So in case you didn't know, there's about 17.4 million people in Beijing. This means that there's a lot of people on the roads, on the bus, and on the subway. In the stop-touching-your-sister culture of the United States, any inadvertent brush with a stranger results in an awkward glance and a quick apology. Here, I feel that I've gotten to know strangers and friends much more intimately via the Mosh Pit Theory. Its every man for himself when you want to go from one place to another, you shove people out of the way to make every step possible, but if you're just standing there you're propped up by everyone else and when someone falls down you pick them back up again. Some places are hard to bear if you are claustrophobic or have a good nose, which is why there are several large spacious areas to go to relax away from the clogged central arteries of Beijing. One of these places is the Temple of Heaven.
Across the street from the crazed Pearl Market, the Temple of Heaven's gates open to a long tree-lined stone walkway that calms our nerves before we reach the temple. As we approach the Hall of Sacrifice, we see elderly women twirling long ribbon (you know, the kind that rhythmic gymnasts use) and hear voices singing in the distance. When we pass these people though, we see that they are not master twirlers and their music sounds more like an Irish pub than a church choir. They do not dance and sing for money or recognition, they do it to get away and spend time with others. Within a culture where any hesitation walking down the street might get you run over, this is the greatest sense of community I have felt during my entire stay here. Walking past the Hall of Sacrifice, there are four or five different groups each singing different songs with different instruments separated by about fifty feet each - overlapping songs does not seem to bother them one bit.
We continued on to see the Hall of Good Harvest along with all of the intricate stone engravings of dragons and phoenixes around them. This area hosts a cluster of tourists from China and America (a couple of whom had mullets!), so we took our pictures and kept moving. One cool story from this area is that of the "70 year old door." In 1420, the emperor of China was seventy years old and did not have the strength to walk up the many steps to get to his throne, so he had a door constructed to bypass the long walk. A few years later, he noticed that the princes and imperial officials were becoming lazy and using the door rather than go the traditional way. He made a new law that only people older than seventy years old could pass through the doorway. Needless to say, it was several hundred years before another resident was allowed to use that door. We went to and documented several of the other tourist attractions around the temple, including the Imperial Vault and the Circular Mound Altar.
But the places we found most satisfying were in between and away from these tourist clusters. In the area around the Hall of Abstinence (where the Emperor needed to do without meat, drink, music, and women) and the Thousand Rose Garden, we found inner peace and serenity so lacking in our lives for much of this trip. I don't know if this has anything to do with zen, chi, ying or yang, but I could find myself here on a day off when the Olympics running at full tilt.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
"Super Olympic Fun Time"
To give you a little background, we are ONS flash quote reporters for team handball events. This means we collect quotes via interviewing athletes and coaches or by sitting through press conferences. Sounds pretty simple right? Wrong! And as I give you a sense of what we have been undergoing for training, you will realize that our job (or ‘Super Olympic Fun Time’ as we like to call it) requires a tremendous amount of concentration, precision, teamwork, and efficiency.
Our training began with consecutive days of lectures from the BOCOG for all 400ish volunteers. They touched upon the array of “Super Olympic Fun Time” tasks we must know how to perform, and emphasized the abilities we must contain and utilize. It was important for all of us to hear this even though they pretty much restated all of the practice exercises we completed prior coming to Beijing. If anything, this got us in the right mindset to begin our training at our venues. Not to mention CCTV, one of China’s national news stations, produced a documentary about all of us volunteers and I was on national China TV!!!
