China wasn't built in a day, either.

As China is such a vast country, and we saw so much, I'd definitely run out of memory on my computer if I photographed every interesting thing. So, I attempted to take photos of specific things in China which I felt were poignant, in that they were good examples of things we saw frequently.

The pictures below are some I took during our two weeks of touring and performing around the country. As is the case with all photos on my blog, you can click on them to see them larger; this is especially helpful for the wider, panoramic ones.

Shenzhen -- Shenzhen Concert Hall.

Shenzhen -- Inside the hall, a venue very much intended for classical concerts (notice the organ on the left side of the picture). I used the panoramic feature on my phone and it didn't really like the varied lighting, but you still get a good idea of what the hall looked like. While we weren't always playing in halls this formal, it seems every large city has one like this.

Shenzhen -- China's public art seems (to me) to heavily value symbolism. This gigantic statue of interlocking hands was outside our hotel.

Fuzhou -- One unique aspect of Chinese architecture I've not witnessed elsewhere in my travels is taking one model for a huge residential building and then replicating it multiple times, side by side. While you can see many identical buildings in the picture, there were many more outside the scope of the frame.

Fuzhou -- From giant residential towers to dilapidated buildings, people will live anywhere.

Dalian -- Creepily, most hotel rooms have large windows into the shower... Usually, the curtain covering the window is on the inside (so the person showering controls his or her visibility), though we did once stay in a hotel where the curtain was outside the window. I enjoy that this hotel took the extra effort to buy blinds.

Dalian -- Sunrise, probably around 5:00 a.m. While the window was indeed dirty, Dalian also just has a lot of smog.

Beijing -- We stopped in the restaurant next to the hotel for lunch and were taken into a private dining room, complete with a flat screen TV and private bathroom! Communal dining with lazy susans is very common.

Wuhan -- This is a panoramic shot from my hotel room on the umpteenth floor. 
(Yes, it's overcast, but it's also smoggy.)

Wuhan -- I think Daniel put it best when he said, "Traffic rules aren't rules, they're merely guidelines." I shot this from my hotel room, looking down onto the major intersection below, for one full traffic cycle. In China, right-of-way is determined by size: semis, buses, trucks, cars, motorbikes, and then pedestrians. Pay special attention to the people on foot and bikes, and how they just go, regardless of the traffic flow. I hope you'll find this video as fascinating as I do!