Thursday, October 23, 2008

Croses Pouplume

The Croses Pouplume ("lousefeather") was an unusual ultralight aircraft developed in France in the 1960s. Inspired by Henri Mignet's Pou-du-Ciel design with its distinctive tandem wing layout, Croses set out to develop a similar aircraft to be powered by a single-cylinder motorcycle engine of around 6 kW (8 hp). The resulting machine, designated the EC-1 weighed only 108 kg (238 lb) empty, and flew around 1960. Like the Pou-du-Ciel, the Pouplume dispensed with traditional ailerons and elevators and pivoted the entire forward wing to provide pitch control

Monday, October 20, 2008

Rose Theatre

The Rose Theatre is located in downtown Brampton, Ontario. It opened in September 2006 with a series of public events throughout the month, culminating in a Grand Opening on September 29th featuring Diana Krall. The theatre includes a main performance hall with seating for 880, and a smaller multi-purpose hall with seating for 130-160, depending on configurationIt was built as "a cultural and tourist destination that will attract significant new business to surrounding restaurants, shops and services". The City says that the facilities are expected to generate $2.7 million in economic activity the first year and grow to $19.8 million by the fifth year. This is predicted to attract more than 55,000 visitors annually who will spend about $275,000 on before and after-show entertainment, creating close to 300 permanent jobs.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Egyptian pyramids

The Egyptian pyramids are pyramid shaped structures situated in Egypt, and were built as a tomb for dead pharaohs. There are over 100 Egyptian pyramids, most of which were built throughout the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. The first Egyptian pyramid was the Pyramid of Djozer which was built during the third dynasty beneath King Djozer. The pyramid was intended by Imhotep as a tomb for the King. The best known Egyptian pyramids are the Giza pyramids which are recognized among the largest structures still built and are the only residual monuments of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Gunung Mulu National Park

Gunung Mulu National Park, on the island of Borneo in the State of Sarawak, is the most studied tropical karst region in the world. The 52,864-ha park contains seventeen vegetation zones, exhibiting a number of 3,500 species of vascular plants. Its palm species are very rich, with 109 species in twenty genera noted. The park is dominated by Gunung Mulu, a 2,377 m-high sandstone pinnacle. At least 295 km of explored caves give a spectacular view and are home to millions of cave swiftlets and bats. The Sarawak Chamber, 600 m by 415 m and 80 m elevated, is the main known cave chamber in the world.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Future of Bluetooth

Broadcast Channel: enables Bluetooth information points. This will drive the adoption of Bluetooth into mobile phones, and enable advertising models based around users pulling information from the information points, and not based around the object push model that is used in a limited way today.
Topology Management: enables the automatic configuration of the piconet topologies especially in scatternet situations that are becoming more common today. This should all be invisible to the users of the technology, while also making the technology just work.
Alternate MAC PHY: enables the use of alternative MAC and PHY's for transporting Bluetooth profile data. The Bluetooth Radio will still be used for device discovery, initial connection and profile configuration, however when lots of data needs to be sent, the high speed alternate MAC PHY's will be used to transport the data. This means that the proven low power connection models of Bluetooth are used when the system is idle, and the low power per bit radios are used when lots of data needs to be sent.
QoS improvements: enable audio and video data to be transmitted at a higher quality, especially when best effort traffic is being transmitted in the same piconet.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Mount Everest

Mount Everest is the well-known uppermost mountain on Earth. Its peak (not counting the snow covering) being about 8,844m (29,015ft) high – and it continues to produce by an estimated two to five millimeters for each year!

The peak ridge marks the edge between China and Nepal.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Niagara Falls

Located on the border between Canada and the USA, the Niagara Falls comprises three divide waterfalls: the Horseshoe Falls (sometimes called the Canadian Falls); the American Falls; and the lesser, contiguous Bridal Veil Falls.

It is not the tallness, but the width and magnificence of the falls that takes your breath away.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Victoria Falls - Zambia/Zimbabwe

One of the world's mightiest falls, Victoria Falls thunders over a 100m-high, 1.5km-long cliff before rushing its enormous flow (120 million gallons of water a minute) into the Batoka Gorge.

