I have to start this out by laughing at myself. On the 14 hour plane ride to Beijing I was excited about the warm weather. 80+ degrees? Yay! I thought to myself, at least I’ll get a little summer while abroad…oh you stupid little fool. My first day in China was easily 90 degrees and humid in a way that feels like soft velvet rubbing against your skin: oppressively pleasant. At the end of the day I had sweated through my black tank top so horrendously that there were white stripes where the salt had dried!
China was overwhelming! If Andrea and I had not had Dorothy to house and guide us I don’t know what we would have done. The language barrier is impenetrable, even though they do speak slowly to foreigners, and my knowledge of Mandarin consists of smiling and nodding. So, thank you, Dorothy! Her family’s hospitality and her assistance made our visit not only fabulous but possible.
Our first day started out with Dorothy’s grandfather, our host, registering us at the local police station as visitors. Here I was reintroduced to childhood in that I knew I was being discussed and knew I had to be present…but ultimately had no idea what was going on. As a kid I might have played with the ID card booth, but I retained enough maturity to prevent that – shame really, it looked like a pretty fun set up. Here I was also introduced to the species of Chinese person that sounds perpetually angry – one clerk was yelling and gesturing so wildly I could have sworn she’d likened my ancestors to pigs or hamsters, but it turned out she was just saying hello.
The first tourist stop was Tiananmen Square. Though it looked exactly as it should it made me thoughtful. I think people sometimes travel to historical places to snatch at the ghosts of old, to reach for the place-memories that can connect the past to our present. We went to Tiananmen, in part, looking for evidence of its bloody past. But, as is the case with such endeavors, the Square showed little of its history. The walkways were clean and lined with neat rows of potted plants; people crowded into souvenir shops or strolled with brightly-colored umbrellas (conveniently placed at my eye-level for maximum fun).
Moving through Tiananmen Square, we entered the Forbidden City (home of Chinese emperors and center of government for about 500 years). The courtyards were big as fields, with large stones blanketing the grounds and tiny lines of grass hugging the stones. Statues watched us wherever we walked: dragon water-spouts, dragon roof statues, dragons in relief, turtle dragons, snake dragons, dog dragons, lion dragons, and cranes. (Go, cranes! Hanging with the big dogs!)
Every doorway we passed was painted red as were the towering walls. Dorothy explained to us that red is for good fortune. (Perhaps that’s why the communists absconded with it!) Everything was incredibly colorful. Any surface that was not attempting to dwarf the viewer with its blank immensity was minutely detailed. The painted woodwork was a riot of blues, golds, greens, and reds. It struck how every aspect of the palace was built and maintained with a purpose. The Chinese are nothing if not thorough.
And that is why it perplexed me that in such a purposeful, strict society no one knows how to wait in line! How does that happen? We got cut off countless times and even got honked at for using the crosswalk properly. DWA is a stereotype, true….but dear god it’s true and they’re everywhere!
After the Forbidden City we trekked 4 miles to Beihai Park due to an unfortunate inability to find the correct bus. Beihai was beautiful! We had come to see the wall of nine dragons, but found so much more! As soon as we got in, we went to the paddleboats and chugged along for awhile on the cool green waters lined by pagodas and willow trees. Dragonflies zipped around our heads, their swift orange bodies teasingly close but never landing. When we began to explore the park I realized that China is a very unhealthy place for me…you see, I suffer from a love/hate relationship with stairs. Everywhere we looked another stairway curved temptingly upward and out of sight. Rough-hewn or smooth, steep or shallow: I love them all. But with 120% humidity, it was a pleasure my compatriots and I suffered for.
As we walked, we passed a lake teeming with gargantuan lilies (we’re talking frog heaven here); a Chinese man insisted on shaking our hands because he’d never shook with an American before, and we encountered a herd of feral cats two of which were humping up a storm. We watched an older man trying to break up the rendezvous, but you can’t stop kitty love; especially when a cat knows it’s forbidden.
All in all, we had a lovely day. I think I got the hang of naming things down here after tooling around the tourist scene. It’s always something elaborate: Hall of Wisdom and Grace, Pillar of Accumulated Elegance, etc. So I started making up my own:
- Temple of Fruitless Thoughtfulness
- Archway of Sensical Violence
- Gateway of the Flamboyant Chihuahua
Feel free to use any and all for your future naming needs! And so passed my first day in China!
*Pictures will be posted after I have finished backpacking Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment