The night before Rowe’s last interview with a Chinese artist before heading back to the states, Rowe went to Beijing’s Center Academy of Fine Arts where a special international event was held, centering around posters. The director of the Chinese National Art Museum treated Rowe to a “goodbye dinner” with the artists he filmed and the head of the museum.

Bob Rowe continued his day interviewing various Chinese artists including a female art professor at a university. Rowe visited the White Rose, Red Rose art gallery and was taken to the back room to see the traditional way of making Chinese tea. One of Zhiyuan Cong’s friends took Rowe and the other professors out to a fancy restaurant and showed them her private art collection.

Bob Rowe’s next stop was the Great Wall of China which he described as one of the “great wonders of the world.” Although Rowe didn’t go to the “tourist” part of the Wall, he toured where Bill Clinton did and rode on the same cable cart as the former president. After the Wall, Rowe visited the Bird’s Nest and dined to “farmer’s Chinese food” in the countryside. 

The $423 million Bird’s Nest is Beijing’s National Stadium designed for use throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The Bird’s Nest is known for the world’s largest steel structure. Many different architects worked on the design of the structure including two Swiss architects, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron of Herzog.

In senior Bob Rowe’s second video blog, one of the places he films is Tiananmen Square, located near the center of Beijing. The area is known to be the location of a famous photo taken on June 5, 1989, during a protest where an unknown protestor stands in front of a line of tanks, stopping them from moving. Rowe recall security guards stopping the group and questioning about what they were filming, why their bags were so heavy and what their bags contained. He said that he had to be “cautious” of what he was filming at the square.

One of the artists Rowe met that day was the director of the Chinese National Art Museum, Chen Lusheng, who Rowe describes as a “pretty powerful man” in his video. Click here to read the full Montclarion article on Rowe’s journey.

Senior Bob Rowe’s journey to China begins with his flight being delayed due to mechanical problems and mentions being “detained” due to his “sniffles.” Rowe had some trouble getting used to the time zone in China but was able to overcome it.