Marco Polo Bridge and Peking Man

On Monday, September 13, the fourteen PKU and Yale Students (7 from each school – 10 girls, 4 boys) along with some teachers went on our first group excursion. In the morning we went to the town of Wanping to see the Marco Polo Bridge. Before the bridge opened, we went to the Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. My roommate walked around with me and read and translated for me. We worked together – I learned a lot of new vocabulary. The museum was very interesting. It had pictures, explanations, artifacts, etc. It was the first war museum I had been to in China. Outside the museum the soldiers were singing. Before coming to China, I had never realized the significance and importance of the Japanese invasion of China. I know this is very ignorant of me, but this is interesting for me as I’m learning what type of relations China has with other nations in the world and this war is still very fresh in many Chinese people’s minds. After the museum, we went on the bridge. Marco Polo did not cross this bridge, he simply described it in his diary. Whether or not you believe that Marco Polo came to China is up to you, but you can’t deny that the bridge is a piece of art. There are over five hundred lion sculptures on the bridge. Each lion has a different position and its unique characteristics. Although there is no water under the bridge because of a dam that was constructed, you can try to picture what it would have been like many, many years ago. After the museum and the bridge, we headed off to lunch. Yes, you guessed it – Chinese food. It was fine – rice, vegetables, meat, and the pancake-like things they eat in the north of China that I love. After lunch, we headed to Peking Man Site at Zhoukou dian. This is where in the beginning of the 20th century the Peking Man-was discovered – Homo erectus pekinensis. Once you see the skeleton and sketches, you can still see the traces of ape/animal in him. Through the process of evolution, you can see the human race. I had never heard of Peking, which dates back to 250,000-400,000 years ago. You can see some skeletons of both “humans” and the animal fossils they found at that time in the museum. You can also walk around the caves and hike a little along the mountains. Overall, that Monday was very adventure-filled; I visited three new places.