Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

After driving about 45 minutes outside of downtown Beijing to see a section of the Great Wall, I was rather disappointed to overhear a middle-aged American lady ask her friend, "Which side is Mongolia?"

At long last, Moosedung resumes. We spent last week in Beijing seeing all of Beijing's famous sites in the style of "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium". Beijing is a very large city with lots of tourists, particularly Chinese domestic tourists come to see their esteemed capital. After taking the overnight train from Shanghai, we were led straight to Tiananmen Square by our tourguide. With the UVA flag waving majestically from a bamboo pole, we began parading across the large space brushing aside peddlers left, right and center. Suddenly a police van full of plainsclothes operatives zoomed across the square. It's driver said something quickly, pointed to the flag, and I reluctantly furled it. Plainsclothes police then tailed our group rather conspicuously for the duration of our tour of the Forbidden Palace, and finally became convinced of our peaceful intentions.

We saw lots of things very quickly in Beijing. Unfortunately, Mao's mausoleum has been closed for renovation and we were prevented from seeing his preserved body floating in formaldehyde. Perhaps these special treats are to be unveiled just before the Olympics. As China's capital city under five dynasties, Beijing has a much better selection of traditional sites than Shanghai. Beijing also has a well-deserved reputation for its famous Peking Duck. Well worth trying.

We enjoyed a morning in one of Beijing's more famous parks and observed the typical morning activities of Beijing's older generation. As one strolls around such parks in the early morning, one can find people excercising birds (by swinging their cages), practicing Taiji, ballroom dancing, playing Mahjong, practicing instruments, singing opera, and doing some sort of weird exercise that entails smacking one fist into the palm of the other hand while walking.

I was glad to get back to Shanghai, perhaps because it is most familiar, but not less because there are fewer tour groups. The weather has finally become sticky and oppressive. We have air-conditioned classrooms and bedrooms, but this is certainly not the time to go out and experience life in the rice paddies.