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Shanghai incense vendor displays his wares on the street in front of the guardian golden elephants at his front door.

A fellow traveler uses his chop sticks to serve himself the steamed Chinese stuffed dumplings in Shanghai, China.

While walking from the British Polo Field, this chair was sitting in the street at the edge of the parking area and the roadway. Wondering, if this location was selected by the owner to lock down a seating position for a parade.

Close up of a blossoming apple branch in front of the Grand Mercure Hotel, Xi'an, China.
This image is straight out of camera (SOOC).

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.

Blooming fruit branch along walkway to Great Wall, Beijing, China, stands out against the front wood paneling of a tourist shop near the front entrance.

Chinese maintenance worker paints gold highlights around characters of commemoration monument along approach to The Great Wall.

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.

Needed my tripod as have some motion blur on the lit windows and the edges of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
Originally built in 652 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), it functioned to collect Buddhist materials that were taken from India by the hierarch Xuanzang.
First built to a height of 60 meters (197 feet) with five stories, it is now 64.5 meters (211.6 feet) high with an additional two stories. It was said that after that addition came the saying-'Saving a life exceeds building a seven-storied pagoda'. Externally it looks like a square cone, simple but grand and it is a masterpiece of Buddhist construction. Built of brick, its structure is very firm. Inside the pagoda, stairs twist up so that visitors can climb and overlook the panorama of the city from the arch-shaped doors on four sides of each storey. On the walls are engraved fine statues of Buddha by the renowned artist Yan Liben of the Tang Dynasty. Steles by noted calligraphers also grace the pagoda.
According to ancient stories of Buddhists, there were two branches, for one of which eating meat was not a taboo. One day, they couldn't find meat to buy. Upon seeing a group of big wild geese flying by, a monk said to himself: 'Today we have no meat. I hope the merciful Bodhisattva will give us some.' At that very moment, the leading wild goose broke its wings and fell to the ground. All the monks were startled and believed that Bodhisattva showed his spirit to order them to be more pious. They established a pagoda where the wild goose fell and stopped eating meat. Hence its name.

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.

Nikon D7100
f/4.5
1/800
ISO 100
18mm
manual