This afternoon, I'll board a plane in Shanghai and begin the 30-hour trip home. I leave China with a wealth of memories and images. We've seen and done so much more than I've had the opportunity to blog about here. So as a farewell gift, here are some of my other favorite images from this trip. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this is about 9,000 words' worth of travel treasure.

A chef in Beijing prepares the world-famous Peking duck.

Beijing artists practice calligraphy by painting with water on dry stone.

The Temple of Heaven is Beijing's most significant historic religious site.

Artwork at Beijing's Summer Palace, a lakeside retreate of the Ming Dynasty emperors.

Xi'an's elaboarte preparations for the Chinese New Year celebration.

The underground swimming pool at the beautiful new Sheraton hotel in Shanghai.

Locals and visitors browse the shops at Shanghai's "Chinatown in China."

The Shanghai Acrobats perform amazing athletic feats nightly.

We've enjoyed a number of over-the-top meals here in China, including hosted dinners last night in Xi'an and tonight in Shanghai. Chris Lee, owner of China Plus USA, is very well respected here in China, and so when he brings a FAM tour on a visit, his tourism friends pull out all the stops.

Last night's dinner included a number of colorful dumplings, many shaped to resemble frogs, ducks or other animals, as well as a variety of local delicacies. Among them were some foods that you won't find on western menus, such as ox hearts (I tried them -- not nearly as bad as you might think). But the meal also included many wonderful pork, chicken, beef and seafood dishes. All together, we counted some 37 dishes that were served family-style to our small group.

Tonight we're in Shanghai, China's business center, and staying in the brand new Sheraton hotel that is currently in its soft opening phase. The hotel management treated us to a wonderful dinner at their upscale Japanese restaurant on the 37th floor. The meal included beautiful sashimi --  raw tuna, salmon and shellfish -- as well as a number of traditional Japanese soups, salads and fried rice. The highlight, though, was the Wagyu beef, prepared in front of us on a tepenyaki grill. The cattle that Wagyu comes from are fed a premium diet, and caretakers massage them daily by hand to make their muscles extra soft and tender. The result was one of the best steak meals I've ever had, impossible tender and full of fresh flavor.

There are some perks that come along with working in the travel industry, and in China many of those are built on personal relationships. Here, as in so many other places, it's all about who you know.

A platter of ox heart and other delicacies... yum!

Frog-shaped dumplings in Xi'an.

Gathering around the tepenyaki table at the Sheraton in Shanghai. 

Fancy fingerwork makes dinner entertaining.

A splash of red wine turns beef preparation into fireworks.

For tourists, Xi’an is best known as the home of the terra cotta warriors. Discovered by local farmers digging a well in the 1970s, the terra cotta warriors are part of the massive grave complex of Qin Shihuang, an emperor who ruled around 220 B.C.

Previously, Qin was known in history for unifying China (through a brutal military campaign) and beginning construction of the Great Wall. With the discovery in the 1970s, archaeologist soon came to learn about his massive tomb complex, for which he had craftsmen build more than 7,000 terra cotta figures of foot soldiers, archers, charioteers and horses.

Today, about three thousand of the figures are unearthed and reconstructed in the main viewing area of the Terra Cotta Army Museum. Excavation still continues at the site, where workers unearth more figures in dozens or sometimes hundreds of pieces. To reconstruct just one of the figures takes around three months.

The terra cotta warriors have become one of the most known symbols of China, and have given historians a lot of insight into the beliefs and burial habits of the ancient Chinese. This large, still-life army is a striking sight to see. Even more striking to me, though, is everything it says about Qin and the ancient Chinese attitudes. Hundreds of thousands of workers toiled for nearly 40 years to create this terra cotta army to escort Qin to his afterlife, along with many other yet-to-be-unearthed features of the burial site. Afterward, many of the workmen and artists were killed, so that grave robbers would not discover the location of the burial site.

China’s history is defined by the heavy-handed rule of its emperors, and pock-marked with millennia of human rights abuses. Though we in the West still take issue with many of the policies of the current Communist Party rule (I can’t access Facebook, Twitter or Google here, thanks to the government’s “Great Firewall“), through the long lens of history we can see now just how far China has come. Hopefully, continued openness, free trade and interaction with the West will help China to emerge from its cocoon of authoritarianism to show the world the beauty that waits inside.

Full-size replicas of the terrac cotta warriors are available in the on-site gift shop... for about $3,000.

In Xi’an, a city of six million people in central China, the legacy of ancient emperors is still alive today. For many years, Xi’an was the imperial capital of China (the current capital is Beijing).

After flying to the city this morning, we spend our evening attending the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show. The Tang emperors ruled China from 618-907, during a time that has become known as the golden age of Chinese culture and civilization. The show presents many of the traditions of the period -- including music, costume and dance -- in vivid color.

If you’re a frequent group traveler, you’ve likely lost count of all the different dinner shows you’ve attended; this one though, was unforgettable. More than 100 dancers and musicians are involved in the production, playing Chinese instruments and music that date back more than 1,000 years. Though the sights and sounds were completely foreign to us Westerners, they were also beautiful and captivating.

This show is a first-rate production as well, with intricate staging and lighting. At one point, it actually rains on the stage; in the ending finale, actors representing the Tang emperor and his entourage parade majestically through the audience.

The more I travel in this country, the more I realize how much of its national identity comes from the imperial attitudes and dynasties of old. Perhaps understanding more of China’s past will inform the way we interact with them today.