Beijing is hard to sum up. It is a lot of different things in one. To begin with, it's the seat of the communist party, host of the 2008 Olympics, and a lot of concrete, and has a surprising lack of old things for the world's oldest country. Actually, it is not that surprising.
We rode in on the overnight train, exhausted from sitting in a chair for 15 hours straight. We tried to get a bus, or the subway, but eventually gave up and got a taxi. We seemed to cross town, eventually reaching a middle school where our next host worked and lived near by. We stood on the curb, both of us thinking the same thought: What now? Do we go in? (The school our host works at below):
Our answer came quickly. A man burst out the front door wearing black and yellow Ray-Bans, a button-down shirt, and black jeans if I remember correctly. He was accompanied by about fifteen or twenty sixth-graders. He yelled: "Hey! Couch surfers! Come over here; we're going to light stuff on fire!"
I think that is all you really need to know to understand our latest host. He was doing a lab with the students on the conservation of matter which included arming them all with magnifying glasses and lighting the lawn on fire, or at least getting it to smoke.
Our host is AWESOME. He has an apartment paid for by the school on the tenth floor of a building nearby. Basically, it is all ours because he spends the majority of his time at his girlfriend's place. He is also a great guide and good at explaining China. Just understanding this country for yourself is hard, let alone explaining it to others.
There have been many highlights of our stay in this city. I think we like it even more than Hong Kong. Hong Kong definitely has more "soul" to it, but Beijing has a great art scene with an undeniable bit of culture as well. The unfortunate thing about Beijing is there is basically nothing old in this city, everything has such a short life. Take the Man's Pants building (a.k.a. the China Center Television Headquarters,) for example. Our host explained that the burnt out building next to it (which is being quickly rebuilt as I type,) was an illegal fireworks factory that caught fire. This illustrates perfectly how polarized China is; everything is either new and shiny or burnt out.
Some of the streets seem like Vegas: wide, lit up, loud, and flashy. Even random roads or shopping districts follow in this suit.
We also had a good run-in with touts in the real markets. These markets sold all the traditional Chinese stuff like mahjong, fat Buddhas, and tea. The also sold eccentric "traditional" Chinese food, like scorpions or cockroaches on a stick. I question how traditional it is because when a tourist picks up one of these insects, all the locals stop and watch to see if they will go through with it.
We made it to the 798 art zone too. It is fairly mainstream now, but still critical of the government. Since it pulls so much tourism they look the other way. Of course the founder is in prison right now, but he managed to start another art center outside of Beijing before the government nabbed him.
There must be at least over 100 studios in that area and I think we only visited a third of them. One of our favorite exhibits was called "Only Her Body", which, big surprise (sarcasm,) was a metaphor for human destruction of mother earth. But I do have to say the style was very cool. It was all paint but done in a way to look like it was made of only neon lighting.
We also went to this exhibit, which was in the same building but had a metaphor that was a little less obvious. It was critical of the government, no doubt.
Here are some other places in the 798 art district we saw.
The 2008 Olympic games certainly changed everything for Beijing. It really sped the process here of destroying the old and building the new. There has been a MASSIVE cultural loss here in the last 75 years or so due to several issues.
We went to see the Olympic stadiums expecting to see other American or European tourists there. We did not see either, instead it was all Chinese tourists. This is because up until recently the Chinese were not allowed to leave their state, let alone their country. Also, I am sure there is a lot of iconic pride in the Water Cube and Birds Nest, so it is an attractive destination. It was windy too! (notice Mickey Mouse in the last photo!)
We rode in on the overnight train, exhausted from sitting in a chair for 15 hours straight. We tried to get a bus, or the subway, but eventually gave up and got a taxi. We seemed to cross town, eventually reaching a middle school where our next host worked and lived near by. We stood on the curb, both of us thinking the same thought: What now? Do we go in? (The school our host works at below):
Our answer came quickly. A man burst out the front door wearing black and yellow Ray-Bans, a button-down shirt, and black jeans if I remember correctly. He was accompanied by about fifteen or twenty sixth-graders. He yelled: "Hey! Couch surfers! Come over here; we're going to light stuff on fire!"
I think that is all you really need to know to understand our latest host. He was doing a lab with the students on the conservation of matter which included arming them all with magnifying glasses and lighting the lawn on fire, or at least getting it to smoke.
Our host is AWESOME. He has an apartment paid for by the school on the tenth floor of a building nearby. Basically, it is all ours because he spends the majority of his time at his girlfriend's place. He is also a great guide and good at explaining China. Just understanding this country for yourself is hard, let alone explaining it to others.
There have been many highlights of our stay in this city. I think we like it even more than Hong Kong. Hong Kong definitely has more "soul" to it, but Beijing has a great art scene with an undeniable bit of culture as well. The unfortunate thing about Beijing is there is basically nothing old in this city, everything has such a short life. Take the Man's Pants building (a.k.a. the China Center Television Headquarters,) for example. Our host explained that the burnt out building next to it (which is being quickly rebuilt as I type,) was an illegal fireworks factory that caught fire. This illustrates perfectly how polarized China is; everything is either new and shiny or burnt out.
Some of the streets seem like Vegas: wide, lit up, loud, and flashy. Even random roads or shopping districts follow in this suit.
We also had a good run-in with touts in the real markets. These markets sold all the traditional Chinese stuff like mahjong, fat Buddhas, and tea. The also sold eccentric "traditional" Chinese food, like scorpions or cockroaches on a stick. I question how traditional it is because when a tourist picks up one of these insects, all the locals stop and watch to see if they will go through with it.
We made it to the 798 art zone too. It is fairly mainstream now, but still critical of the government. Since it pulls so much tourism they look the other way. Of course the founder is in prison right now, but he managed to start another art center outside of Beijing before the government nabbed him.
There must be at least over 100 studios in that area and I think we only visited a third of them. One of our favorite exhibits was called "Only Her Body", which, big surprise (sarcasm,) was a metaphor for human destruction of mother earth. But I do have to say the style was very cool. It was all paint but done in a way to look like it was made of only neon lighting.
We also went to this exhibit, which was in the same building but had a metaphor that was a little less obvious. It was critical of the government, no doubt.
Here are some other places in the 798 art district we saw.
The 2008 Olympic games certainly changed everything for Beijing. It really sped the process here of destroying the old and building the new. There has been a MASSIVE cultural loss here in the last 75 years or so due to several issues.
We went to see the Olympic stadiums expecting to see other American or European tourists there. We did not see either, instead it was all Chinese tourists. This is because up until recently the Chinese were not allowed to leave their state, let alone their country. Also, I am sure there is a lot of iconic pride in the Water Cube and Birds Nest, so it is an attractive destination. It was windy too! (notice Mickey Mouse in the last photo!)
i think couchsurfing is such a great idea -- i hope you guys do it in japan, too! what a good way to meet interesting people who can show you a bit of their favorite parts of the city.
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