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Published: February 19th 2006
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Hello all again from the Middle Kingdom,
When we last left our hero, I was displaying my Chinese skill to the faculty of the Jingshan school. Well, tomorrow I have to do it again. This time in front of the students. Hmmm....well...I've chosen once again to read off a card on this one. I'll let you know how it turns out.
On to some fascinating sites around Beijing. Yesterday was spent at the Forbidden City. A little history here to put it in context. The Forbidden City was the home to 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The last two dynasties of Imperial China. The last emperor of China was named Pu Yi. Only 3 when he ascended to the throne, he was forced to abdicate the throne at age 6...thus ending China's long history of empires and ushering in the short-lived republic of China. Most interesting, Pu Yi was allowed to live in the Forbidden City until 1924.
The Forbidden City was just that until recently. It was off limits to anyone who wasn't the emperor or in his circle...i.e. the empress...royalty...military...and some other characters. Today, visitors are treated to this large complex and both
Forbidden City
306 of these in the City. They were used as fire extinguishers. Containing water, they had fires lit under them in winter to prevent freezing. In their day, they were covered with nearly 3 kg of gold. its inner and outer sections. To say this thing is massive is an understatement...somewhere in the vicinity of 9000 rooms and many square meters...well..its quite the amazing site. My favorite thing I read about it is that they have a permanent crew restoring the city. I read it takes them 10 years to complete their work...and when completed they have to start at the begining again. Additional restoration is currently going on, as is in much of Beijing, in order to prepare for the Olympics in 2008.
My trip included an automatic audio tour so that I could get at much of the history as I could. The only problem was that the tour was automated and at times was a little confusing to follow. Because there were no controls on the tape thingie-one could not rewind to hear interesting parts, or to review. Nonetheless, the tour did teach a lot and was certainly worth the 5 dollars (40 Yuan).
There are constantly rotating exhibits at the Museumm. I went into a couple, and definitely intend to go back multiple times. My three hours was not enough. I saw an interesting exhibit on Pu Yi, and on well...er....a
Forbidden City
The new...less fancy...fire extinguisher. group of people who worked for the Emperor who..... lets just say it may not necessarily be appropriate to recap here based on the many young readers of this blog.
*****
On another note. It is not uncommon for Chinese people to come up to Americans and ask to speak English. Their motivations are laudable, and not only are they wonderfully friendly, but are eager to learn the language.
Despite this group, unfortunately, there appears a far greater number who are familiar with this ploy, and use it to extract something from you. Many times an invitation to see an art exhibit..where I'm told they pressure you into buying something. Or....hawking their wares. That being said, it is no wonder that tourists become hesitant to speak, usually burned several times before meeting someone who merely wants to talk. Certainly this was my experience to this point, when yesterday a couple times groups of people studying english in college stopped me to talk in a mall. Here's the part I feel bad about. Earlier in the trip I was talking to a Beijing-er and they asked where I was from. "Boston," I said. They had no idea where that
was. I explained it was close to New York. Wanting to avoid this confusion again, when asked the obligatory question yesterday I simply said I was from New York City. I was waiting to be called out on the lie. I of course don't go anywhere without wearing my Red Sox hat. One could see it is worn from years of frustration and abuse. I was totally picturing one of the students ready to exclaim, "New York? And yet you're wearing a Red Sox hat? Clearly you have loved it very much. You can't fool us. You're no New Yorker!" Fortunately, it never came to that.
***
Today we had two great experiences. In the morning my host father took me to the site of the future Olympics. I say the site because well....its basically still a hole. The skeleton of the stadium is built, but that's about it. So much construction was going on. My host father told me 24 hours a day its being worked on. New subway lines being built, roads widened, and stadiums built. We saw the housing that housed these workers. It was as clear a physical metaphor for a rising China as
Forbidden City
The Imperial Gardens! one could get. It was amazing to watch.
In the afternoon my family and I headed to Jingshan park. What this park is famous for is that on the weekends singing and dancing takes place there. Picture a giant Bar-Mitzvah/Karaoke festival. It was amazing! Large groups of Chinese people singing popular folk songs with gusto! Music was even passed out. Large crowds, young and old. At one part of the park there was a giant...well...the only way to describe it is "electric slide" going on. (Sorry kids if you are not familiar with the Ba-Mitzvah craze of the 90's)
Awkward quote of the day go to the following story. The Chinese people at the park were getting a real kick out my fascination with the park and it's happenings. This was especially true at one karaoke gathering where one guy got up to sing a famous song about communism. I nuzzled my way in and started saying hello to everyone. (as I usually do). Problem is that sometimes they speak back. Hmm...this is always sad for me. I am desperate to talk to them. I want to ask them questions and get to know their culture better. Unfortunately,
Olympics
The Olympic Stadium well...I can't. So, the woman next to me starts talking. I can only apologize and say I don't understand. So, she talks anyway. I ask my host mother, standing on the other side of me, to serve as interpreter. Well, the lady says one sentence and my host mother starts laughing, clearly embarrassed by what was just said. The lady had just commented that I was very white.
Well, that does it for me here today. Big day at school tomorrow...so stay tuned. Keep those comments coming!
Until Later,
Brett
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Kai Ye
non-member comment
hey
Your words are pretty good ,but as a Chinese,I 've got a question, what are the meanings of 'host father' and 'host mother' which was used above? It'll be appreciated when I see your reply next time~