their help, we put together a package that built on one of their standard tours, with some special activities we wanted to do. The package was comprehensive, including all travel within China, hotels , and meals. The cost was surprisingly reasonable. The quality of the hotels was 4 star and the meals were mostly good. Each city had a professional guide, fluent in English and well versed in the history of the region.
There is vast amount of information to be found on China at your library or on the Web. This is a list of the sites we found most useful.
China has a vast history, compared to the Western world. I recommend using Wikipedia to get an overview of the major periods of China's history. These are most simply described as the Imperial history prior to Mao and the history of the People's Republic of China.