How true, pentium. Although I have been to China, that was a little over ten years ago and much of what I saw and experienced in Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai probably just doesn't apply anymore which is why I've been hesitant to jump right in with my China travel suggestions.

It saddens me a little to think about how much Beijing, in particular, has changed in just the past 5 years in preparation for the Olympics. I have heard that all the old neighborhoods (the Chinese word escapes me at the moment) were all bulldozed before the Olympics. And many old storefronts had fake facades put up in front of them during the Games so foreigners wouldn't see them and think that everything in Beijing is brand new.

It's also weird--I had to be halfway around the world, way out in dusty Xian, to see the fabled terra cotta army at the original excavation site. Now, there's an exhibit of some of those same statues right here in Orange County. The world really is getting smaller!