Goodbye China

Confucius Institute

Confucius Institutes, founded in 2004, are non-profit public institutions that promote Chinese language and culture and support the teaching of Chinese internationally.

Jane, our tour guide, at the entrance to the Institute.

On our last day we visited the Beijing headquarters of the Confucius Institute. This beautiful facility opened in 2007. Jackie (took his English name from his hero Jackie Chan) gave us a tour of the hands-on museum/learning center. We had an opportunity to try on Chinese costumes, discover the art of paper cutting, visit the bookstore and enjoy the museum which housed some unique musical instruments as well as art.

Jackie explaining how to play this instrument.

That's quite a drum!

Bells

Art framed in carved wood.

"There's no place like home."

Temple of Heaven

Our last full day in China was spent at the Temple of Heaven and shopping at both the Pearl Market and the Silk Market.

As we entered the park leading to the Temple, people were dancing to the music which was playing through the speakers in the wooden pillar structures along wthe way. These structures serve as security cameras as well as speakers.

 

Our own Amanda and Lei demonstrating their dancing skills.

The temple was constructed during the Ming Dynasty under the Yongle Emperor, the 3^rd emperor of China, who was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City. There are three main structures.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a triple-gabled circular building, built on three levels of marble stone base, where the Emperor prayed for good harvests. Each level has 9 steps going up to the next level—9 being the number associated with the emperor and good luck. The building is completely wooden, constructed with no nails, but rather has tightly fitted dove-tailed joints.

The Imperial Vault of Heaven is a single-gabled circular building, built on a single level of marble stone. It is surrounded by a smooth circular wall, the Echo Wall, that can transmit sounds over large distances

Some of the details on the stairs leading to

 the Vault of Heaven can be seen here.

The Circular Mound Altar is the altar proper, located south of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. It is an empty circular platform on three levels of marble stones, each decorated by lavishly carved dragons. The numbers of various elements of the Altar, including its balusters and steps, are either the sacred number nine or its multiples. The center of the altar is a round slate called the Heart of Heaven or the Supreme Yang where the Emperor prayed for favorable weather.

This was a ceremonial site which the emperor visited about 3 times a year—to pray for the harvest, to pray for rain and to give thanksgiving for the harvest. There is no Buddha or shrine in the temple as Heaven was the God. The ancient Chinese believed that the sky was round and the earth was square and that the earth was larger than the sky. Hence the outer wall is square representing the larger earth and the temple is round representing the sky. The altar had no roof as it would be easier for the prayers to reach heaven. The blue tiles represented heaven or the sky; yellow tiles were reserved for the emperor.

This picture is a demonstration of the round and the square which I mentioned earlier--sky/round, earth/square. Symbolic of their idea of the universe.

Nine-Dragon Juniper 

This Chinese Juniper tree is over 500 years old. The trunk is covered with spiral grooves which twist up vertically as if ‘nine coiling dragons were wreathing up into the sky’, hence the name.

As we left the Temple of Heaven we strolled down a walkway where an elderly man was practicing his calligraphy on the walkway. We were told that this is very common. Long-handled brushes are dipped in water, calligraphy is an art form and the skills of an accomplished calligrapher are highly prized.

Next we visited the Hongqiao Market also called the Pearl Market where we did some shopping.

This is the wall of celebrities who have purchased pearls from this market. I felt if it was good enough for Laura and Barbara I guess it would work for me; so...

For lunch we visited a hot pot Chinese restaurant where we cooked our own food—in a fondu manner.

Luke serving himself from the hot pot.

Off to another market, this time the Silk Market. These markets require bargaining and I can’t shop like that. Way too stressful! I got one bad deal after another.

More game playing in the park.

The National Centre for the Performing Arts

National Centre for the Performing Arts

 

This afternoon we visited this amazing opera house. It boasts the largest dome in the world. The structure is made of titanium and glass and was designed by the famous French architect Paul Andreu. The building is completely surrounded by a man-made lake; entrance to the building is through a hallway that goes underneath the lake. It took 6 years for the construction of the building which hosted its first concert in 2007. There are 3 main theaters in the Centre—the opera hall, the music hall and the theatre hall with a smaller hall called the ballet hall. In addition to the theaters it also has a few museums—a costume museum and a historical display. The Centre can accommodate more than 5,000 people at a time. I felt so small entering this massive structure. It was definitely breath taking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The instrument with the 'smile' is the Chinese guitar called the ruan.

It's so cute, makes you wish you had one--you'd always have a smile.

 

Old Beijing

We returned to Beijing by train this morning and this afternoon we visited Old Beijing. Howard was our tour guide for this section of the city which seems to have some of its own rules. Howard explained the meaning of some of the items around the door. One is the relevance of the number of pillars--which are actually round, wooden objects over the door. No pillars means very poor, 8 pillars means royalty. This home has 4 so the owner is what we would call middle-class.

