London (IV)----Hyde Park Corner

In the afternoon 25th, August, Dr Hao and I went to Hyde park corner. Hyde Park is one of London's finest landscapes and covers over 350 acres. Henry VIII acquired Hyde Park from the monks of Westminster Abbey in 1536; he and his court were often to be seen on thundering steeds in the hunt for deer. It remained a private hunting ground until James I came to the throne and permitted limited access. The King appointed a ranger, or keeper, to take charge of the park. It was Charles I who changed the nature of the park completely. He had the Ring (north of the present Serpentine boathouses) created and in 1637 opened the park to the general public. In 1665, the year of the Great Plague, many citizens of London fled the City to camp on Hyde Park, in the hope of escaping the disease. Towards the end of the 17th century William III moved his court to Kensington Palace. He found that his walk to St James's was very dangerous, so he had 300 oil lamps installed, creating the first artificially lit highway in the country. This route later became known as Rotten Row, which is a corruption of the French 'Route de Roi' or King's Road. Queen Caroline, wife of George II, had extensive renovations carried out and in the 1730s had The Serpentine, a lake of some 11.34 hectares, created. Hyde Park became a venue for national celebrations. In 1814 the Prince Regent organised fireworks to mark the end of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1851 (during Queen Victoria's reign) the Great Exhibition was held and in 1977 a Silver Jubilee Exhibition was held in honour of Queen Elizabeth II's 25 years on the throne. In 1866 Edmund Beales' Reform League marched on Hyde Park where great scuffles broke out between the League and the police. Eventually the Prime Minister allowed the meetings to continue unchallenged and since 1872, people have been allowed to speak at Speaker's Corner on any subject they want to.

London(III)----Buckingham Palace

On 24,August Dr Hao and I visited Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of Britain's sovereigns since 1837. It evolved from a town house that was owned from the beginning of the eighteenth century by the Dukes of Buckingham. Today it is The Queen's official residence, with 775 rooms. Although in use for the many official events and receptions held by The Queen, areas of Buckingham Palace are opened to visitors on a regular basis. The State Rooms of the Palace are open to visitors during the Annual Summer Opening in August and September. They are lavishly furnished with some of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection - paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Poussin, Canaletto and Claude; sculpture by Canova and Chantrey; exquisite examples of Sèvres porcelain; and some of the finest English and French furniture in the world. Work began on Buckingham Palace in 1702 and has been the official London residence of the British Royal Family since 1837. After several expansions, the palace now has a total of 52 bedrooms, 78 bathrooms and 92 offices. The palace enjoys an imposing location in the centre of London, opposite St James’s Park. Every year, millions of visitors come to see the Changing of the Guard ceremony, which takes place outside the palace at 1130 daily from April to July and on alternate days at other times of the year. Visitors can also tour the inside of the palace during the summer months. The Ball Room, which is the largest room in the palace, opened to the public for the first time in 2000. The 19 State Rooms at the palace, which include the Throne Room and the Picture Gallery, house treasures including English and French furniture, paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens and sculpture by Canaletto. Visitors can also see inside the Royal Mews, which is one of the grandest working stables in the world.

London(II)---British Museum

On 25,August Richard and I went to the British Museum .When I was in China, I knew the British Museum is very huge and famous in the world. The British Museum holds in trust for the nation and the world a collection of art and antiquities from ancient and living cultures. Housed in one of Britain's architectural landmarks, the collection is one of the finest in existence, spanning two million years of human history. Access to the collection is free. The Museum was based on the practical principle that the collection should be put to public use and be freely accessible. It was also grounded in the Enlightenment idea that human cultures can, despite their differences, understand one another through mutual engagement. The Museum was to be a place where this kind of humane cross-cultural investigation could happen. It still is. The Museum aims to reach a broader worldwide audience by extending engagement with this audience. This is engagement not only with the collections that the Museum has, but the cultures and territories that they represent, the stories that can be told through them, the diversity of truths that they can unlock and their meaning in the world today. The Museum has continually sought to make its collections available to greater and more diverse audiences, first in London, subsequently the UK and worldwide. Over the past forty years, the increasing ease of international travel has meant not only that more visitors from abroad can come to London to use the collection, but that the collection can more easily travel to them, and be put to public use in new local contexts.

Nottingham

On 13,August Sophia and I went to Nottingham and met my former classmate. He is now working at the University of Nottingham .he and his wife welcome us to have lunch and introduced Nottingham in detail. Nottingham is traditionally one of the most popular universities for undergraduate applications. People from 150 different nations come to Nottingham and there are also campuses in Malaysia and China - UK students can opt to spend part of their degree studying at them, too. Nottingham is great for shopping, restaurants and nightlife. There's a lively and mixed social scene here and it's very student-friendly. The attractive campus is a short distance away, with landscaped grounds and lots of trees. It has great facilities for sports and the arts and the students' union is one of the largest and most active in the UK, with over 200 societies, sports clubs, student-run services, associations and a variety of social events on offer. There's also an award-winning student radio station. The union has recently had a £1m redevelopment agreed by the university. Academic standards at Nottingham are very high and there is an excellent graduate employment record, helped by a good careers service.

