My first visit to China was in the early ’80’s just after President Nixon opened up China to the US.  It was a bicycle tour beginning in Beijing, then to Nanking and down the Yangtze River into Shanghai.  An unforgettable voyage!  Since then, many things have changed in China, yet so much that has not changed. The Forbidden City is but one example.+

During that first visit, we rode out from the outskirts of Beijing to the great wall, and couldn’t resist the opportunity to carry our bikes onto the wall and ride for a short a distance that we could.

There were very few motor vehicles on the roadways but thousands upon thousands of bicycles.  Free ways – nada, flyovers – nada.  But now, its just the reverse.

During our visit (it was work related) we managed a little time off to and including a visit to the great wall.  

 But the highlight of our visit was the Forbidden city.  It was a breath taking then as it is now.  The beauty of photography is that it can convey more than mere words along.