My trip to China, part 3: I learn about 20th-century Chinese history

Over the past century, China has experienced some tumultuous history, and the city of Shanghai has been at the center of much of it. Yesterday, I went and visited some important sites in the history of Shanghai in order to learn more about modern Chinese history.

Before 1911, China was an empire ruled by an emperor in Beijing. The country was very weak. Its economy was terrible, most of the people got no education at all, and the country lost a lot of wars. Many people thought that the only way to make China strong again was to overthrow the empire. One such man was Sun Yat-sen.

My trip to China, part 2: I visit the gardens of Suzhou

A few days ago, I hopped on a very fast Chinese train and rode 25 minutes out of Shanghai to the city of Suzhou. Suzhou is a beautiful city that was built on a series of canals. In fact, it was the third city I have ever visited that is famous for its canals – can you name the other two? Here's a hint: both of those cities are in Europe.

Suzhou has long been a commercial center in China. In fact, it was the center of trade in east central China up until 1860. Before that time, Shanghai was just a sleepy little backwater farther down the river. After that, however, Shanghai grew rapidly in size and dwarfed nearby Suzhou.

Suzhou is most famous for its beautiful gardens. Back when China was an empire, some of the people who reached high positions in China's civil service built very nice houses for themselves. Since Suzhou gets quite hot during the summer, several of these people built elaborate gardens next to their houses so that they could relax in the shade of the cool trees. Loyal readers of this blog will remember that I visited one Chinese garden and one Japanese garden on my trip to Singapore. The gardens of Suzhou represent a very particular style of Chinese garden. One might even say that these gardens are some of the most famous in the entire world!

My trip to China, part 1: I visit the Bund in Shanghai

Hello from China! I have recently arrived in Shanghai, the most populous city in China. Shanghai is located on the east coast of China, near the mouth of China's longest river, the Yangtze. The city is a very important port, and it is also a financial hub for the entire world. With a population of more than 14 million people (and growing), Shanghai is a booming metropolis. It's quite an intimidating place for a little bear!

My trip to Warsaw

Greetings from Warsaw, Poland! I traveled here with my friend Kara, who also took me to Hong Kong and Kansas. Poland is a big country to the east of Germany, and Warsaw is its capital city. Warsaw is a beautiful city with many old buildings, and I enjoyed my trip there very much. Can you find Warsaw on a map? What other cities in Poland might I want to visit in the future?

My trip to Kansas

On my way back to Seattle from Hong Kong, I stopped for a few days in Kansas. I know I don't blog much about the United States, but I got some great photos at my friend's farm, so I wanted you to see them. The next time you eat a loaf of bread, you should stop for a minute and think about how that bread may have started out as wheat in a field in Kansas.

Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 9: the Roman ruins at Volubilis

Here is another post from Bobbe's trip to Morocco.

Like all countries that border the Mediterranean Sea, Morocco was once part of the Roman Empire. As you may remember, I have previously visited impressive Roman ruins in Italy and Turkey (and Benny has blogged about a Roman amphitheater in Jordan). Today, I'm going to tell you about my trip to see the remains of Volubilis, which was once the most important city in Roman Morocco.

Bobbe's trip to Morocco, part 8: the Sahara Desert

Here is the eighth part of Bobbe's report on her trip to Morocco.

From Marrakech, I headed out on a long expedition into the Sahara Desert. The Sahara is the largest desert in the world. It stretches all the way from Morocco and Mauritania near the Atlantic Ocean to Egypt and Sudan on the east side of Africa. Along the way, it contains some of the driest, hottest, most barren, most inhospitable places in the entire world. But the desert is also a really beautiful place.