Day 71- School field trips "the Chinese way"

On Halloween, BNDS organized a school-wide field trip for the day.  I sometimes marvel at how things get done 'the Chinese way'.  It was quite an undertaking to move 600+ students, 70+ faculty, and I don't know how many motor coaches, across Beijing to two different sites for our outing.  On the plus side, they gave all the faculty 50 RMB for the day (for expenses?), and not one teacher was assigned to chaperone any of the kids.  All day long, all across town and back, visiting the Lugou Bridge, Sino Japanese War Memorial Museum, and the Qianling Shan Park, and not one kid was lost, nobody misbehaved, and we got back to school nearly an hour earlier than expected. I gotta say, I like how they do field trips here!  Lol.

The morning began at Lugou Bridge, also known as the Marco Polo Bridge.
It bridges the Yongding River, and the original bridge was constructed in
1189. Hundreds of artistically unique stone carved lions cover the bridge,
representing the Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties from 1115-1911.

In spite of the rich history, the bridge is most noted for being the site of the
July 7th, 1937 outbreak of the War of the Chinese People's Resistance
against the Imperial Japanese Army.  Interesting.

Originally there were 627 lions....

...now if you really wanted to count them all...

...you would come up with about 501- if you count the baby lion :)

This 5.5 meter high stone tablet contains the script describing
the repair process to the bridge.  It was written by Emperor Qianlong

Another stone tablet, probably about something important, except I get
my emperors and dynasties all sorts of confused, lol.

After the walk across the bridge and back, we decided to join the rest of the
kids at the Sino Japanese War Memorial Museum.  I like war museums.
Seriously, I really do :)

A map illustrating all of the battles that occurred between the
 Imperial Japanese Army and the Chinese People's Resistance.

Sometimes the English translation was a little off, but the wording was....
interesting.

Regardless of the propaganda (perhaps) 20 million Chinese were killed- which is tragic.

Before Japan invaded, the Chinese people were not very united.
Though there was a central government, there was dissent between
the people of different regions of China.  Clearly, though, the Chinese were
sorely outnumbered, poorly trained, and ill prepared for the total assault
(particularly the chemical assault) that besieged them by Japan. What I
gathered from the museum was that the Chinese people banded together
as a whole, took up arms, and rallied against the Japanese for the
next thirteen years, until 1945.  To think it all began on the Lugou Bridge
with 100 Chinese soldiers who were completely outnumbered and outgunned.

After the museum visit, our next stop was to the
Qianling Shan Park for a hike up the mountain to
the golden Buddha on top.  After several hundred steps,
in the freezing cold and damp drizzle, I finked out.
If you've seen one Buddha, you've seen 'em all- jk.

Any hike in a Chinese park makes for some interesting Chinglish signage-
like "this is the way to 'The Cave of God of Ealth".  Not my typo there.

After freezing outside for over an hour or so, several of us bailed on the park
and made our way down to a hotel with a restaurant.  We may as well spend
that 50 RMB they gave us.  Some students helped us decipher the menu
all in Mandarin, and we ordered way too much food.  It was tasty, though :)

A snooze on the bus ride back to school, arriving back before the official end of the school day, we were all dismissed to start the weekend early.  Like I said, I think I like field trips 'the Chinese way' :)

Happy Halloween, and G'nite, y'all!