Victoria Falls creates some of the world's most awesome white water, a spectacular view indeed

Monday, September 8, 2008

Paricutin Volcano

Paricutin Volcano in Mexico factually came from nowhere and emerged as a new volcano initial from a instant when the ground in a farmer's cornfield opened in February, 1943, and lava started graceful out! The lava flows then sustained with little break waiting February, 1952.

The lava covered two villages with lava, though there were no casualties, and today the top of the church of one of those villages can be seen peeking out of the solidified lava. A lot of people have climbed the volcano, which stands at a height of 2,800 m.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Angel Falls

Angel Falls is situated in the Guayana highlands, single of five topographical regions of Venezuela. It plunges off the rim of a "Tepuy", or table-top mountain, and free falls 2,421 feet to the river below, making it the tallest waterfalls on earth.In whole it is 15 times higher than Niagara Falls with a total of 2,937 feet.

Angel Falls was formally discovered in 1933 by an American aviator, James Crawford Angel. Getting to the falls can be difficult and usually involves taking a small flight from Caracus to Canaima and then a boat trip and trek to reach the falls. On the other hand, you could decide to just do an aerial fly-by of the waterfalls.

The falls are named after Jimmy Angel, a daring bush pilot from Missouri (Used to fly with Lindbergh's Flying Circus), today a contemporary legend. Jimmy Angel first saw the falls in 1933 with McCracken while penetrating for a legendary Gold Ore.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Aurora Borealis or Northen Lights

Aurora Borealis or the "Northern Lights" is the name known to a stunning light occurrence frequently seen in the northern regions of countries such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Alaska and Canada.

Mesmerizing, eerie, and never the same twice, Aurora Borealis flickers crossways the northern sky the majority often from September to October and March to April.

The Northern lights have frequently been described as the most astonishing natural firework display possible – with sparkling lights and surging colors in the sky.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Mount Everest

Mount Everest is the uppermost mountain in the world. Its height of 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) was determined using GPS satellite equipment on May 5, 1999. It was before supposed to be slightly lower (29,028 feet /8,848 meters), as determined in 1954 by averaging measurements from a variety of sites around the mountain. The new height has been confirmed through the National Geographic Society.

The first seven attempts on Everest, initial with a reconnaissance in 1921, approached the mountain from Tibet, where a route to the peak via the North Col and North Ridge seemed possible. All were ineffective. George Mallory, who spearheaded the first three expeditions, lost his life with Andrew Irvine throughout a failed ascent in 1924.

Unsuccessful attempts continued through 1938, then halted throughout World War II. By the war's ending, Tibet had closed its borders, and Nepal, previously unreachable, had done the opposite.


Thursday, August 14, 2008

Harbor of Rio de Janeiro

The Rio de Janeiro harbor is a stunning natural setting in south-east Brazil, stretching inland for concerning 20 miles. Many people know the bay for its huge statue of Jesus Christ – known as Christ the Redeemer or "Christo Redentor" – which looms on the Corcovado Mountain overlooking the bay.

There is some mistake in the name; Rio de Janeiro means River of January, but it is on the shores of Guanabara Bay. The Portuguese sailors who came early were in a naming spree; establish a calm water body within 20 miles of the shore they took it for the mouth of a river and named it Rio de Janeiro -the River of January as they exposed it in the month of January. Now the bay is Guanabara Bay its original name called by the natives and the enormous natural harbor functioning within the bay and the near city all are ‘Harbor of Rio de Janeiro’. It is the capital of the Brazilian state with the similar name -Rio de Janeiro.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's main coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for 2,600 kilometers (1,616 mi) in excess of an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometers (132,974 sq mi) along the north-eastern shore of Australia.

The Great Barrier Reef is a system of islands and coral reefs that is home to a huge biological variety of plants and animals. In addition to its ecological value, the area offers visitors the possibility to do a diversity of activities – including scuba diving, snorkeling, watersports and birdwatching – and a lot of places along the Queensland coast also present boat trips to the reef on a daily basis.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a huge rift in the Colorado Plateau that exposes uplifted Proterozoic and Paleozoic strata. The Grand Canyon is unmatched all through the world for the vistas it offers to visitors on the rim. It is not the deepest canyon in the world — together the Barranca del Cobre in Northern Mexico and Hell's Canyon on the Oregon-Idaho border are deeper — other than Grand Canyon is known for its overwhelming size and its complicated and colorful landscape. Physically it is significant because of the thick series of ancient rocks that are wonderfully preserved and bare in the walls of the canyon. These rock layers evidence much of the early geologic history of the North American continent. Grand Canyon is also one of the majority spectacular examples of natural erosion in the world.

