Monday was the start of our social study projects. At first, I was disappointed I wasn’t going somewhere exotic like Inner Mongolia or Shaolin Temple, but as I watched everyone struggling and rushing to pack Friday afternoon, I was really looking forward to a week of relaxation. There were 9 students originally (we lost one on Tuesday) and two teachers, Li Laoshi, a third year daban ke laoshi, and Meng Laoshi, a second year teacher. We met Monday morning in the conference center lobby and took the subway to the National Grand Theater. Of course they were still doing construction so we couldn’t go in. It was startling to see something so modern and unique in design right next to dilapidated huts constructed hundreds of years ago.
We then walked through Tiananmen Guangchang, where we saw Mao Zedong’s mausoleum (closed for construction) and Chongwen Men, one of the gates to old Beijing. Many of the buildings surrounding the square have European style architecture as China became more receptive to Western influences after 1949. City planners decided to demolish the city wall surrounding old Beijing, but later realized it was a mistake as the cultural and historical integrity of the original city would be hard to figuratively protect without the literal wall around it.
So we walked across the street to the old Beijing Train Station, which looked like it was from a European city. When we got to the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall, of course it too was closed. Apparently they’re not open on Monday, even though Li Laoshi confirmed with the directors that we would be there that day. It would’ve been really interesting to tour the place, which has records of the transformation of the city from its ancient hutongs to the modern skyscrapers. So we decided to walk along the section of wall the city preserved, which was much longer than I expected. After looking around the museum, we went to lunch. After lunch we went to a section of Beijing that specializes in art: calligraphy, scroll paintings, carvings, souvenirs, tea, books, etc. We spent some time there and left for BLCU. But we forgot Arlo, so he took a cab back by himself.
On Tuesday, our first stop was the Lama Temple, Yong He Gong. We saw many Buddhas, including the world’s largest Buddha made from a single tree. I think the tour guide said it was 26 meters, but of course Americans learn the English system of measurement, I didn’t have any idea what that was despite my many years taking chemistry and physics. But I could tell it was tall. After the Lama Temple we went to the Confucian Temple and Imperial Academy. The Imperial Academy was China’s first institution of higher education. It too is under repairs ( I wonder why…2008?) so they finished repainting the bottom of the main building. I don’t know what I think about renovating old buildings. I think they should be preserved for people to enjoy, but refinishing, repainting, reconstructing are all things I think they should avoid. It takes away from the authenticity of the structure in my opinion. Sure vivid colors are beautiful and eye-catching, but even when they were first built I doubt they looked that good. There were also strange trees.
The Confucian Temple was under more intense construction, but we were able to see tablets of successful participants of China’s most rigorous test. The capital test was a measure of greatness, and those who scored the highest had their names and hometowns engraved on huge tablets to be put on display in the temple and academy. I think this was the origin of China’s higher education’s obsession with testing. We ate at a vegetarian restaurant near the temple for lunch. They had fake meat made out of tofu, oats, and mushrooms. The imitation lamb kebobs were actually pretty good. Everything else that was fake was weird. The real vegetables were tasty. We then journeyed to the Shoudu Bowuguan, or the Capital Museum, a contemporary behemoth of art, architecture, and culture. Completed in 2005, the museum has a beautiful glass exterior with a greenish bell-like structure protruding from the wall and ceiling. It’s pretty cool. The six stories are dedicated to the various forms of Chinese artistic culture, from bronze earthenware and jade carvings to calligraphic scrolls and Buddha figurines. There were also exhibits on Beijing’s architecture and historical transformation. We only had two hours there, but I felt as if there was enough there to spend a whole day inside (at least 3 hours).
