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

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.

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.

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.

Taking this photo did pose some difficulties. The wind direction affected the outcome very much. Handling the dark cityscape on one side and the bright fireworks on the other was the biggest challenge to me.