Grace Goes to China

My China adventure

2008-11-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

In January 2008, I went on a two week trip to China, with my younger sister Ki-Ki and my good friends Alvina and Jen. It was my first time in Mainland China and we focused our travels in Beijing and Shanghai. This blog catalogues our days there. I have done a little editing from my original posts to make it easier for those reading this for the first time. For your reading convenience, I've listed the posts so my first posta are at the top and you scroll to my last, so it is in order as you read down. . I hope you enjoy this and my other blogs which I will write when I (hopefully) get more opportunities to travel!

in China

2008-11-20T17:52:00.003-08:00

Flying with companions is much more enjoyable than flying alone. The last time I went on an international trip I went solo; this time, flying with my sister Ki-Ki and Alvina was definitely preferable. But still tiring. When we got into Beijing and met our other friend Jen (who flew in from San Francisco) the fatigue had transformed me into an unattractive life form barely able to speak coherent sentences in English, much less my non-existent Chinese.

But we hoped a good dinner would be the remedy. We went to a place called "Little Fat Lamb", a Mongolian hot pot restaurant. There, our presence fascinated the waiter. Who were these Chinese-looking girls that could not speak Chinese? And speak English so well? He was mesmerized by us, insisting that we wear the special aprons to eat (we noticed these aprons were not pushed upon any of the locals). We humored him, especially as it was quite amusing that the aprons were embroidered with cute, plaintive sheep (lamb is the specialty there) and the words "please keep me." I hear they have restaurants in San Francisco and Montreal, I wonder if the aprons there say the same thing.

However, even "Fat Little Lamb" could not help the exhaustion. So we decided on a quiet walk home and an indoor evening, adventures to begin in the morning.

But I am in China.

cold morning

2008-11-20T17:52:00.001-08:00

The next morning we woke up early and cold. Very cold. It was barely 30 degrees out, but we weren't going to let the temperature deter us from our China adventure.So we bundled up, each wearing at least 4 layers and looking quite plump. But even though we didn't look as if we were in need of a breakfast, we were recommended to find a Chinese specialty street food:a jiang bing; so we went in search of it.

And we quickly found it. The steam called to us in the freezing air and soon found a a red cheeked vendor making the slightly-spicy-crepe-and-egg-with-a-chinese-twist.

It was just the thing to warm us up (did I mention it was cold?) and spurred us onward to go see the fairly nearby Lama Temple, the largest buddhist temple in Beijing. It was quite beautiful, the most obvious point of pride being that this building:holds the largest buddha ever to be cut from a single block of wood. It is 55 ft tall, spans all three stories and is really amazing. Since you are not allowed to take pictures and I am not one to break the rules, you will have to take my word for it.

Though I do admit to breaking the rules a little. An iconic statuary was very clearly marked with this particular decree:
which absolutely no one paid attention to:
including me:
But I had a really important thing to wish for. The cold had made me lose the feeling in my feet and I felt I needed some sort of spirtual assistance to make sure it came back.

Chinese Culture

2008-11-20T17:51:00.004-08:00

After our cold morning, we decided temporarily ignore the Chinese culture putdoors and spend our afternoon indoors shopping(!). We went to YaShow an enormous indoor marketplace. I thought I would like to get a nice qipao (one of those Chinese silk dresses with a Mandarin collar) and YaShow we were told was a sure bet place to get one.

It was extremely intimidating. Think of a 6 floor home depot filled with hundreds upon hundreds of stalls, all manned by extremely aggressive vendors. I quickly learned some unpleasant things. First, for a standard Chinese women I am huge. Ki-Ki, my sister, who is a size 2, was forced to wear a large; and when the saleswoman looked at my waist she said, "tai da!" which I'm pretty sure means "too big." She brought me an extra large and looked doubtful.

However, I did manage to squeeze into something...and then the games began. In China, haggling is an art form like no other. And as I was obviously a non-native (if my size didn't give it away, my completely incoherent Chinese did), I was an easy target for a swindle.

Luckily, our traveling companion Jen is not only better at Chinese but no fool either. When the saleswoman gave a price 3 times a normal price, Jen told us to walk away. We were stopped by the saleswoman who than offered another price, maybe 10 dollars less. We (uh, Jen) counter offered 1/3 of the price. Offer, counteroffer, offer, and then Jen told us to walk away again. This went on for two hours. Really. It was exhausting. I don't know how Chinese people actually buy anything. Perhaps that is how they keep from being so materialistic, one has to really work at purchasing. Anyway, we finally got it to a "decent" price and won the respect of the salesperson but after I calculated the savings in my head, I realized it might've been worth it just to pay the extra money so we could leave after 5 minutes instead.

But, looking back, as an experience in real Chinese culture, I suppose it was worth it.