After a few days off, we began the training at our venues. Again, it was very dry and we began to worry about the professional of BOCOG and the ONS. Fortunately, our primary ONS Reporter(Thomas from Germany) and our sports information specialist, or SIS,(Cilje from Norway) showed up a few days later and we really began to breakdown the different responsibilities of flash quote reporting. Since we had already studied the basics of our jobs, Thomas and Cilje threw us right into realistic scenarios. As a flash quote reporter, we watch the handball matches from the “press tribune” which is the area designated for media personnel. Upon the conclusion of the match, we make our way down to the “mixed zone” which is basically the players’ walk from the gymnasium to the locker rooms. This is where our interviews take place. The mixed zone is expected to become very hectic especially when the more popular teams are playing. Thomas will typically suggest players to be interviewed, and if they slip by then…..well….journalists will not have the quotes they want and the ONS, as a whole, will be looked down upon. And if that is not enough pressure, we are required to have all of our quotes entered into the computer system just 10 minutes after the athlete is interviewed. Meeting this time deadline is crucial since we will often sit in on the press conference, and late arrivals are simply not let in. When we are required to sit in on a press conference, we again collect quotes from the athletes and coaches but are expected to compile extended statements opposed to brief quotes. We then again enter these quotes into the computer and it must be done within 15 minutes after the conclusion of the press conference. Sorry to run on for so long, but I hope you get a sense of how much information we are responsible for in such a short period of time. And I might add that we cover 6 matches per day!
This sounds like a hefty amount of work, but after spending time in the ONS office and around the venue I could be more excited and ready for “Super Olympic Fun Time.”
Our training began with consecutive days of lectures from the BOCOG for all 400ish volunteers. They touched upon the array of “Super Olympic Fun Time” tasks we must know how to perform, and emphasized the abilities we must contain and utilize. It was important for all of us to hear this even though they pretty much restated all of the practice exercises we completed prior coming to Beijing. If anything, this got us in the right mindset to begin our training at our venues. Not to mention CCTV, one of China’s national news stations, produced a documentary about all of us volunteers and I was on national China TV!!!
After a few days off, we began the training at our venues. Again, it was very dry and we began to worry about the professional of BOCOG and the ONS. Fortunately, our primary ONS Reporter(Thomas from Germany) and our sports information specialist, or SIS,(Cilje from Norway) showed up a few days later and we really began to breakdown the different responsibilities of flash quote reporting. Since we had already studied the basics of our jobs, Thomas and Cilje threw us right into realistic scenarios. As a flash quote reporter, we watch the handball matches from the “press tribune” which is the area designated for media personnel. Upon the conclusion of the match, we make our way down to the “mixed zone” which is basically the players’ walk from the gymnasium to the locker rooms. This is where our interviews take place. The mixed zone is expected to become very hectic especially when the more popular teams are playing. Thomas will typically suggest players to be interviewed, and if they slip by then…..well….journalists will not have the quotes they want and the ONS, as a whole, will be looked down upon. And if that is not enough pressure, we are required to have all of our quotes entered into the computer system just 10 minutes after the athlete is interviewed. Meeting this time deadline is crucial since we will often sit in on the press conference, and late arrivals are simply not let in. When we are required to sit in on a press conference, we again collect quotes from the athletes and coaches but are expected to compile extended statements opposed to brief quotes. We then again enter these quotes into the computer and it must be done within 15 minutes after the conclusion of the press conference. Sorry to run on for so long, but I hope you get a sense of how much information we are responsible for in such a short period of time. And I might add that we cover 6 matches per day!
This sounds like a hefty amount of work, but after spending time in the ONS office and around the venue I could be more excited and ready for “Super Olympic Fun Time.”
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tienanmen Square and Wandering Beijing
After a couple of gorgeous blue sky days, Monday goes back to the regularly scheduled clouds and rain. Maybe its always gray during the week and blue on the ends, I don't know if thats great or horrible.
We take a small bus to the Pearl Market in downtown Beijing. At Pearl Market, hundreds of vendors clamor for our attention so that we can barter over the price of their goods. On a rainy Monday such as this, there are few customers visiting, so our group expected to get a few good deals. I got a spare battery for my camera, which has run out a few times with all the pictures I've taken, cutting the price from 270 qai to 100 (about $14). I also got a Transformers belt buckle - which has been on my Amazon.com wishlist for a while - for 40 qai with a belt. Thats less than seven dollars for something that costs $15 plus shipping and handling over here, not shabby.
