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China 2007 |
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Nov 3 - 4, 2007 |
Nov 3-4, 2007
Flew to Beijing today on a ten hour over night flight to carry out a one week EU consultancy contract, discussing ICT in rural development in two workshops. The first is in Chengdu, where I go tomorrow (Nov 5) and the second is in Guangzhou, where i go two days after that. A flying visit, literally. Five flights in seven days
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Siberia, seen from the comfort (so called, I am 6'3") of an
Air China Jumbo. Siberia looked cold, very cold, with sharp mountain ridges,
much snow and many frozen rivers. Mongolia looked just as cold, but little
snow and vast empty plains. No people in evidence at all. Many of the lakes
were still frozen, but two at least were quite red. What would cause that?
They looked like they had no outlets so could have been salt. When we landed at Beijing we parked well away from the terminal and came down a mobile staircase to buses. First time I have ever done that on a Jumbo. It's a long way down to the ground. |
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Nov 4: I got to the hotel without any problem and decided
to go straight out as I only had this afternoon in Beijing. Took a taxi to the
Forbidden City. It seemed so mundane. You should be borne there on a litter
by eunuchs. Actually I think you had to be a eunuch to get in, in those days,
so perhaps things have improved for the better. The Forbidden City is certainly impressive, but rather sad and pointless. The huge spaces and entrances were for spectacles which are long gone. Now it is just a museum and getting a bit threadbare. There is something very satisfying about the deep red of the walls, but the architecture is very repetitive. There is little variation of the motifs. The roofs all sweep up at the corners and all have their little hip creatures. This is the main entrance. |
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The roof tiles are beautiful. Basically yellow glazed roman
tiles, with dragon-decorated infills to the rolls along the eaves. Every
hip has a row of little dog/lion creatures, with a larger horned creature
above. There is usually one bird like animal with a rider in the longer
rows. The eaves spread widely on a multiplicity of wooden brackets. The whole palace has burned down on many occasions, often intentionally burnt by scheming courtiers. |
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The vistas of bracketed roofs is beautiful, but monotonous.
The whole complex is based on the idea of thinking up a good detail and then
flogging it to death. It must have been the most stultifying place to live.
There is no natural life at all. Trees are confined to very carefully
contrived formal gardens and are treated as large bonsais. So twisted and
split that they cease to look like living things. Every thing was formalised and controlled. The present day air pollution makes the whole complex fade from view and it looks like the yellow bracketed roofs will go on for ever. |
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The plan of the Forbidden City is absolutely symmetrical for its central sequence of halls. Either side there are interlocking groups of buildings with long, long linking passages, which are asymmetric, but still identical in detail. There were meant to be 9,999 rooms in total. 9 was considered a particularly auspicious number. The whole of the Temple of Heaven is built around 9 of everything. |
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After the Forbidden City, I crossed the road to the North
into the Coal Hill Park. This hill was built of the spoil from the
Forbidden City's moat. There is a Buddhist pagoda on top, still held in
reverence. Much burning of joss sticks and kowtowing going on. Outside you could dress up as an emperor or empress and have your picture taken. I refrained. No one seemed keen on pretending to be one of the poor old eunuchs. The views from here would be wonderful but for the haze, which blankets everything. But what I really wanted to find out, was what all the music coming up from the far side of the park was about... |
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Community singing! Coal Hill Park is where the Beijingers go to sing and
dance. The noise is overwhelming. Its not busking, it is just recreation.
There are large crowds singing in choirs. There are individuals just
standing and singing. There are excruciating karaoke singers, one string
fiddle players and many accordions. People go up to a musician, pull sheet
music out of their bags and ask him if he can play it. Then others come over
and say they know the other parts and soon they are all playing and singing
in harmony. It is really very high quality (apart from the karaoke...) I spent longer here than in the forbidden City. This was welcoming and alive. The city is forbidding and dead. |
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There were all kinds of musicians around the park. As soon as they would start to play, several people would gather around them and start to sing what were clearly well known songs. If the music has a beat, they start dancing a very formal type of jiving. Quite a wonderful place. |
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Calligraphy is the major art of China and this is one of the most intriguing forms. I have seen it once before and was delighted to see it in Coal Hill Park again. Writing on stone paving in water, with a giant, four foot brush. As the calligrapher works down his poem, the top lines simply fade away and disappear. I watched and filmed this chap for ages, it is utterly intriguing. |
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The speed the characters are sketched in is wonderful. After a while, the calligrapher indicated that I could have a go. Rather than that, I asked him if he could write something in my sketchbook. He wrote a whole poem and signed it. Tracy (see below) translated it for me and said it was about peach blossoms and bamboos, with a dolphin getting involved somehow towards the end. |
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I was hungry and walked from the park to a night market
area. Great lines of stalls selling everything you could think of, skewered
and barbecued. Some things I would rather not think of. Silkworm pupae (just
don't go there). Mussels still in their shells (How did they do that? I was
looking at them and couldn't figure it out.) Various glands. Bits stuffed
inside membranes. I had lamb kebabs and vegetable noodles.
Then "Tracy" popped up (how do they choose their English names?) You are constantly approached by students who want to practice their English (and wheedle you into a shop). Tracy was a very pleasant one. She popped up and explained things and then said did I want to try some traditional Chinese tea. I did in fact want to buy some tea, so I risked it. Survived intact, although it must be the most expensive tea I have ever drunk. I tried 14 different types, all served up with great ceremony. Then Tracy translated my calligrapher's poem and added one of her own, which she said was a poem about the sea and sky by Chairman Mao which they all learned as children. After that I decided not to push my luck and got a taxi back to the hotel. It is 9:00 pm here, but my head thinks its lunch time and what happened to last night's bedtime? There is an 8 hour time difference. I fly on to Chengdu tomorrow. |