(the outfit Ki-Ki bought... or won, depending on how you look at it)

train travels

2008-11-20T17:51:00.003-08:00

Due to the extensive haggling, our shopping expedition took more time than anticiapted and we found ourselves rushing to the train station. Where were we going? Why, we were going to Shanghai. We had booked a 3-day, 2 night tour for ourselves and if we wanted to keep with it we had to catch our 12 hour overnight train.

But there are few things more confusing than a Chinese train station, especially when you don't read a lick of Chinese. People don't like to be asked questions when they are in train stations, they are running to catch their train. Like we should've been..except we had no idea where to go.

I take it back, I had no idea where to go (and neither did Ki-Ki) but Alvina and Jen with their far superior language skills slowly figured it out, while Ki-Ki and I followed like sheep. And after sweating and straining with our luggage through rush hour and throngs of people to the correct gate, I realized I read the tickets wrong and we were an hour early. You know your friends are true friends when they don't get annoyed by things like that.

But maybe it was good fate, because somehow we were unable to get tickets that allowed all four of us to be in the same sleeper car and we needed some time to sort things out. We didn't realize what an issue not sharing the same car would be until we saw how close the quarters were in these sleepers...and that we were paired with strange Chinese men. We quickly put on our most pathetic, pouty faces, and Jen cajoled in Chinese until they were willing to make the switch.

And thank goodness, for riding sleeper car was quite fun. Not much of a view as we were traveling by night, but nothing beats a getting up at midnight on a train to eat brought-from-home ramen noodles and peanut butter on bread. And Ki-Ki woke us all up at 3 in the morning when she got up to eat Nerd candy.

But when the sun began to rise (or the smog lightened, little hard to tell), we knew we were close to our destination. Before long we were being pushed off the train into Shanghai station. Luckily, Kevin, our tour guide, was there waiting for us and saved us from another painful navigation through us a train station; and we soon found ourselves on the streets of Shanghai.

Hello, Shanghai!

Shanghai dumplings

2008-11-20T17:51:00.001-08:00

We were afraid Kevin, our tour guide, would be a bit overwhelmed with the responsibility of us four giggling girls, but instead he seemed rather amused. Even when Melody, a friend of Ki-Ki's who is temporarily living in Shanghai, joined us, he was nonplussed. Instead, when we told him we were hungry and wanted a substantial meal, he calmly took us to a teahouse at the Yu Gardens Bazaar--an old-looking, but modern shopping area full of knick-knacks and tourists just like us.
There, before we went into the teahouse, we watched the chefs make the dumplings we would be about to sample. It seemed to chaotic dance, the chefs' fingers flew as dumpling after dumpling was made. But even though it seemed fast to us, Kevin told us that this was non-impressive quickness; a famous woman chef had been recorded to make 1 million dumplings in 7 hours and 20 minutes. That, he told us, was speed worthy of respect.

However, when we sat down to eat, Kevin gained a new respect for speed when he saw how fast those dumplings disapeared. They were delicious--a Chinese specialty called xiao-lan-bao. Unlike the typical potsticker, these dumplings had a flavorful soup inside of them, making the meat especially tender and tasty. The first bite of these dumplings is accompanied by a savory squirt of soup; which if you can eat without making a mess marks you as a "real Chinese."

Some of us were better eating the dumplings than others, but our pace was beyond comparison. Suprised out of his professional demeanor, Kevin had to make two more orders to satisfy his American girls because we only stopped until we were stuffed like dumplings we we ate.

Yu Yuan Garden

2008-11-20T17:50:00.006-08:00

After lunch, we went to the Yu Yuan Garden, the largest Chinese Garden in Shanghai. Even in the gray and chilly weather, it was really lovely and it was here the Kevin really began to prove his worth as he was able to explain many of the garden's finer points.

The Yu Yuan Garden has five of these remarkable dragons, each one representing a different area of the garden. Officially, these are not real dragons (long) but are called jiao, a mystical "other" beast that looks a whole lot like a long dragon. That is because only the imperial family was allowed to use the image of the long dragon; and to escape the wrath of the emperor the garden's owner had two of the claws of all the dragons removed--claiming that since his dragons only had 3 claws and not the imperial 5, they were not dragons at all. Somehow he got away with it and the jiao beast, the 3-fingered wanna-be dragon, was born.
Perhaps the owner got away with it because he did not hesitate to use the garden as a device to flatter his superiors. For example,to get to the area that only friends or powerful officials would be allowed to enter, one passed through a round entrance way and then a rectangular one. This is because the round entrance way symbolizes heaven and the square one symbolizes earth. It is a compliment to those who pass through, that they are from heaven visiting the owners on earth.
Or perhaps it was just because imperial officials were willing to take any excuse not to harm this beautiful place, which visually balances the ying/yang elements of stone (symbolizing mountains and man) and water(symbolizing woman)with every glance...

as well as various creatures of interest. This is a dragonfish, one of the sons of the heavenly emperor whose special power is controlling water. He is placed on the roof as a protection against fire, a sort of spiritual firefighter.