Everyone meets up and the bus takes us over to a plaza across the street from Tienanmen Square. We form groups and head in different directions; Steve, Katherine, Mario, Dave, and I head in the most logical direction: towards the square. Several monuments and large pictures of Mao adorn Tienanmen and the surrounding area, had it not been so rainy and miserable it may have seemed more impressive. What is impressive is that the rain hasn't driven away much of the crowds, which cluster around each
tourist attraction. We wander aimlessly before wondering if the National Museum across the street is open. Turns out its closed, however a Chinese family approaches Mario (they assume she's Chinese (she's Japanese), turns out this happens a lot) to ask if they can take a picture with Steve, Dave, and I. We politely oblige, giving Mario our cameras to document our growing fan club. As the first photo finishes, another family asks for a photo, then a third; we hurry to finish before the paparazzi arrive. The onslaught of photo shoots probably happened because we are damn sexy, but another option would be that we are Americans standing in front of the National Museum (with clock ticking down the seconds until the Olympics) - and it didn't hurt that I was wearing the Chinese national soccer team's jersey.
The girls decide to take a cab to some shopping outlets as we head towards the Forbidden City. As soon as we get through the main entrance, the rain picks up even more and we decide it would be a poor choice to pay to trudge through the rain to take pictures of a damp Forbidden City, we'll go another day. Instead, we decide to head to Oriental Plaza where the Official Olympic Store is located. The city blocks are much larger here, so it takes us at least 20 minutes to span the two blocks over to the plaza. After checking out some Olympic gear, Dave decides to take a cab back to Beijing Sport University while Yo Tai and I venture forth into the unknown.
Through the pouring rain, Steve and I pace westward down Jianguo Jie, which turns out to be a major road in Beijing. In addition to running between Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City, Jianguo Jie runs past the Oriental Plaza, Beijing Railway Station, the Beijing Friendship Store, and a Wal-Mart Supercenter; not to mention dozens of huge buildings devoted to apartments or corporations. We meet up with the girls at Wal-Mart and buy air mattresses (greatest investment ever) and Transformers on DVD.
Afterwards, we tiredly walk around searching for a Japanese restaurant for Mario's Birthday. The one we stumble into is perfect, no shoes necessary for service! We split a bottle of sake while eating traditional Japanese soups and sushi. Afterwards, we walk down the hall and see a store called "Ho's Fashion," where we took some obligatory pictures.
Now that we've written about the biggest days of touring, hopefully we'll be able to spit out all of our training days to get caught up before the Olympics start. Sorry for the inconsistency of the posting schedule, but with so much to do we don't always have time to blog every night (or week).
We take a small bus to the Pearl Market in downtown Beijing. At Pearl Market, hundreds of vendors clamor for our attention so that we can barter over the price of their goods. On a rainy Monday such as this, there are few customers visiting, so our group expected to get a few good deals. I got a spare battery for my camera, which has run out a few times with all the pictures I've taken, cutting the price from 270 qai to 100 (about $14). I also got a Transformers belt buckle - which has been on my Amazon.com wishlist for a while - for 40 qai with a belt. Thats less than seven dollars for something that costs $15 plus shipping and handling over here, not shabby.
Everyone meets up and the bus takes us over to a plaza across the street from Tienanmen Square. We form groups and head in different directions; Steve, Katherine, Mario, Dave, and I head in the most logical direction: towards the square. Several monuments and large pictures of Mao adorn Tienanmen and the surrounding area, had it not been so rainy and miserable it may have seemed more impressive. What is impressive is that the rain hasn't driven away much of the crowds, which cluster around each
tourist attraction. We wander aimlessly before wondering if the National Museum across the street is open. Turns out its closed, however a Chinese family approaches Mario (they assume she's Chinese (she's Japanese), turns out this happens a lot) to ask if they can take a picture with Steve, Dave, and I. We politely oblige, giving Mario our cameras to document our growing fan club. As the first photo finishes, another family asks for a photo, then a third; we hurry to finish before the paparazzi arrive. The onslaught of photo shoots probably happened because we are damn sexy, but another option would be that we are Americans standing in front of the National Museum (with clock ticking down the seconds until the Olympics) - and it didn't hurt that I was wearing the Chinese national soccer team's jersey.The girls decide to take a cab to some shopping outlets as we head towards the Forbidden City. As soon as we get through the main entrance, the rain picks up even more and we decide it would be a poor choice to pay to trudge through the rain to take pictures of a damp Forbidden City, we'll go another day. Instead, we decide to head to Oriental Plaza where the Official Olympic Store is located. The city blocks are much larger here, so it takes us at least 20 minutes to span the two blocks over to the plaza. After checking out some Olympic gear, Dave decides to take a cab back to Beijing Sport University while Yo Tai and I venture forth into the unknown.
