Flickr Picks: My favourite China related finds from Flickr, the photo sharing website. Click on the image to visit the photo's home page on Flickr.

smile2laugh16 posted a couple of photos of the Teracotta Warriors:

A couple more photos of the Terracotta Warriors in Xian, which are superb. The colours are what really makes them. I won’t ramble on any more about them, I just wanted to present them here.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

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INeedCoffee posted a photo:

Starbucks is growing rapidly in China.

I used to occasionally go to the store in the shopping centre at the top of Wangfujing in Beijing. It was always packed on Saturday, although less busy on Sunday. While quite a few Westerners were there, an equal number of Chinese people were there as well, reflecting the growing number of middle class Chinese people, who are adopting somewhat more of a Western influenced lifestyle.

Service was good and staff could speak passable English, although occasionally there’d be a little surprise.

There are already quite a few stores in Beijing (69 stores according to the Starbucks website). I predict more will open in future (even as American and Australian stores close). There is a big demand for the product and the costs of running the stores are much lower, although the prices charged aren’t significantly lower.

There was a bit of controversy about the store in the picture, because it is inside the Forbidden City. There are varying opinions on whether this is appropriate, both amongst the Chinese and foreigners, but I for one would be happy if it was removed.

It may be convenient, but I don’t go to the Forbidden City for convenience, I go to soak up the ambiance of ancient China.

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malias posted a photo of an indeterminate shop’s staff on parade, getting a pep talk, out the front of the shop:

In a previous post, I mentioned that it’s common to see restaurant staff on parade, but it’s not restricted to restaurants. Managers love nothing better than getting their staff out on the street and chewing them out!

It’s interesting to visit this photo’s home page on Flickr and click on All Sizes link to see this in the largest size. At that size, you can clearly see the facial expressions of the staff and it’s quite interesting (not funny as in some of the previous photos I’ve mentioned), but interesting nonetheless.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

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unfoldedorigami posted several photos of the guards near the Forbidden City:

These are the soldiers who patrol the area between Tiananmen (the gate, not the square) and the Forbidden City.

The photo of the guards practising their gongfu (kungfu) martial arts skills is a classic. Click on the photo to go to the photo’s home page on Flickr, then click on All Sizes to check out their expressions!

When marching they look pretty impressive, but you’ll also see the human side of them. I once saw them lined up on parade, but they were all holding a variety of boutique shopping bags! Presumably the bags contained their dinner bowls (at least that’s what I was told).

They also have a basketball court there and occasionally you’ll see them out there playing. This is in-between Tiananmen and the entrance to the Forbidden City, one of the major destinations for tourists in Beijing. There are thousands of tourists there at any given moment.

In the West, these sort of things happen away from the public. In China, it’s all out there in the open. For me, that adds to the charm.

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unfoldedorigami posted a couple of photos of the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium:

There’s a lot of pollution evident in these photos of Beijing, and the photos further down, which is a real concern only two days before the 2008 Olympic Games start.

I won’t be surprised if it rains before the games, which would really clear the pollution up. The Chinese are masters of cloud seeding, so don’t be surprised if it happens.

Leaving pollution aside, I think these two photos work really well together, especially the angle of the gutter. I also like the guy on the bicycle in the front left of the first photo. He really adds some action to the photo.

Here a couple more photos showing the pollution in Beijing, this time by madiko83:

Here the pollution looks even worse. The story is all over the Western news and in the press, which is a real shame for the Games.

Having lived just outside of Beijing, I can tell you that some days the pollution is terrible, but the next day you can get blue skies.

The pollution is much worse in the south (ie Guangzhou), and I’m hoping that they’ll get clear skies for the majority of the Olympics.

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braimondi posted a photo:

The Summer Palace (Yihe Yuan) is a must visit tourist destination in Beijing. It’s huge (290 hectares or 716 acres) and this photo is only showing the walk around Kunming Lake. There’s a lot more to it.

My favourite part is the Marble Boat (Shi Fang). Here is a photo of it by flibblesan:

You may recognise it from various movies. There’s a story behind it. The Empress Dowager was supposed to put the money towards rebuilding the Chinese navy, but spent it on this instead. She had many critics, although I remember reading that one Chinese academic said that any fleet China put together back then would have been easily destroyed, but the Marble Boat is still there, so it must have been a good decision!

There’s a lot more to see and it’s all very worthwhile. Along with the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace is part of the top 3 tourist destinations in Beijing.

As you can see there are a lot of tourists in this photo. Any popular tourist destination in China is certainly going to be packed with people, which is a pity really. It’d be great if you could get the Summer Palace to yourself!

I’m sure we’ll see many more photos of the Summer Palace here on Flickr Picks, as most visitors to Beijing go there.

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aenertia posted a photo:

I’ve read about this – the Bejing Olympics Tactical Response group are apparently well prepared for any terrorist threat that might arise at the 2008 Olympic Games.

As part of this, they’ve trained soldiers who can speed along on little ‘scooters’ called Segways while shooting up the terrorists.

I’m not sure how accurately they’ll be able to shoot while they’re zooming along (I suspect not very well), but they look impressive, like something out of a science fiction movie!

I’m just hoping they can sit and watch the Olympics on TV, rather than being called into action. Lets hope for a peaceful Olympic Games!

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cloneofsnake posted a photo:

Another example of Chinglish, following the previous example (Love Dirl, Love Goll). This one says Please Continue To Visit on an exit sign. They really don’t want you to leave!

Of course what they really mean is please visit again. It’s just a small mistake but it changes the entire meaning of the sign – and adds a little brightness to the day of native English speakers who see it.

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img_edv posted a photo:

A picture of some Chinese flat peaches, also called pantao, which are absolutely delicious. I’ve only ever seen them in China.

They look like you took a normal peach and squashed the top and bottom points in to a third of the size of a normal peach, with the rest being pushed out to the sides. They taste like a normal peach, only a little sweeter.

I’ve found that fruit often tastes better in China. I think this is because a lot of the fruit is grown locally and is therefore fresher. Or maybe because the supermarkets care less about the fruit looking great than they do in the West and more about the taste.

After searching the Internet about this, I found a site with lots of information on the pantao. They agree with me that it’s delicious:

A peach that is juicy and sweet—many say the best tasting of all peaches—and creamy with a pit that does not cling wrapped in a nearly fuzzless skin: I want that peach!

They also point out that they are also known as the Donut peach. Whatever you call them, pantao are fantastic!

The price is worth noting: 3 yuan for 2 jin (1kg). That’s an amazing price.

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Darren On The Road posted several photos of Hua Shan:

More great photos from Darren On The Road. Darren’s photos of Hua Shan are breathtaking. There’s no other word to describe it.

I’ve always been a sucker for mountains in the mist. Wait a minute, that’s cloud, not mist! Hua Shan is really high up – 2160 metres (which is 7087 feet) – although I’d guess Darren wasn’t at the very top.

Darren’s photos inspired me to find out a little more about Hua Shan, so here is a quick quote from Wikipedia’s entry on Hua Shan (or Mount Hua as it is known in English):

Mount Hua is located in the Shaanxi Province, about 100 kilometres east of the city of Xi’an, near the city Huayin. Hua was historically the location of several influential Taoist temples, and was known as a centre for the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts.

I love the pagoda on the edge of the mountain. That’s very Chinese. They’ll build pagodas and temples anywhere, no matter how difficult it must be to build it. The bottom left photo shows ribbons which have been tied onto the trees, presumably by climbing out on the branches, with nothing below them.

However, the most amazing photo is the last one: A photo of the path with nothing underneath it. Seems that’s for walking on! Amazing.

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