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Published: December 18th 2007
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The Street Sign
Notice whats prohibited? Bicycle rickshaws and bicycle carts! December 18, 2007
So this first entry is going to be non-linear, because I simply can't wait to share this awesome photo of a street-sign in Beijing near the Forbidden City. While most of us who arrive in Beijing expect to see a city that smashes together old and new- along with the famous Beijing smog that makes every day seem at least a bit cloudy- living in this city of paradoxes chronological and otherwise is very different proposition. Frantically searching for a taxi at 11 PM outside the Forbidden City and seeing all taxis full, Fang and I started walking quickly towards the main road. As we were walking, we saw this sign and I decided we must photograph it. If you look closely at the graphics, you'll see that it prohibits these bicycle rickshaws (top right graphic) and these bicycle drawn carts (bottom left graphic) that are all over the city. They exist right alongside some very snazzy buses, high end cars, motorcycles, taxis, motorized bikes, and other forms of motorized transport. The drivers of these rickshaws and carts don't give up turf to anyone, and hold their own on these super-wide highways; I was impressed to see
Beijing Traffic
Trying to get a cab on a Friday night in Beijing required stepping into this kind of oncoming traffic. these carts and rickshaws boldly cut in front of these humongous buses and other intimidating vehicles. Fang and I were finally able to hail a cab after trying for 30 minutes and close to midnight and almost resorting to taking a bus for which the route we didn't know. I am proud to say that I took Fang's instructions to wave madly when I saw a taxi with a red light- meaning for hire- to heart and indeed waved until my arm was about to fall off. Needless to say I almost got hit by a car in the process because the taxi was in the far side of the wide lane (look at my photos of the streets) and I had to dart out to the middle of the road to be seen, but at least we got home safely 😊.
It's now been 12 days since my arrival in China. After some fits and starts, I finally worked up the nerve to venture out- and this time far past the comfort zone of the 3 block radius around my apartment. I finally realized that as much work I had to do on the site, there was
Thessaloniki State Orchestra
The Greek orchestra that played at the Forbidden City to commemorate the year of "Greek Cultural Exchange in China." no palatable excuse to not venture out and explore; to not do so would be the ultimate sign of my chickening out in the face of the ultimate language barrier.
The first outing was planned. I found out that Fang, a friend from high school, happened to be doing her fellowship at Peking University, and she and I decided to meet up last Thursday. On campus I saw my first Harvard-square style protest, only the leader was a middle-aged woman who was protesting the elitist attitude of Peking University, or Beida, students. The line that sticks out in my mind is that even though she hadn't had the opportunity to attend a fine institution like Beida, she "had Mao in her heart," as Fang translated, and thus deserved respect.
But the fortuitous outing came a day later, when Fang suddenly IM'ed me that she had somehow won tickets to attend a concert of a Greek classical orchestra. Of course, I agreed to go. The first leg of the journey involved getting myself to Beida again, which was easy. The interesting part was Fang attempting to hail a cab to the concert during ruch hour. Never before has the possibility of getting hit by a car seemed more real than that moment, when Fang took me by the arm right into the middle of the very wide road in front of the East Gate of Beida. A bus whizzed by us as Fang was still waving frantically to hail a cab and narrowly missed being hit. Apparently this is part of the process 😊.
After about an hour in the cab, we arrived at our location. Turns out Fang had won the tickets by answering trivia questions; she agreed with me that the story was absurd in some ways we couldn't even articulate yet. But then the height of absurdity was the courier who handed us the ticket; he guided us through the gate and onto the path towards the concert hall, then ran away with his arms stretched out to the sides like airplane wings. Moreover, he was actually zipping around, zigging and zagging like a little airplane. Fang called him our "little ticket angel." If it weren't so dark, I would have taken pictures.
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tianfeng
zac
sounds like you are having fun
I lived in Beijing for 2 years a while ago and I liked it a lot. There are a lot more foreigners there now then when I first went back in 2002. It is amazing how much of a difference 5 years can make in Chinese cities. I mean Guo Mao has like 5 new buildings. If you have a choice of where to go when you go to see the Greatwall I recommend shanhaiguan qws). I am pretty sure sanlitun is not how it used to be but foreigners hang out at Suzzie wang's and a few other good chill places. Make sure you don;t fall into the trap of listening to foreigners bitch about China, you want to enjoy the differences not harp on them and make comparisons.