Through the pouring rain, Steve and I pace westward down Jianguo Jie, which turns out to be a major road in Beijing. In addition to running between Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City, Jianguo Jie runs past the Oriental Plaza, Beijing Railway Station, the Beijing Friendship Store, and a Wal-Mart Supercenter; not to mention dozens of huge buildings devoted to apartments or corporations. We meet up with the girls at Wal-Mart and buy air mattresses (greatest investment ever) and Transformers on DVD.
Afterwards, we tiredly walk around searching for a Japanese restaurant for Mario's Birthday. The one we stumble into is perfect, no shoes necessary for service! We split a bottle of sake while eating traditional Japanese soups and sushi. Afterwards, we walk down the hall and see a store called "Ho's Fashion," where we took some obligatory pictures.
Now that we've written about the biggest days of touring, hopefully we'll be able to spit out all of our training days to get caught up before the Olympics start. Sorry for the inconsistency of the posting schedule, but with so much to do we don't always have time to blog every night (or week).
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Official Tour of Winter/Summer Palaces
Woke up today (July 13th) to another blue sky morning with the sun out and no humidity. Its weird how the first week went by without any sun, only clouds and smog; merely seeing the sky makes China feel more like home, the sun also shines on the other side of the world.
We started off by heading to the Winter Palace again, except this time as an entire group. Fortunately, the only section we spent time in was the statuary, which I didn't get to see last time round. Vast rock pillars stand without walls burned down long ago. A stone maze leading to a small gazebo in the middle is the highlight as it is more intact than any of the other stone carvings. Based on how intricately the stone was carved, and what I know about the rest being burned and looted, one can only imagine how awesome the wooden carvings and golden treasures were within this palace.
Over at the Summer Palace, we ate lunch within a pavilion on the outskirts before venturing within. This palace served as a second home to the Emperor, and was abused by one Dragonlady - a babysitter to young Emperors and key advisor to the throne - who put the Emperor on house arrest here. Not that it was incredibly restrictive, hundreds of acres at the very least and a lake to swim in to boot. There is almost a monotonous amount of detail in the designs in the hallways that run around the courtyards, which brought out the more unique murals and paintings at the top of the windows and doorways (there are no windows or doors, but thats the easiest way to describe them). Amongst our group of Ithaca College students are a few Beijing Sport University students; Ivan and Robin (their English names) are two that Steve and I befriended pretty
quickly. I inquired about one particular painting with a monkey, a pig, a horse, and two people riding on a turtle across a stream. Robin explained to me that there's a famous fairy tale about a monkey king who journeys west across China with a monk and the King of the Pigs to find Buddha... sounds like the best story ever! Another story we came across was that of the Bankruptcy stone: once a man came across a beautiful stone and decided to haul it across China to the Summer Palace as a gift for the Emperor. Due to its immense weight, he only took it halfway before he ran out of money, starved, and died. 200 years later, a merchant found the stone and completed its journey to the palace. At the time of its arrival, Emperor Qianlong had lead China to its greatest prosperity to date; after receiving the stone, massive rebellion and embezzlement caused the kingdom to go broke! I was going to take a picture in front of it to tempt fate, but the last thing I want to do is mock the gods; if a rock could bring down an entire kingdom it could probably bring down Stephen Lauer.
We head out for another delicious dinner, during which Robin and Ivan give Steve and I our Chinese names! My Chinese name is Shur Tien Shway (rough pronunciation) meaning Steve Scuba. Steve's is Shur Yo Tai meaning Steve Jew. While they were telling us our names they were conversing in Chinese on how to pronounce each name. We were confused and they told us that initially they mispronounced Shur as Shura, which means "something you do in the toilet." After a moment, we realized the hilarity of Shura Tien Shway (Scuba Crap) or Shura Yo Tai (Jew Crap). Great day for learning Chinese, we learned our names and our first curse word.
