I did well in geography when I was in school, but only in terms of identifying countries and their capitals. Before the trip, I had no idea where Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai were in relation to each other and the rest of the country. I had never even heard of Xian, although I had heard of the Terra Cotta Warriors there. To gain some perspective on the distances we traveled, I created a few Google Maps to reference. I know that the names of places don't show up on these maps (I couldn't figure out how to number the places so that I could reference them -- if anyone knows, please share!), but it still might give us some understanding of where things are. For instance, the northernmost destination on the Beijing map is the Great Wall; the innermost ring of the highway system there is the original location of the city wall, torn down during the Cultural Revolution during the 1960s-70s. The easternmost destination in Xian is the location of the Terra Cotta Warriors. For both of these cities, our hotels were right in the center of the city and nearby most of the places we visited. In Shanghai, our hotel is the westernmost destination on the map, far from the places we visited but by no means outside the bustling city.
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A National Perspective: Beijing to the north, Xian to the west, Shanghai to the south |
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Beijing |
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Xian |
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Shanghai |
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