There was a special surprise on Wednesday (actually we learned of it on Tuesday): Li Laoshi was successful in arranging for us to go see the still-under construction Olympic venues. This was one of the reasons I signed up for this social study project, so I was really looking forward to it. The day started out dark and stormy, with heavy thunderstorms for a few early hours. Tuesday was incredibly humid; it was unbearable to walk outside for more than 10 minutes. It literally felt like a water oven outside. I usually hate rain, but Beijing rain doesn’t last very long, and when it ends the air is cool and fresh, and the clouds disappear. We drove to the Olympic park and got a tour, which consisted of standing on a platform and looking at the two most important buildings: the site of the Olympic opening ceremonies, the so-called Niao Chao, or Bird Nest, and the swimming pool structure, the Water Cube. I had seen the Niao Chao before, but it was remarkable to be so close to it. The pool building is made of a really strange material, sort of like a clear version of a tympani. It had to undergo extensive testing at Qinghua University to make sure it’s safe to use. There’s a layer of steel in between two layers of the bubble-like substance, so the interior and exterior look the same. The buildings are very impressive, but there’s still a lot of work to do.
After the Olympic Park we traveled to Zhong Lou and Gu Lou, which were ancient Beijing’s clocktowers. One is situated on the east side and a bell was struck at dawn. The other is situated on the west side and a drum was beaten at dusk. From the tall towers we had a great view of Beijing, a strange juxtaposition of the ancient hutongs and the modern skyscrapers. It was interesting to see solar panels on the huts.
Next was Houhai to look at the hutongs. These are ancient Beijing’s neighborhoods, consisting of walled “villa” type structures. The streets are really narrow, so modern cars have a really hard time driving through them. Beijingers don’t care though.
We went to a prince’s residence in the hutong, a true Chinese-style villa, complete with multiple structures (all symmetrical of course) and lots of rock and water landscape. Once you’re inside, it’s hard to tell the buildings apart from every other ancient Chinese building since the structure and architecture are nearly identical.
The afternoon was spent at a tea shop. Li Laoshi goes to this place often to buy tea, and she thought it would be interesting for us to get to know Chinese tea culture. The method of real tea preparation is nothing like how I make tea. The tea pots are small so the leaves don’t steep too long since the tea is drunken so quickly. We tried all kinds of tea, such as green, black, flower, and red. I’ve grown up around green tea so I like drinking that the most. There was a strange kind of black tea called pu’er, which is usually pressed into wheels, coins, and other shapes. The flavor of the darker teas is more intense, so the leaves can be steeped longer.
Thursday’s first stop was Qijiuba, or 798 Dashanzi Art District. Making use of abandoned Communist-era factories (some even retaining the motivational propaganda painted on the walls to encourage workers to dedicate their time and effort to the revolutionary cause), the art studios transport the viewer from modern China to a contemporary art district anywhere in the world. Besides some Chinese/Asian motifs in the art, much of it is like any other style you would see elsewhere. It is easy to get lost amidst the tall factory buildings and narrow pathways, but that is part of the fun of 798. Everywhere you turn, there is a new gallery or studio to be discovered, some with bored secretaries checking their email and making important-sounding calls, some with waiting artists eager for their art to be viewed by anyone.
My favorite exhibit was in the “Contemporary Chinese Art” gallery, which featured a juxtaposition of Chinese characters. Each collection of tablets had its own theme; one was of revolutionary slogans, another was of notes scribbled on scraps of paper, and yet another was of ancient Chinese sayings. The artist took handwriting samples from all of the authors and reconstructed the original message on stone tablets, chiseled and sponged with black paint for an elegant, weathered look. Each collection had its own personality, and I especially enjoyed the one by a revolutionary leader, reading “If you don’t mess with me, I won’t mess with you. If you must mess with me, I have no choice but to mess with you.”
After a delicious lunch of noodles, the afternoon was spent at the China Art Museum. The architecture is impressive; the building is an imposing structure of ancient Chinese style, but instead of the characteristic red walls, they are a cleaner and more modern-looking beige. Notice how blue the sky was. It must have rained the previous night. The main attraction of the museum was a Spanish touring exhibit, “From Titian to Goya,” a collection of Spain’s most influential works from that time period. There was also a contemporary Chinese artist profiled on the first floor, creating abstract works that focused on color and random detail. The room across was dedicated to a Chinese sculptor, who in addition to making replicas of real people, had unique personifications of abstract nouns, like inspiration, misery, and hope.
The rest of the museum had everything you would expect in a Chinese art museum: calligraphy, “mountain & water” art, paper cuts, just mostly scrolls. Despite the façade of the building, the inside wasn’t that big, with only 5 floors of artwork. I wasn’t particularly impressed by most of the works on display.
Friday, the last day of our social study week, wasn’t very interesting. We took the subway to the Central Business District, a collection of mismatched “skyscrapers,” if you can call the unimpressive, oddly shaped buildings that. Part of my social study report had to do with the changing Beijing skyline, and the relative inexperience Chinese architects have in constructing tall buildings, since ancient Chinese style placed the horizontal above the vertical. Chinese skyscrapers, at least in Beijing, are wider and shorter than their American counterparts. The feeling they exude is not magnificence or power, but rather sheepishness and imitation.
However, our stay in the CBD didn’t involve a trip to the impressive Bank of China, designed by the genius I.M. Pei. We didn’t actually visit any buildings, as our stop in the CBD was only to catch a bus to a commune of artists about 2 hours away, in a Beijing suburb known for its art. So we got on the bus (luckily we all had seats) and traveled to the isolated district. We saw a few studios. A lot of the art was based on Western techniques and I actually couldn’t see any Asian influence in some of them. I guess in the globalized world, contemporary art is the same for everyone.
We came back, had lunch, and I had my second trip to Panjiayuan, the sprawling outdoor market. Because it was Friday, many vendors were at their other jobs (I presume), so there was only about 1/6 of the usual activity. After deciding that I didn’t really need any ancient artifacts or jade, I went to the art vendor that I patronized during my first visit. Surprisingly, the vendor recognized me. As I was looking for more tiles to buy, a woman and her mother came in to look. They picked up a few pieces and asked the vendor how much they were. I was shocked how much they were compared to the ones I bought last time. The shopper haggled for only a few minutes, finally exclaiming, “Bargaining for these pieces breaks my heart as much as it breaks yours! I feel bad for not paying so much for art since I appreciate it so much.” Maybe she was trying to save face for not being a very good haggler, but it really resonated with me. The vendor’s older brother made all the pieces, and I’m sure being an artist is extremely hard to make a living. I picked out 3 pieces, one for my brother, one for my parents, and one for me, and I thanked her for her reasonable price, 1) since I was a poor student, and 2) considering I had made a purchase with her the week before.
And so ends the social study week. On Saturday, all the out-of-towners came back, and it was really strange to see everyone assembled in the lobby ready to go see acrobatics. We were all interested in each other’s experiences, but it was a little awkward since while we were getting to know the people in our own groups, we were also by default somewhat growing apart from others. Acrobatics was very impressive. I was sort of uncomfortable the entire performance because I get very nervous for other people, especially when their stunts are so dangerous and so much is on the line (I suspect that every mistake equals a day without food).
After the show, Andi, Sussan, Carl, and I searched in the vicinity of the theater for a restaurant. We decided on a sketchy place in a dark area. Our mistake was ordering what the waitress suggested. Not only was it quite expensive (around $4), the ingredients were questionable, including pig organs, blood, and fungus. Needless to say, we didn’t finish it.
On Sunday, I went to visit my Chinese family again. I was surprised to see how much Zhongzi had grown since 2 weeks before. I brought my violin again and played a number of pieces for them. In addition to Mozart and the Butterfly Lovers’ Concerto, “mom” requested My Heart Will Go On from Titanic. She was impressed (I think) at my ability to hear a piece of music and be able to figure out how to play it on violin.
Ok, enough for the long post. Please read and comment!