Finally, we closed our night at the Peking Opera with the performance The Phoenix and the Dragon. Very interesting with a few funny segments and fighting and plot twists, however one thing stood out: the screeching falsetto of the leading lady. While the men spoke so quickly that the subtitles had difficulty keeping up, she elongated every syllable to the extreme at a pitch so high and loud glass should have shattered. Thankfully we were pretty far back, some of my classmates had premier seats; sitting up front next to the speakers, I can understand why some needed to walk out. Even our tour guide, whose English name is Silver (pretty sweet), admitted that she didn't need to be mic'd up for the performance. So thats how operas are done on the other side of the world. Tomorrow will be the last day of our official tours of China, then we're on our own.
We started off by heading to the Winter Palace again, except this time as an entire group. Fortunately, the only section we spent time in was the statuary, which I didn't get to see last time round. Vast rock pillars stand without walls burned down long ago. A stone maze leading to a small gazebo in the middle is the highlight as it is more intact than any of the other stone carvings. Based on how intricately the stone was carved, and what I know about the rest being burned and looted, one can only imagine how awesome the wooden carvings and golden treasures were within this palace.
Over at the Summer Palace, we ate lunch within a pavilion on the outskirts before venturing within. This palace served as a second home to the Emperor, and was abused by one Dragonlady - a babysitter to young Emperors and key advisor to the throne - who put the Emperor on house arrest here. Not that it was incredibly restrictive, hundreds of acres at the very least and a lake to swim in to boot. There is almost a monotonous amount of detail in the designs in the hallways that run around the courtyards, which brought out the more unique murals and paintings at the top of the windows and doorways (there are no windows or doors, but thats the easiest way to describe them). Amongst our group of Ithaca College students are a few Beijing Sport University students; Ivan and Robin (their English names) are two that Steve and I befriended pretty
quickly. I inquired about one particular painting with a monkey, a pig, a horse, and two people riding on a turtle across a stream. Robin explained to me that there's a famous fairy tale about a monkey king who journeys west across China with a monk and the King of the Pigs to find Buddha... sounds like the best story ever! Another story we came across was that of the Bankruptcy stone: once a man came across a beautiful stone and decided to haul it across China to the Summer Palace as a gift for the Emperor. Due to its immense weight, he only took it halfway before he ran out of money, starved, and died. 200 years later, a merchant found the stone and completed its journey to the palace. At the time of its arrival, Emperor Qianlong had lead China to its greatest prosperity to date; after receiving the stone, massive rebellion and embezzlement caused the kingdom to go broke! I was going to take a picture in front of it to tempt fate, but the last thing I want to do is mock the gods; if a rock could bring down an entire kingdom it could probably bring down Stephen Lauer.We head out for another delicious dinner, during which Robin and Ivan give Steve and I our Chinese names! My Chinese name is Shur Tien Shway (rough pronunciation) meaning Steve Scuba. Steve's is Shur Yo Tai meaning Steve Jew. While they were telling us our names they were conversing in Chinese on how to pronounce each name. We were confused and they told us that initially they mispronounced Shur as Shura, which means "something you do in the toilet." After a moment, we realized the hilarity of Shura Tien Shway (Scuba Crap) or Shura Yo Tai (Jew Crap). Great day for learning Chinese, we learned our names and our first curse word.
Finally, we closed our night at the Peking Opera with the performance The Phoenix and the Dragon. Very interesting with a few funny segments and fighting and plot twists, however one thing stood out: the screeching falsetto of the leading lady. While the men spoke so quickly that the subtitles had difficulty keeping up, she elongated every syllable to the extreme at a pitch so high and loud glass should have shattered. Thankfully we were pretty far back, some of my classmates had premier seats; sitting up front next to the speakers, I can understand why some needed to walk out. Even our tour guide, whose English name is Silver (pretty sweet), admitted that she didn't need to be mic'd up for the performance. So thats how operas are done on the other side of the world. Tomorrow will be the last day of our official tours of China, then we're on our own.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
"The Wall is overrated, I (Scuba) have 4 in my room"
Today(July 12) was an incredible day of sightseeing with the BOC. We got up bright and early to head out to the Great Wall and looked out our bedroom window in complete awe. Today was the first sunny day we have had since arriving and it could not have come on a better day. As China’s biggest landmark, literally and figuratively, it was only natural that this was most desired place to visit. And I felt as though it was nothing short of incredible, thanks to perfect(although hot of course) weather. When we arrived, aside from the length of wall winding up and down all of the mountains, the most obvious feature was the Starbucks coffee shop at the base. I found this to be a bit ridiculous but got a good chuckle out of it.
Walking along the wall turned out to be much more difficult than I expected for a couple of reasons. To start, the wall is broken up into tourist sections that the public is allowed to walk on. The location we visited was also visited by the Mexican president today. So just for him, half of this section was blocked off making the open half twice as crowded as it typically would be. To make matters worse, increased crowds also means an increase in umbrellas since they are used for shade by nearly every Chinese woman over the age of 25.
The first stretch of 200 yards or so of the wall was one massive bottleneck. Once the crowds opened a bit, we were finally able to enjoy the treacherous hike. Reaching the peak of this section of the wall was incredibly satisfying as I stood there drenched in sweat and feeling as though my calves were on fire while I gazed over the miles upon miles of landscape and the Great Wall running about the hillsides. Our entire group eventually made it to the end and convened for pictures and such. At the time I was so exhausted it was difficult to take it all in, but feeling like I was on top of the world (or at least China) with the rest of the group will be a long-lasting memory. We then enjoyed the long, but satisfying, walk down to the bottom, and although I am definitely not someone to wish pain upon any person, it made me somewhat happy to see people struggling up the wall as I had.
Walking along the wall turned out to be much more difficult than I expected for a couple of reasons. To start, the wall is broken up into tourist sections that the public is allowed to walk on. The location we visited was also visited by the Mexican president today. So just for him, half of this section was blocked off making the open half twice as crowded as it typically would be. To make matters worse, increased crowds also means an increase in umbrellas since they are used for shade by nearly every Chinese woman over the age of 25.
The first stretch of 200 yards or so of the wall was one massive bottleneck. Once the crowds opened a bit, we were finally able to enjoy the treacherous hike. Reaching the peak of this section of the wall was incredibly satisfying as I stood there drenched in sweat and feeling as though my calves were on fire while I gazed over the miles upon miles of landscape and the Great Wall running about the hillsides. Our entire group eventually made it to the end and convened for pictures and such. At the time I was so exhausted it was difficult to take it all in, but feeling like I was on top of the world (or at least China) with the rest of the group will be a long-lasting memory. We then enjoyed the long, but satisfying, walk down to the bottom, and although I am definitely not someone to wish pain upon any person, it made me somewhat happy to see people struggling up the wall as I had.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Journey to Xiang Tang: New Culture Village
Today (Friday July 11th), is the first day of three which we will be getting full day tours of different parts of China.
First, we head over to the local water purification plant for them to show us the strides they are making towards a cleaner environment. Step-by-step we saw near-raw sewage turn to clear water. They sort out anything from the water that is larger that 2 micrometers, which includes fertilizers, smog, bacteria, and just about anything other than pesticides and herbicides that make the water non-potable. This was very reassuring because I didn't know why we were allowed to shower but not drink the water; I assumed that we were bathing in strange diseases and bacteria, but instead its mainly water and should keep the bugs (and plants?) off our bodies. 90% of China's usable water comes from these factories, so they need to filter them as much as possible, good to know albeit a little boring to tour.
Second, we eat lunch downtown then head out towards rural China. They have an entire village set up for us named Xiang Tang or New Culture Village. As we drive through we are told that Xiang Tang enjoys 100% employment, large houses, and is largely self sufficient - a model of excellence for other towns and villages to attempt to copy. Before entering the town, we stop at toilets, on the way out I say "Go Sox!" to a kid wearing a Boston Red Sox hat. After chatting for three seconds it turns out he was a fellow Lincoln-Sudbury alum!
