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Butterflies, an icon for the city of Beijing, form a mural on the elevator back wall above the Four Seasons-Beijing atrium and are visible from each floor.

From an interior terrace of the Chinese Imperial Palace's Forbidden City, the ancient roof lines provide an artificial horizon line for both the the modern skyline of Beijing and a new soaring white domed, Buddhist stupa.

Yinjang beer awaits selection by the diners of our party as beverage of choice for lunch near the Great Wall of China outside Beijing.
Chinese beers tend to be very light tasting.
Caution, Chinese white wine is compatible with kerosene and distilled from sorghum grains. In general, white grape wines are difficult to find outside of major hotels.

Broiled, deboned trout and fried rice as part of a Chinese restaurant lunch near the Great Wall outside Beijing, China. On another photography page, a fellow shooter paid me the greatest complement stating, "Now, I am hungry!" I think that is the idea with food and other product shots.

This fish was fried Sichuan style to accompany the evenings main course of Peking Duck, at Da Dong Restaurant in Beijing, China.

My wife, Jane did a much better job of my portrait, here. Some cropping and minor tweaking from post.

Breakfast buffet chef prepares eggs to order. Difficult to set white balance since the foreground porcelain was under florescent overhead lights and the infrared heat lamps were highlighting the chef's face; decided to correct for porcelain white and let the highlights fall naturally on his face.

Cleaning is a constant job in Beijing with a population approaching 20 million and growing at 44% for the last decade. A major public awareness campaign tied to the Summer Olympics has increased recycling and decreased littering. Many teams of 1-5 uniformed workers were dispersed ubiquitously throughout the city.

Hand drawn detailed icon of Chinese man's drama mask marks entrance to the men's restroom at the Red Wall Garden Hotel, Beijing, China. Like the strong blue cloth behind wooden window filigree covering.

This line of creatures along the gable of a Chinese Imperial building inside the Forbidden City, Beijing, China, denotes a building of minor importance among the family apartments. The man riding a chicken and the dragon-like mythological creature at the ends are not counted for precedence, only the animals in the middle, here 3, are counted and the count varies from 0 to 10 animals. Only the Imperial Palace has 10.
A practical need for these is as part of a lightning strike prevention system. Modern society has added a metal bar along the roof crests to augment this function.

A Chinese gondola approaches Yinding Bridge near Imperial Summer Palace, near Beijing, China.
The name translates to silver bar, which is the shape locals see in this bridge.

Young female attendant waits to welcome passengers aboard a Chinese National Railroad bullet train at Beijing railway station.
Was trying to figure out from which clone factory these young ladies came. Their statures were very uniform and their faces uniformly comely. Almost as if the central railroad agency only wanted to make one size uniform and be able to replace the attendants with no effort.

This treasure chest of local sweet treats greeted us in our room at Four Seasons Hotel, Beijing, China.

One of dozens of incense burners, which adorn the front stairs leading to the imperial palace. These are about the size of a 55-gallon drum and were constantly lit while the emperor was in residence at the Forbidden City, Beijing, China.
Believe the purpose was a blatant display of ostentation in combination with the practical keeping bugs away and suppressing the massive odor of so many people in a confined space.

A visually appealing display of table side carved, wood smoked, slow roasted Peking duck meat. This was our first taste of the world famous food, which had been selected by our hostess, Lori Zhang, VP for Marketing at Four Seasons Hotel, Beijing, China, to cap off a selection of local delicacies, which included sun dried cherry tomato appetizer and sweet and sour pork, using strawberries in place of pineapple.

A young girl plays peekaboo with her younger brother around a park bench inside the Forbidden City, Beijing, China. The family was visiting during the equivalent of Chinese Memorial Day.