Monday, August 4, 2008

The Pyramid at Chichen Itza

The Pyramid at Chichén Itzá (before 800 A.D.) Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, the most well-known Mayan temple city, served as the supporting and economic middle of the Mayan civilization. Its a variety of structures - the pyramid of Kukulkan, the Temple of Chac Mool, the Hall of the Thousand Pillars, and the Playing meadow of the Prisoners – can still be seen today and are affectionate of an extraordinary commitment to architectural space and work of art. The pyramid itself was the last, and debatably the greatest, of all Mayan temples.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Petra

Petra lies concerning 3-5 hours south of modern Amman, about 2 hours north of Aqaba, on the boundaries of the mountainous desert of the Wadi Araba. The city is bordered by towering hills of rust-coloured sandstone which gave the city some natural defense next to invaders.

The site is semi-arid, the friable sandstone which allowable the Nabataeans to carve their temples and tombs into the rock breakdown easily to sand.The colour of the rock ranges from pale yellow or white during rich reds to the darker brown of more resistant rocks. The twisted strata of different-coloured rock form whorls and waves of colour in the rock face, which the Nabataeans browbeaten in their architecture.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Christ Redeemer

Statue of Christ the Redeemer is situated at the top of Corcovado Mountain at a height of 710 meters.

Statue of Christ the Redeemer Brazil is surely one of the world's best known and the majority visited monuments.

The statue of Christ the Redeemer represents Jesus standing with outspread, welcoming arms and is one of the most well-known symbols of this lively city.

The entire monument of statue of Christ the Redeemer is 38m elevated with the statue accounting for 30m, the span from finger tip to fingertip is 28m and there is a small chapel housed in the bottom. As a vantage point it offers superb views of downtown Rio de Janeiro, the bay, Sugarloaf Mountain and Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches.

The monument of statue of Christ the Redeemer was inaugurated on the day of Our Lady of Aparecida, 12 Oct 1931 by then President of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas and cardinal Dom Sebastião Leme .

The innovative design of Statue of Christ the Redeemer Brazil was done by a Brazilian, named Heitor da Silva Costa. He was also the engineer in charge of the construction. He shared the project with French sculptor Paul Landowski. It was built from 1926 to 1931, with funds raised from donations. There's a chapel for 150 people on the stand of the statue.


Friday, July 25, 2008

Roman Colosseum


The Colosseum, which stands near the center of contemporary Rome, is possibly the finest existing example of antique Roman architectural engineering. One of the most well-known ruins in the world, thousands of tourists visit it every year.

The Colosseum is shaped like a contemporary football stadium and could seat 45,000 viewers. The four-story facility is 161 feet high, about 600 feet long and 500 feet wide. Events such as fights flanked by gladiators and between men and wild animals were detained there. Awnings could be hung from the walls to defend spectators from the sun.

The oval-shaped, sand-covered floor of the arena at first could be flooded for water spectacles. Later, though, cages for people and animals were installed under the arena. A wall alienated the arena from spectators whose seats rested on sloping concrete ropes as in many stadiums today.

Construction of the Colosseum started during the reign of Emperor Vespasian, who ruled from A.D. 69 to 79. building was completed in A.D. 80.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Taj Mahal


India’s pride and symbol of love and passion, Taj Mahal finally get the position among the new seven wonders as it deserves. The unofficially declaration held in a crowded soccer stadium at Lisbon in Portugal.It joined the other six greatest monuments including ‘Great wall of China’ and Peru’s Machu Picchu.

More than 100 million voters voted for this contest, said organizers on Saturday night. Taj Mahal joined the three Asian and two Latin American monuments along with only one European wonder. The Asian wonders are: ‘Taj Mahal’ of India, ‘Great Wall of China’ and ‘Petra’ of Jordan while in the Latin American monuments, ‘Chichen Itza’ of Mexico, ‘Christ Redeemer’ of Brazil and ‘Machu Picchu’ of Peru could get place in the list. ‘The Roman Colloseum’ of Italy is a single monument of Europe could able to get listed in the new wonders list.

