Layers are essential for packing in autumn weather. North: it will be cool during the day and chilly at night. A light daytime base layer with fleece or sweater layering at night is a good option.
Central: it will be warm during the day and cooler at night. A light base for daytime and long sleeves/long pants in the evening is enough.
South: it will still be quite warm. Late summer dressing is fine but bring something lightweight for the occasional cool evening or heavy a/c room.
North: it will be cool during the day and chilly at night. A light daytime base layer with fleece or sweater layering at night is a good option.
Central: it will be warm during the day and cooler at night. A light base for daytime and long sleeves/long pants in the evening is enough.
South: it will still be quite warm. Late summer dressing is fine but bring something lightweight for the occasional cool evening or heavy a/c room.
Visiting China in October – Pros:
The weather is great for site-seeing, mild and very comfortable.
Domestic fares drop after the first week of October (National Day) so it may be a more reasonable time to travel within China.
Visiting China in October – Cons:
The first week of October is generally a week-long holiday for all Chinese workers. This translates into millions of domestic travellers on buses, trains and planes doubling and tripling fares.
As well as more expensive fares and hotel rooms, China’s top attractions will be mobbed with site-seeing domestic tourists.
What’s Happening in October:
October 1st, National Day marks the beginning of a week-long holiday for workers in China. October 1, 2009 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the PRC.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, otherwise known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, falls on October 3, 2009, so will be absorbed by the week-long October holidays commemorating China’s National Day.

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Other Moon Festival Legends
According to another legend, on this day the “Man in the Moon” was spotted at an inn, carrying a writing tablet. When questioned, he said he was recording the names of all the happy couples who were fated to marry and live happily forever after. Accordingly, just as June is the traditional month for exchanging nuptials in the west, many Chinese weddings are held during the eighth lunar month, with the fifteenth day being the most popular.

Of course, the most famous legend surrounding the Moon festival concerns its possible role in Chinese history. Overrun by the Mongols in the thirteenth century, the Chinese threw off their oppressors in 1368 AD. It is said that mooncakes – which the Mongols did not eat – were the perfect vehicle for hiding and passing along plans for the rebellion. Families were instructed not to eat the mooncakes until the day of the moon festival, which is when the rebellion took place. (In another version plans were passed along in mooncakes over several years of Mid-Autumn festivals, but the basic idea is the same).

How to Celebrate the Moon Festival

Today, Chinese people celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival with dances, feasting and moon gazing. Not to mention mooncakes. While baked goods are a common feature at most Chinese celebrations, mooncakes are inextricably linked with the Moon festival. One type of traditional mooncake is filled with lotus seed paste (see side photo). Roughly the size of a human palm, these mooncakes are quite filling, meant to be cut diagonally in quarters and passed around. This explains their rather steep price (around $5.00 in Canada). A word of caution: the salty yolk in the middle, representing the full moon, is an acquired taste.

More elaborate versions of mooncakes contain four egg yolks (representing the four phases of the moon). Besides lotus seed paste, other traditional fillings include red bean paste and black bean paste. Unfortunately for dieters, mooncakes are rather high in calories.

While in the past mooncakes took up to four weeks to make, automation has speeded up the process considerably. Today, mooncakes may be filled with everything from dates, nuts, and fruit to Chinese sausages. More exotic creations include green tea mooncakes, and ping pei or snowskin mooncakes, a Southeast Asian variation made with cooked glutinous rice flour. Haagen-Daz has even gotten into the act by introducing a line of ice cream mooncakes in Asian markets.

Given the difficulty of making them, most people prefer to purchase their mooncakes instead of making them. You’ll find them at Asian bakeries beginning around mid-August.

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In the end, I think we would have been a bit bored had we gone. While impressive with shear numbers and regiments of military units and tanks and all kinds of equipment I haven’t a clue what they are, I was expecting more of a spectacle along the lines of the Olympics Opening Ceremony. But it was a very serious affair with bigwigs like Mr. Hu Jintao and Mr. Jiang Zemin not cracking a smile.

Luckily, with the help of weather meddling, Beijing had a sunny day. Shanghai was not so lucky. But it has cleared out today so my son and I are going off to buy some mooncakes on Fuzhou Road. Maybe we’ll get to see the full moon tomorrow during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

From my ring-side seat on my couch in Shanghai (commoners weren’t invited to the parade, only dignitaries and a few on the VIP list), my family watched the pomp and circumstance of China’s 60th anniversary celebration. The People’s Republic was founded on October 1, 1949.

Tian’anmen Gate (fronting the Forbidden City) before the parade began

A view of Tian’anmen Square and the Great Hall of the People before the parade

Hu Jintao heads off from Tian’anmen Gate to inspect the troops for the parade

The honor guard heads to the flag pole

A ladies’ regiment marches along the parade route

Soldiers march during the parade

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Suzhou is a famous city throughout China for its gardens. Historically a wealthy city, due in part for its large silk industry, many of its residents built classical gardens that are preserved and open to the public today. Nine of the gardens are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Site list. Here’s a directory of the famous gardens of Suzhou.

