Our guide Lily said, “Here it is!” We gazed up at the memorial of Sun-yat-sen, the first official president of China. It was Sun-yat-sen who helped organize the revolution to overthrow Puyi, the last emperor. The walkway was lined with trees instead of the usual sculptures of soldiers. For Sun had not wanted armed men to accompany him into death, but rather trees, the holders of old spirits. There were 392 steps, one for every million people Sun had governed over. Sun-yat-sen was only in charge for eight months though until the fighting with Japan began. He died suddenly at 59 and was greatly mourned.  When we reached the top there was a small building that inside had scratched stone on the walls. Lily said that Sun had written things that were not liked by other people of power, so they scratched the words out. Some had been restored though and were carved with the utmost delicacy and filled with gold paint. As we descended every two minutes someone would stop us to take a picture. It was usually young women, and sometimes children, twice large families. I became very impatient at how long it was taking to go a few hundred yards, and annoyed that I couldn’t walk three feet without having to pose for a picture. When my emotions started to show Mom would say “You are an ambassador for your country, how do you want people to think of America?” I highly doubted that all of America would be judged on us because a ton of American tourists came every year, but I did what she said and smiled until my cheeks hurt. I was actually happy though, and marveled at the thought that some of these people had never seen white skin, much less blondish hair and blue eyes. When we were finished I jumped into the van, happy to be back.