Millions of people along with presented audience were cheered when Hollywood’s actor Ben Kingsley announced the list. The ceremony was live telecasted across the world. These new wonders replace the old wonders selected by Greek Scholars more than 2,000 years ago.

The old wonders were: ‘The Hanging Gardens’ of Babylon, ‘The Statue of Zeus’ at Olympia, ‘The Temple of Artemis’ at Ephesus, ‘The Mausoleum’ at Halicarnassus, ‘The Colossus’ of Rhodes, ‘The Lighthouse’ of Alexandria and ‘The Great Pyramid’ at Giza, Egypt in which only the Giza’s Pyramid is still in existence and the organizers have honoured it by giving a special category of wonder.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums originated as a group of sculptures collected by Pope Julius II (1503-1513) and placed in what today is the “Cortile Ottagono” within the museum complex. The popes were among the first sovereigns who opened the art collections of their palaces to the public thus promoting knowledge of art history and culture. As seen today, the Vatican Museums are a complex of different pontifical museums and galleries that began under the patronage of the popes Clement XIV (1769-1774) and Pius VI (1775-1799). In fact, the Pio-Clementine Museum was named after these two popes, who set up this first major curatorial section. Later, Pius VII (1800-1823) considerably expanded the collections of Classical Antiquities, to which he added the Chiaromonti Museum and the “Braccio Nuovo” gallery. He also enriched the Epigraphic Collection, which was conserved in the Lapidary Gallery.

Gregory XVI (1831-1846) founded the Etruscan Museum (1837) with archaeological finds discovered during excavations carried out from 1828 onwards in southern Etruria. Later, he established the Egyptian Museum (1839), which houses ancient artifacts from explorations in Egypt, together with other pieces already conserved in the Vatican and in the Museo Capitolino, and the Lateran Profane Museum (1844), with statues, bas-relief sculptures and mosaics of the Roman era, which could not be adequately placed in the Vatican Palace. The Lateran Profane Museum was expanded in 1854 under Pius IX (1846-1878) with the addition of the Pio Christian Museum. This museum is comprised of ancient sculptures (especially sarcophagi) and inscriptions with ancient Christian content. In 1910, under the pontificate of Saint Pius X (1903-1914), the Hebrew Lapidary was established. This section of the museum contains 137 inscriptions from ancient Hebrew cemeteries in Rome mostly from via Portuense and donated by the Marquisate Pellegrini-Quarantotti. These last collections (Gregorian Profane Museum, Pio Christian Museum and the Hebrew Lapidary) were transferred, under the pontificate of Pope John XXIII (1958-1963), from the Lateran Palace to their present building within the Vatican and inaugurated in 1970.

The Museums also include the Gallery of Tapestries, a collection of various 15th and 17th century tapestries; the Gallery of Maps, decorated under the pontificate of Gregory XIII (1572-1585) and restored by Urban VIII (1623-1644); the Sobieski Room and the Room of the Immaculate Conception; the Raphael Stanze and the Loggia, which were decorated by order of Julius II and Leo X (1513-1521); the Chapel of Nicholas V (1447-1455), painted by Fra Angelico; the Sistine Chapel, which takes the name of its founder, Pope Sixtus IV; the Borgia Apartment, where Pope Alexander VI lived until his death (1492-1503); the Vatican Pinacoteca, created under Pius XI (1922-1932) in a special building near the new entrance to the Museums; the Missionary-Ethnological Museum which was founded by Pius XI in 1926, arranged on the upper floors of the Lateran Palace and later transferred, under Pope John XXIII, to the Vatican where it has been opened again to the public in the same building which housed the former Lateran collections. In 1973 the Collection of Modern and Contemporary Religious Art was added and inaugurated by Pope Paul VI (1963-1978) in the Borgia Apartment. The Vatican Historical Museum, founded in 1973 and transferred in 1987 to the Papal Apartment in the Lateran Palace, houses a series of papal portraits along with objects of the past Pontifical Military Corps and of the Pontifical Chapel and Family and historic ceremonial objects no longer in use. The Carriage and Automobile Museum is a section of the Vatican Historical Museum. In the year 2000, the Vatican Museums opened a new large entrance that provides visitor information and other services; on display are many new artworks, two of which were specially created for this grand entrance hall.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Sahara Desert

The other side of the world could be closer than you think. Little pieces of Earth, particles of dust, can travel halfway around the globe and alter air quality, affecting animals, plants and weather. Summer storms from the planet's deserts kick up literally millions of tons of dust, and winds send it flying to far-flung destinations where it clogs our lungs, changes soil chemistry, deposits minerals in bodies of water and reflects the Sun's rays back into space.