Driving around, it is apparent that money is no problem for this town; there are large houses with satellite dishes on the roofs, and there is a beautiful golf course that is part of a 100,000 quai per year country club. After our tour we take, our first stop within the village at a retirement home of sorts; while staying here, the old people of the town - including one 102-year-old lady - are able to live comfortably playing chess amongst open gardens full of roses and chickens. Once our entire group has huddled into the main room of the complex, the seniors joyfully belt out a tune thanking us for our arrival and commitment to their Olympic Games. Steve took a swell video of it, I'll try and get a link for that asap. We walked from the senior center next door to a tai chi training center, where a dozen or so folks went through a ritual to music in front of our group (yet again Steve has a video). From there we went into a school of calligraphy and art, where we saw some scholars working their craft. The Chinese traditional style of painting uses water color to create vague images in the background while using ink to fill in details for the primary images in the foreground - very interesting and beautiful.
The last trip we made before leaving Xiang Tang was to the Buddhist Temple. Entering through an intricate decorated red and gold wooden archway, we gaze upon an unbelievable walkway of elegantly placed bricks leading up to a pool with fountains. We walked up the stairs around the waterfalls and approached the main temples. Guarded by four warriors (from the North, South, East, and West) sat a large golden Buddha. No photographs are allowed within these sacred temples; very unfortunate because these were some of the most awe inspiring statues I have ever seen. In the main temple, three of these huge golden Buddhas sat very comfortably before me, even though they were constructed in the 1400s, they seemingly have lost none of their luster. The four warriors are impressive as well, at least eight feet in height each with a different weapon (sword, mace, lute, and halberd) stepping on the head of demons, ready to battle any foe from this world or the next. If they don't want me taking pictures of the Buddhas, I won't cross them.
After a long ride back, we ate a delicious dinner featuring Peking Duck at a nice restaurant downtown. Everyday I spend here is another I never want to forget.
First, we head over to the local water purification plant for them to show us the strides they are making towards a cleaner environment. Step-by-step we saw near-raw sewage turn to clear water. They sort out anything from the water that is larger that 2 micrometers, which includes fertilizers, smog, bacteria, and just about anything other than pesticides and herbicides that make the water non-potable. This was very reassuring because I didn't know why we were allowed to shower but not drink the water; I assumed that we were bathing in strange diseases and bacteria, but instead its mainly water and should keep the bugs (and plants?) off our bodies. 90% of China's usable water comes from these factories, so they need to filter them as much as possible, good to know albeit a little boring to tour.
Second, we eat lunch downtown then head out towards rural China. They have an entire village set up for us named Xiang Tang or New Culture Village. As we drive through we are told that Xiang Tang enjoys 100% employment, large houses, and is largely self sufficient - a model of excellence for other towns and villages to attempt to copy. Before entering the town, we stop at toilets, on the way out I say "Go Sox!" to a kid wearing a Boston Red Sox hat. After chatting for three seconds it turns out he was a fellow Lincoln-Sudbury alum!
Driving around, it is apparent that money is no problem for this town; there are large houses with satellite dishes on the roofs, and there is a beautiful golf course that is part of a 100,000 quai per year country club. After our tour we take, our first stop within the village at a retirement home of sorts; while staying here, the old people of the town - including one 102-year-old lady - are able to live comfortably playing chess amongst open gardens full of roses and chickens. Once our entire group has huddled into the main room of the complex, the seniors joyfully belt out a tune thanking us for our arrival and commitment to their Olympic Games. Steve took a swell video of it, I'll try and get a link for that asap. We walked from the senior center next door to a tai chi training center, where a dozen or so folks went through a ritual to music in front of our group (yet again Steve has a video). From there we went into a school of calligraphy and art, where we saw some scholars working their craft. The Chinese traditional style of painting uses water color to create vague images in the background while using ink to fill in details for the primary images in the foreground - very interesting and beautiful.
The last trip we made before leaving Xiang Tang was to the Buddhist Temple. Entering through an intricate decorated red and gold wooden archway, we gaze upon an unbelievable walkway of elegantly placed bricks leading up to a pool with fountains. We walked up the stairs around the waterfalls and approached the main temples. Guarded by four warriors (from the North, South, East, and West) sat a large golden Buddha. No photographs are allowed within these sacred temples; very unfortunate because these were some of the most awe inspiring statues I have ever seen. In the main temple, three of these huge golden Buddhas sat very comfortably before me, even though they were constructed in the 1400s, they seemingly have lost none of their luster. The four warriors are impressive as well, at least eight feet in height each with a different weapon (sword, mace, lute, and halberd) stepping on the head of demons, ready to battle any foe from this world or the next. If they don't want me taking pictures of the Buddhas, I won't cross them.