University of Oxford

On 4, August Rhein and our group all member went to visit University of Oxford. The university traces its roots back to at least the end of the 11th century, although the exact date of foundation remains unclear. This dating would make its duration now equal to 900 years, comparable to Plato's Academy (ca. 400 BC - 529 AD). After a dispute between students and townsfolk broke out in 1209, some of the academics at Oxford fled north-east to the town of Cambridge, where the University of Cambridge was founded. The two universities have since had a long history of competition with each other. The University of Oxford is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities, the Coimbra Group (a network of leading European universities), the League of European Research Universities, and is also a core member of the Europaeum. In recent years, Oxford is often ranked among the world's top-five universities. For more than a century it has served as the home of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which brings highly accomplished students from a number of countries to study at Oxford as postgraduates; these students often return to their home countries to pursue leadership positions in academia, business or politics.
There are 39 colleges of Oxford University and 7 Permanent Private Halls, each with its own internal structure and activities. The university's formal head is the chancellor, usually a distinguished politician, elected for life by the members of Convocation, a body comprising all graduates of the university. The vice-chancellor, who holds office for four years, is the head of the university's executive. In addition to Convocation, the other bodies that conduct university business are the Ancient House of Congregation, which confers degrees; the University Council, which formulates university policy; and the Congregation of the University, which discusses and pronounces on policies proposed by the University Council.
Oxford has had a role in educating four British and at least eight foreign kings, 47 Nobel prize-winners, 3 Fields medallists, 3 Oscar winners, 25 British Prime Ministers, 28 foreign presidents and prime ministers, 7 saints, 86 archbishops, 18 cardinals, and 1 pope. 7 of the last 11 British Prime Ministers have been Oxford graduates. All four Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom who served between 1880 and 1905 - Gladstone, Lord Salisbury, Lord Rosebery and Balfour - were educated at Eton and then at Christ Church.T. E. Lawrence was both a student and a don at Oxford, while other illustrious members have ranged from the explorer, courtier, and man of letters Sir Walter Raleigh to the media magnate Rupert Murdoch. The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, studied at Christ Church and was elected a fellow of Lincoln College. The Burmese Democracy Activist and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was a student of St Hugh's College, Oxford.

University of Cambridge

On 9,August Sophia, Richard and I went to University of Cambridge. The University of Cambridge is rich in history - its famous Colleges and University buildings attract visitors from all over the world. But the University's museums and collections also hold many treasures which give an exciting insight into some of the scholarly activities, both past and present, of the University's academics and students. The University of Cambridge is one of the oldest universities in the world and one of the largest in the United Kingdom. Its reputation for outstanding academic achievement is known world-wide and reflects the intellectual achievement of its students, as well as the world-class original research carried out by the staff of the University and the Colleges. Many of the University's customs and unusual terminology can be traced to roots in the early years of the University's long history, and this booklet looks to the past to find the origins of much that is distinctive in the University of today. The University is justly famous for its heritage of scholarship, historic role and magnificent architecture. This heritage supports one of the world's most important centres for teaching and research. The collegiate structure gives a strong sense of community, and the University is determined to remain at the forefront of international scholarship and research.The University of Cambridge is in the middle of the greatest expansion in its history. Through the generosity of benefactors, the University has been able to create a new science and technology campus to the west of the city centre, and is now looking to expand further to the north west of Cambridge. The arts and humanities have seen dynamic changes in their Sedgwick Site location and expansion in the city centre. Sustaining a world-class university demands investment in new facilities, new areas of study, and most importantly, in people; continued fundraising efforts and innovative partnerships will be vital. The University will celebrate its eight hundredth anniversary in 2009, marking the legacy of eight centuries and determined to remain among the world's greatest universities. We went to the King College, St. John College and Trinity College.

Edinburgh

On 12,August Sophia and I came to Edinburgh –the capital of Scotland. Edinburgh is one of the most distinctive and widely recognised cities in the world. Even people who have never been anywhere near Scotland will have formed impressions of the city based on a range of sometimes clichéd but usually attractive and positive images. Fortunately, we met the famous International Festival and looked at many strange things. The Edinburgh International Festival presents a rich programme of classical music, theatre, opera and dance in six major theatres and concert halls and a number of smaller venues, over a three-week period in late summer each year. Festival 07 runs from the 10th of August to the 2nd of September. Use the facilities at the right of this page to search this year's programme by art form or date. In addition to mounting the annual three week programme of events, the Festival has a year-round programme of education and outreach work, aimed at all ages from primary school pupils to adults. The Festival began in 1947, with the aim of providing 'a platform for the flowering of the human spirit'. Right from the start it inspired people to put on shows of their own outwith the official Festival, and soon these grew into the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Since then half a dozen or so more festivals have grown up around it in August and early September, and collectively these are often known as 'the Edinburgh Festival'.