In July 2000 alone, nearly 8 million tons of dust from Africa's Sahara desert reached as far west as Puerto Rico. "If you figure that a pickup truck weighs 1 metric ton, that dust weighed as much as 8 million pickups," says NASA aerosol researcher Dr. Peter Colarco. Colarco works to create computer simulations that forecast the movement of dust given current weather conditions. NASA and its partner agencies want to know what drives the movement of this dust and how exactly the dust changes our environment, not only so scientists can better understand the health of our planet, but also so they can predict where dust will imminently affect people.

Take the case of Africa. Winds blow twenty percent of dust from a Saharan storm out over the Atlantic Ocean, and twenty percent of that, or four percent of a single storm's dust, reaches all the way to the west side of the Atlantic. The remainder settles out into the ocean or washes out of the air with rainfall. Scientists think that the July 2000 measurements, made in Puerto Rico, equaled about one-fifth of the total year's dust deposits. If these estimates hold true over the long term, then the entire state of Florida receives about three feet of dust every million years.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Machu Picchu

The ruins of Machu Picchu, rediscovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, are one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world. While the Inca people utilized the Andean mountain top (2800 m elevation), erecting massive stone structures from the early 1400's, legends and myths indicate that Machu Picchu (meaning 'Old Peak' in the Quechua language) was revered as a sacred place from a far earlier time. The Inca turned the site into a small (12 square kilometers) but extraordinary city. Invisible from the Urubamba River valley below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population, and watered by natural springs, Machu Picchu seems to have been utilized by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city. The Spaniards never found Machu Picchu, even though they suspected its existence. The mountain top sanctuary fell into disuse and was abandoned some forty years after the Spanish took Cuzco in 1533. Supply lines linking the many Inca social centers were disrupted and the great empire came to an end. This simulated natural color ASTER image covers 12 x 15 km, was acquired on June 25, 2001, and is located at 13.1 degrees south latitude and 72.5 degrees west longitude.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Sizou City

Sizhou City was founded in North Zhou Dynasty (AD557-581), and during Sui Dynasty it was rebuilt in Tang Dynasty. In Song Dynasty, a new city was built opposite to the Bian River beside the Sizhou City and gradually its scope exceeded the old city zone. In Ming Dynasty the city wall between these two cities was taken apart and over the Bian River built a wide scaffold bridge, which made the two cities combined. To prevent the flood, outside the city gate was built 6 semi-circular enclosures and 5 enclosure gates; there was one enclosure outside the gate and only there were two outside the south gate as double sluice gates. When there was flood outside the city, the enclosure gate should be firstly stopped up and people could get out on the causeway of the enclosure gate. The old city of this pattern is especially unique in our country. In Ming Dynasty, large hydraulic projects were put into practice in order to protect Sizhou City and imperial ancestor mausoleum, and construct Hongze Lake to maintain water transportation. In 19th year of Kangxi Time in Qing Dynasty (in 1680), Yellow River and Huaihe River were all flooded and Sizhou district was suffered with 70 days' rainstorm constantly and then the city was submerged; nevertheless it was not located in the main riverway of Huaihe River, so it was not destroyed by turbulent flood but submerged by soil and sand until the 35th year of Kangxi Time (in 1696).
Sizhou City is a remarkable treasure of many ages. It has been under the water for over 300 years but thereby keeps a wonder of a almost complete ancient city. The value of the Sizhou City comes to its original historic feature and special precious travel resource. Compared with Pompeii City in Italy submerged by volcano, the underwater Sizhou City has the same result through different approach and therefore the underwater Sizhou City is called "Chinese Pompeii City" by the archaeologist.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a prehistoric gravestone located in the English county of Wiltshire, about 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) west of Amesbury and 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) north of Salisbury. One of the most celebrated primeval sites in the world, Stonehenge is unruffled of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones. Archaeologists suppose that the standing stones were erected around 2200 BC and the surrounding circular earth bank and trench, which represent the earliest phase of the memorial, have been dated to about 3100 BC. The site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World legacy Sites in 1986 in a co-listing with Avebury henge tombstone, and it is also a officially protected Scheduled Ancient Monument. Stonehenge itself is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage while the surrounding ground is owned by the National Trust.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Sahara Desert

The boundaries of the Sahara are the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea on the north, the Red Sea and Egypt on the east, and the Sudan and the vale of the Niger River on the south. The Sahara is separated into western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Aïr Mountains, Tenere desert and the Libyan desert (the most arid region). The highest crest in the Sahara is Emi Koussi (3415 m) in the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad.

