By Moammar Alhammad

In todays trip, we travelled through the subway to visit a side of China that is very important to the people of China and the rest of the world. Containing approximately 9 thousand rooms, The Forbidden City is one of the most visited places in the world. 14 million people a year visit the gigantic buildings and thrones that once belonged to the Emperor of China.

The Emperor of China had his own building where he could change his clothes, then another one where he could greet people on his throne, then yet another one where he could hold legitimate meetings with other significant people about war, international trade, etc.

This palace shows a sense of power and control that the ruler had over his people. Luckily, this year, we were part of the 14 million that visited the palace.

Shifting away from strength and power, we began walking in the narrow streets of Beijing, known as Hutongs. We noticed that in these areas everything was cheeper – our Chinese teacher, Liu Laoshi, bought a scarf from a mall that was 80 yuan, or $13. We found the exact same scarf in one of the shops that cost 10 yuan, $2.

We stopped at a nice restaurant to have lunch together, we had a chat about life and about the trip while enjoying delicious and authentic Chinese food. After that we travelled back to our host families houses and spent the night with them.

Tomorrow we’ll travel to another city and experience a new chapter of our adventures China, visiting one of the most important icons of in the country, The Great Wall.