After a long ride back, we ate a delicious dinner featuring Peking Duck at a nice restaurant downtown. Everyday I spend here is another I never want to forget.
The Winter/Old Summer Palace
As you can see my colleague, roomie, and brother from another mother Steve will now be presenting his own observations and incites to the Scublog from this point onwards; I will now pick up where he left off...
After playing basketball with some Beijing Sport University students (Sidenote: just as in the US, you don't wear a jersey to the court unless you bring some serious game. Of the eight of us there, our new Chinese friend sporting a Vince Carter throwback jersey was one of the two best players on the court, cutting to the basket or making threes at will.) and ate lunch, we headed over to the Ruins of Yuanmingyuan also known as the Winter Palace or the Old Summer Palace. Originally over 864 acres, most of the property was burned and pillaged by the Anglo-French Allied Forces (didn't they hate each other) during the Opium War of 1860. What remains is a variety of beautiful bridges and a hodgepodge of salvaged objects. While wandering Mario, Billy, Steve, and I broke off from the main group to explore an exhibit aside from the beaten path. There we got our picture taken by a Chinese kid who spoke a little English but was fluent in Russian. I encourage you to look at the pictures I have on my Picasa site, (and I'll try to get some of Steve's too, his are good) what remained on the palace grounds was unique, intricate, and exquisite; one can only imagine how glorious this area would've been had Westerners not brought the place to ruins. After meeting up with the main group again, we tried to go back to the university. However, the maps were a tad confusing and, while Mario could communicate with the workers through writing, (she's Japanese and the two written languages are very similar while their spoken are not) we got lost for about an hour or two, thoroughly wearing out our legs and minds.
Once we got back, I learned that we'll all be taking turns blogging for the Ithaca website - the link for which I will post on the side. Afterwards, we headed to the cafeteria to meet up with students from Delaware State who've lived in Beijing for five months and are leaving in a couple weeks. After soaking up tips about this foriegn city, language, and culture, they offered to take us out to Wudouko for some nightlife. It was a nice change of pace from all China, all the time but I'm ready dive back in tomorrow.
After playing basketball with some Beijing Sport University students (Sidenote: just as in the US, you don't wear a jersey to the court unless you bring some serious game. Of the eight of us there, our new Chinese friend sporting a Vince Carter throwback jersey was one of the two best players on the court, cutting to the basket or making threes at will.) and ate lunch, we headed over to the Ruins of Yuanmingyuan also known as the Winter Palace or the Old Summer Palace. Originally over 864 acres, most of the property was burned and pillaged by the Anglo-French Allied Forces (didn't they hate each other) during the Opium War of 1860. What remains is a variety of beautiful bridges and a hodgepodge of salvaged objects. While wandering Mario, Billy, Steve, and I broke off from the main group to explore an exhibit aside from the beaten path. There we got our picture taken by a Chinese kid who spoke a little English but was fluent in Russian. I encourage you to look at the pictures I have on my Picasa site, (and I'll try to get some of Steve's too, his are good) what remained on the palace grounds was unique, intricate, and exquisite; one can only imagine how glorious this area would've been had Westerners not brought the place to ruins. After meeting up with the main group again, we tried to go back to the university. However, the maps were a tad confusing and, while Mario could communicate with the workers through writing, (she's Japanese and the two written languages are very similar while their spoken are not) we got lost for about an hour or two, thoroughly wearing out our legs and minds.
Once we got back, I learned that we'll all be taking turns blogging for the Ithaca website - the link for which I will post on the side. Afterwards, we headed to the cafeteria to meet up with students from Delaware State who've lived in Beijing for five months and are leaving in a couple weeks. After soaking up tips about this foriegn city, language, and culture, they offered to take us out to Wudouko for some nightlife. It was a nice change of pace from all China, all the time but I'm ready dive back in tomorrow.
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