Why Are the Gardens So Famous?:

Suzhou gardens differ from the imperial parks in like the Summer Palace in a single essential: they were built for the enjoyment of a private family. They are intimate and simple compared to the grandeur of the gardens for the imperial family.

The gardens were meant to be lived in and were adjacent to family houses and compounds. Owners invited guests and extended family for special parties, such as moon-viewing during the Moon Festival. While small, the gardens are designed so that a visitor receives a new perspective at every turn – a pavilion surrounded by lotus becomes apparent where before it was hidden.

The Lingering Garden:

（liuyuan）Built in 1566, the Lingering Garden is a classic example of Ming Dynasty private garden style. Its most famous feature is the Cloud-Crowned Peak. It is listed as one of Suzhou’s four most famous gardens.

The Humble Administrator’s Garden:

Probably the most famous garden in Suzhou, the Humble Administrator’s Garden is adjacent to the newly housed . Built in 1509, also an example of Ming garden landscaping, the garden is centered around a large water feature. August is a great time to visit the garden to see the lotus blooming.

The Lion Grove Garden:

The Lion Grove Garden is particularly famous for its rockeries – bizarre (seemingly to my untrained eye) man-made formations of hand-picked rocks by the designers of the garden. Built in 1342 during the Yuan Dynasty, it is counted as one of Suzhou’s four most famous gardens.
The Master-of-Nets Garden:

Built in 1180 during the Southern Song Dynasty, the Master-of-Nets Garden is small but a beautiful example of Suzhou’s private gardens.
More Gardens to Visit:
Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty
The Surging Wave Pavilion
The Couple’s Garden Retreat
The Garden of Cultivation
The Retreat and Reflection Garden

Tips on Visiting the Gardens:

Weekends and holidays mean crowds. If you can, visit during the week and arrive around lunchtime (noon) when the crowds of tour groups will be eating lunch in big tour group restaurants and you’ll be able to see the garden in relative peace for an hour.

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As the largest modern national forest area in China, Daxinganling is home to many rare plants and animals.

Natural plants in the thick mountain forest provide rich food resources as well as make for interesting sightseeing. Colorful wooden houses are sprinkled in the thick forest. Silver perches, pines and cypresses along with golden, pearl-like pastures and wild grasslands constitute a glorious oil painting.

Beautiful scenery of Daxinganling primitive forest in Northen China.

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Crowds of tourists visit the Qianmen Street, one of the old commercial areas of Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 3, 2009.

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The pijamas

In fact there is a bit of everything in China according to age, but very often it is anything that takes precedence, to the delight of our eyes amused.
The old example, have no qualms about going into the street in pajamas (sometimes slippers). Sisi are many pijamas, not clothes ugly ^ ^. So it’s also become one of the bad habits that the government wants to hunt for the arrival of J0 Beijing 2008.

Fashion and fashion victim of imitation

Side young Chinese who want to give a style or show that they are “in” buying fashion accessories … obviously false. By exemplen impossible to go to Pearl Tower without hearing “Watch? Rolex? Buitton Louis?” (they know not to say the “v” ^ ^). Unless they buy stuff really ugly in the end (LV bag khaki green with pattern of bright garish repetitive Bag “Fiona” (lol) still green khaki etc..), And they often continue to wear ugly clothes below! To summarize, for fashion, rather than buying clothes or pretty well made, the majority of Chinese will keep his clothes imitated and bad bill but add on top of a false or fake LV DG sunglasses, which makes the contrast even more surprising.

The Chinese

Chinese level is also quite funny. Even those who are not whores luxury almost always dressed in mini skirt ultra-short, so short that we do not often see in their high (a few centimeters beyond the buttocks, or sometimes even reverse). Even worse (or better, following like it or not) that the Japanese!

Chinese headdresses

Finally in terms of hairstyle, the sections are again very specific, albeit perhaps a cultural difference, not so much bad taste. In any case we have seen our share wanted back from the hairdresser and we were very afraid to go there! I preferred to wait until my 3 months to get me to cut in France rather than trying experience (gasp not very brave on this one ^ ^). In fact a cut very popular among girls is the fringe to the Louise Brooks, no gradients, and makes a little space.
Note that I love the hair of Chinese, for cons ^ ^. Even those Japanese are not as smooth!

To conclude, in general the Chinese pay little attention to their appearance, whether for homes (facades of skyscrapers sometimes really dirty and ugly) or their clothes, even if cities beginning to have their share of fashion victims . But apart from these significant differences and funny, most of the Chinese people dressed quite normally.

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