55 Random Facts about China

Before my recent trip to China, for some reason, I had a bunch of wrong notions and misconceptions about this country. In hindsight I feel that some were so random that I can’t even begin to fathom where did they originate from. But whatever my expectations or beliefs China proved me wrong on nearly all of them. Hence it’s not surprising that this holiday also doubled into a learning experience – that I term as China 101. I discovered many new facts, explored some different facets and met some of its amazing people. Some of these experiences / discoveries were amazing, some shocking and some downright disgusting.

Forbidden City, Beijing, China

Weekly Photo Challenge – Angular

The topic for this week’s weekly photo challenge is Angular – what it means to you and to shoot an image from your perspective i.e. from any angle above, below etc. To the author it meant “Repeating patterns that once seemed boring aligned to form another shape with more depth”.

My inspiration for this topic was the Shanghai Tower in the Pudong area of Shanghai. This is an under construction tower and the tallest amongst its famous neighbors – the Jin Mao and the Shanghai World Financial Centre. Upon completion this is expected to be the tallest building in China and second tallest building in the world (second only to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai). The tower takes the form of nine cylindrical buildings stacked atop each other, all enclosed by the inner layer of the glass façade. These layers seem to twist as they rise. In the day this building looks like this –

The Shanghai Tower – pic courtesy wikipedia