The Sahara divides the continent of Africa into North and Sub-Saharan Africa. The southern border of the Sahara is patent by a band of semiarid savanna called the Sahel; south of the Sahel lies the lusher Sudan and the Congo River Basin. Most of the Sahara consists of gravel hamada; ergs form only a minor part.

The Sahara has one of the harshest climates in the world. The existing north-easterly wind often causes the smooth to form sand storms and dust devils. Precipitation, while rare, is not unknown. Half of the Sahara receives less than 2 cm of rain a year, with the rest receiving up to 10 cm a year. The rainfall happens very infrequently, but when it does it is usually heavy when it occurs after long dry periods, which can last for years.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Potala Palace

The Potala Palace is situated in Lhasa, Tibet independent Region of the People's Republic of China. It was named after Mount Potala, the habitat of Chenresig or Avalokitesvara. The Potala Palace was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India after an incursion and failed uprising in 1959. Today the Potala Palace has been changed into a museum by the Chinese.

The building measures 400 metres east-west and 350 metres north-south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 m. thick, and 5 m. (more than 16 ft) thick at the base, and with copper poured into the foundations to help testimony it against earthquakes. Thirteen stories of buildings containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues, soar 117 metres (384 ft) on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill", rising more than 300 m (about 1,000 ft) in total above the valley floor. Ritual has it that the three main hills of Lhasa symbolize the "Three Protectors of Tibet." Chokpori, just to the south of the Potala, is the soul-mountain (bla-ri) of Vajrapani, Pongwari that of Manjushri, and Marpori, the hill on which the Potala stands, represents Chenresig or Avalokiteshvara

Monday, March 31, 2008

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the Chinese regal palace from the mid-Ming house to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China and now houses the Palace Museum. For approximately five centuries, it served as the home of the monarch and his household, and the ritual and political centre of Chinese government.

Built from 1417 to 1420, the composite consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,706 bays of rooms and covers 720,000 square metres. The palace complex exemplifies conventional Chinese palatial structural design, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved antique wooden structures in the world.

Since 1924, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose general collection of artwork and artefacts were built upon the royally collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Part of the museum's former collection is now located in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Both museums descend from the same organization, but were split after the Chinese Civil War.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat), a World tradition Site, is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, built for King Suryavarman II in the premature 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a important spiritual centre since its base—first Hindu, dedicated to Vishnu, then Buddhist. The temple is the essence of the high standard style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime magnetism for visitors.

Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple building: the temple mountain and the later galleried temple. It is designed to symbolize Mount Meru, home of the gods in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 km (2.2 miles) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the consequence of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its widespread bas-reliefs and for the frequent devatas (guardian spirits) adorning its walls.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China, one of the furthermost wonders of the world, was enlisted in the World legacy by UNESCO in 1987. Just like a enormous dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching about 6,700 kilometers (4,163 miles ) from east to west of China. With a history of more than 2000 years, some of the sections in great wall are now in ruins or even completely vanished. However, it is still one of the most attractive magnetisms all around the world unsettled to its architectural magnificence and historical significance.

Anticipation abounds in the derivation, vicissitude and nature of the great wall of the Qin, Han, and Ming dynasties.The Great Wall was originally built in the Spring, Autumn, and martial States Periods as a suspicious strengthening by the three states: Yan, Zhao and Qin. The Great Wall went through steady extensions and maintenance in later dynasties. In fact, it began as self-governing walls for different states when it was first built, and did not become the "Great" wall until the Qin Dynasty. Emperor Qin Shihuang succeeded in his attempt to have the walls joined together to fend off the attack from the Huns in the north after the amalgamation of China. Given that then, the Great Wall has served as a monument of the Chinese nation throughout history. A visit to the Great Wall is like a tour through the history backwards; it brings tourists great excitement in each step of the wall