Spring in Beijing lasted exactly one day this year and it was one of the finest I can imagine. I took the mom to Jingshan Park behind the Palace Museum (aka Forbidden City) and we climbed the artificial hill built from the soil removed to create the massive moat around the complex in the 14th century. Both the Palace and the park remain, auspiciously, at the very heart of the city and on a clear day the views are spectacular and the combined weight of history and concentrated political and economic might make the place almost stupefying.
Looking south over the Forbidden City.
Close up showing "The Egg" (the National Performing Arts Center) just south of the Palace and west of the Great Hall of the People.
Looking west at Beihai Park, Xizhimen, and the hills of the Summer Palace in the distance.
Looking North towards the Bell and Drum towers and the Olympic Village (I was gazing particularly fondly at my part of the city, 东城区, on the far right just beyond that big clump of trees).
Later, a Chinese guy in line behind us butted in on my mother's solo photo session then insisted I join in as well. A small crowd gathered to gawk and snap photos and there was much laughter at my designation as 第二个皇帝 (2nd emperor).
One of the five pavilions on the hill:
The ceilings and beams were all painted vividly (restored of course) with renderings of flowers, clouds, and cranes with wings outstretched.
Looking up the hill from one of the lower pagodas:
Lilacs were in bloom all over the park and smelled delicious.
As usual, the crowd was evenly mixed: half tourists (the vast majority Chinese) and half locals socializing, playing games, or exercising. I had explained to my mother that in the traditional Chinese view of physical health and wellness it is vital to promote circulation through both movement and external pressure. It is not uncommon to see elderly folks walking through parks slapping their torsos and legs or to end a yoga class with a hearty round of self-abuse. Mom was delighted to find visual proof in this two-for-one: a woman stretching while slapping herself!
Close-up action shot:
Folks playing card games in the shade of a crabapple tree.
Such pretty blossoms.
The next day it got up to 87 degrees but not until late afternoon. We walked around some pedestrianized shopping streets like Wangfujing (pictured below) and Qianmen.
On the way home I had to stop at a shoe repair shop to have the Indian camel-skin jootis I had been wearing stitched back together where they were coming apart at the seams. Mom took this picture of me sitting barefoot on a stool outside while the cobbler practiced the ancient skill of superglueing. 75 cents later we were back on the road.
I am under strict instruction to post only those photos of my mom that she herself has approved but I can't see how she could possibly reject this lovely shot of her sitting at a terrace cafe in front of the drum tower. Ain't she gorgeous folks?
I believe I have previously mentioned in this forum the fondness of some of my Chinese friends for banqueting me; having my mother in town made everyone even more excited to take us out. This was fun, but exhausting. I had to translate everything and felt sorry for my mother being force-fed everything from chicken claws and cow stomach and unable to communicate with anyone else at the table without my assistance.
The most enjoyable dinners were the two with my dear old teacher Chang laoshi and her husband Wang Junjie, who knew my mother from the Christmas they spent snowed in with us in Seattle. Chang laoshi is due to have a baby any day now and both of her parents have come from their home in Inner Mongolia to make preparations and take care of the expectant mom. In an effort to eliminate sex-selective abortions Chinese doctors are not allowed to reveal the sex of the baby while it is in utero, but I have been told that regardless of whether it is a boy or a girl I get to choose an English name for it. I can't wait.
On Saturday and Sunday, with summer temperatures and May Day (International Labor Day) crowds making outdoor sightseeing unpleasant, mom and I visited some more museums: Capital Museum for Chinese and Beijing history, artifacts, and religious/decorative objects (like these fantastic animal-headed marble figurines - why don't these guys have their own comic book or action movie yet?) 
and the Beijing Planning Museum for nerding out on things like water conservation and transportation and for admiring the massive scale model of the city.
While most of the city within the 3rd ring road was included in the model (and meticulously so; the model of the 27 story building where my office is even included a recent penthouse add-on), about 75 percent of the metropolitan area was represented by satellite photographs. I was dismayed to see that my home was included in the latter; it is dead center in the picture below.
Tiny CBD!
It reached 91 on mom's last day in town but given the vagaries of Beijing weather I'm not packing my sweaters away completely just yet.
I asked my mom to take this picture of me in front of a Cialis display at a drugstore. My friend Stephanie's company developed the drug and I'm sure it will put her mind at ease to know that people here have been stocking up.Mom also took one last picture of me standing at the entrance to my building, really much nicer than it looks here.
I saw her off to the airport on Monday morning and now she is safely back home in Seattle and I'm still here, my home for now, and in a certain sense, forever.
5 comments:
May I ask, why is the stretching-slapping lady wearing cheesecloth over her face?
I'm not sure but my best guess is that it was to keep dust and pollen out of her face (it was a windy day). You see this look far more frequently when it is a-sandstorming.
I LOVE a good scale model! And your pictures are glorious, as usual.
All those people will stop laughing at Empress Erika once they realize that she has the Mandate of Heaven.
that city model is firing my nerd cylinders.
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