He also tells us that the profession of the owner can be ascertained by the statues—the round barrel of the lion statue is an indication that there is a military man in the home. Before even entering the home, much can be learned about those who live there. 

We entered this section of Beijing in a rickshaw and were invited into someone’s private residence. It is easy to see what the elderly value in these homes—they have access to their own property, a private yard and a somewhat quiet neighborhood. Compare this to the majority of the residents who live in large apartment complexes with literally thousands of people and their noises. On the other hand, water continues to be a problem. The residents share public restrooms; no home has a private bathroom. Also the streets are very narrow and filled with much debris.

Howard told us that in Old Beijing a hutong originally meant water well; now hutongs are a type of narrow streets or alleys with traditional courtyard residences often referred to as quadrangles because there are structures on four sides with a courtyard in the center. The word hutong can also mean neighborhood.



When the authorities wanted to enlarge the size of the city, many such neighborhoods were torn down. This continues to be a politically and economically heated issue. Many want to preserve the Chinese cultural history while others believe the land could be put to better use. Consequently, the land has become very valuable and some of these properties are valued at the equivalent of one million American dollars.

This is the courtyard of the private residence that we visited.

Look at all the trees.

 This 92 year old man is the owner of this quad.

He is here with Howard, our tour guide and Ada, our Bryant intern.

This is the entrance to the home that we visited; notice the 2 pillars.

Men often played games in the courtyards.

The alternative to the privately owned quadrangles in the hutongs.

Shanhai Pass

Shanhai Pass (shan=mountain; hai=sea; pass= gate/pass your feet) This is the gate between the mountain and the sea. It is the beginning of the Great Wall. It was heavily guarded as a defense from northern invasions of the Manchurians.

The very beginning of the Great Wall of China.

This is a portion of the original wall; it is encased and protected as a means of preservation.

During the Ming Dynasty the imperial administration charged the governor general to build Longwu Camp and to train the troops to strengthen the sea and land defense. The troops amounted to about 1500 soldiers. This restored soldiers’ camp is a reproduction of the past life of the soldiers.

There were 4 'barracks' similar to this one housing about 1,500 soldiers. The rooms were not heated; however, there was a system that allowed heat to be pushed under the beds. This was managed through a coal fire pit that was outside the entrance to the barracks. I think there was a lot of ‘body-genereated’ heat as the quarters were quite small for the number of soldiers needing to rest at any given time.

 This is a picture of the original sign; it reads

The First Pass Under Heaven, another name for Shanhai Pass.

Schools

Hebei Vocational College of Foreign Languages





This morning we had a tour of the Hebei Vocational College of Foreign Languages. This was the site of the football training field for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. This college has a long history having started off as a normal school. We met with the Vice President of the College and the Dean of the foreign language teachers. Later we watched a promotional DVD of the school and had an opportunity to ask questions of the teachers and administrators. The campus was beautifully landscaped. They have a strong pre-school education program and an entire building for aviation training which will soon include an airplane simulator. They receive many international students and offer programs in 8 different languages. Many of the students of this school will become foreign language teachers. Unfortunately, classes were not in session when we visited so we didn’t have an opportunity to interact with the student body; however, I did chat with Carol, our tour guide, who recently graduated from their tourism program and had many positive things to say about the school and the program. But if you want to be a foreign language teacher, this might be the place for you. And drum roll please, it is very close to a resort area which is believed to have the best beach in North China.

The fearless leaders

I loved the many quotes that were displayed along the college lanes.

Our next stop was at the Glass Museum. This is a museum that has just opened and we were the very first people to visit. There were sculptures depicting the stages of glass making. These were very interesting. We also had an opportunity to see a glass blower at work. He made objects to order for us. I had a glass owl made.

The glass blower

Flat Stanley was a star at the glass museum. 

Our final activity for the day was a trip to a school that was hosting a summer camp. Students at this camp were deemed to have leadership qualities—the banner for the program stated “Tomorrow’s CEOs”. We were told that they would be doing a performance for us and that we were expected to do one for them in return. We very quickly tried to come up with something and in the end the teachers’ taught them a handclapping game and the students’  taught them a game where they had to observe the crowd and determine who the leader was. We met in a large room on the fourth floor of the school. The aroma of the room was similar to the smell in a boys’ locker room. There were many bodies in this room and no air-conditioning. Even so it turned out to be good fun for everyone.

One interesting thing about this experience was the fact that, although these students had seen Americans before, they had never spoken to one. They were ecstatic. It appears that kids everywhere love American Pop Culture.

It's not only the USA Olympic Swimming Team that can perform Call Me Maybe, check out this video. Look at out STARTALK intern Lei (gotta love that Lei) encouraging our kids to get involved.