This is one of the guardian lions. The unique feature of this lion is that it has a stone ball that moves around in its mouth, but cannot be taken out. Usually this is done by carving the lion and ball with one piece of stone; but the ball in this lion is made of marble--a completely different stone than what the lion is made of, which means the ball was made separately and then inserted. Apparently, the marble ball was cut in half and then placed and fused together seamlessly into the lion's mouth. The technology and skill to do this is now lost and this lion is the last one in China that exemplifies this vanished art.

But the most prized feature of the garden is this Jade Stone. It is not made of jade but it is treasured as if it were. A complete nature-made sculpture, this highly valued piece of rockery was on its way to the emperor when the boat it was on sunk and it vanished to the bottom of the river. Many years later it was found by a local fisherman and presented to the owner of the garden as a wedding gift for his daughter.

If one pours water on top of this stone, water will come out of every single one of its holes--a tribute to the interconnectedness of all things. This and its ancient age represents everlasting perpetuity, so many couples like to take their picture with it to symbolize their undying love. We, however, settled for eternal friendship. I think it wil work just as well.

five for tea

2008-11-20T17:50:00.005-08:00

We were all a bit chilled after walking in the garden, so Kevin suggested that we go to a tea house that offered instruction on Chinese tea drinking. It sounded like a good cultural experience as well as warm so we agreed.

And it was quite enjoyable. None of us had realized that the Chinese tea had so many proper steps. Our tea instructor informed us which teas should be prepared with boiling water (ginseng) and which should not (dragonwell--will kill the healthy nutrients) as well as the health benefits of each variety (lychee-puer helps weight loss, ginseng for energy).

Here are steps to properly drink Chinese tea:
1)The tea is presented to you in a smelling cup with the drinking cup covering it.
2)Very carefully, flip the this over so that the tea empties into the drinking cup without spilling.
3) Dip the top edge of your smelling cup into the tea. Then in a circular motion, rub the edge of your smelling cup with the edge of your drinking cup.

3) Smell the aroma in your smelling cup. Nice, right?
4)Now, delicately sip your tea. Ah, delicious!

acrobats

2008-11-20T17:50:00.003-08:00

We returned to the hotel and had a quick dinner because we didn't want to be late for our next event. We were going to see the Shanghai acrobats!

I take full responsibilty for this outing. Before I left for China, my friend Elaine and I were brainstorming ideas for new books, and one of the possibilities was a book on Chinese acrobats...so I asked the tour guide to book tickets for a show.

Which was not exactly what I expected. I had thought it would be full of traditional acts like plate spinning, bowl balancing, and chinese yo-yo's; but it was more an Asian pirate of a Cirque du Soleil show.

And like all things that are pirated, things were not exactly up to the same quality. Don't get me wrong, the performers did absolutely amazing and mind-blowing stunts--but unike a Cirque show were you have a certain confidence that the performers will be fine, we didn't feel that so much in this show. It was rather watching Olympic ice skating--you know the skaters are doing amazing things but you also know at any minute they might fall. Jen, who is in the midst of doing her medical internship, was gripping her seat the whole time. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to run up there and save someone!" she whispered.

But she didn't, and all the acrobats were well and alive by show's end. And once fear for the acrobats left, I was able to enjoy the beauty as well as gasp at the feats. Perhaps the fear made the show better for us, it definitely made it more exciting.

Suzhou Silk

2008-11-20T17:50:00.001-08:00

The next morning we woke up early to go to Suzhou, a canal city outside Shanghai. Unlike the others, I had not adjusted to the new time zone and I was unable to get more than 3 hours of sleep so I was barely able to stumble into our car, much less make an intelligible sentence. However, the traffic made the 32-mile ride about two hours, so I was able to catch up and sleep some.

And when I woke up we were at the Suzhou Silk Museum. Apparently, Suzhou is famous for their silk--the climate in that area is optimum for silk worms. They are able to harvest cocoons twice a season with much higher quantity and quality. The "Long History of Chinese Silk" begins here.

But the most fascinating part of the museum was the tour of a real working silk factory. Even though I knew where silk came from, the process never struck home until I actually saw it being made in front of me.

Because silk really comes from silk worms. Those cocoons are separated from those ugly little larvae and are used in one of two ways--to make silk thread or to make silk padding.

To make silk thread, the cocoons are assembly lined boiled. This loosens the strands of the cocoon,

allowing the workers to find an end to begin the machine unwinding process, making silk thread.
These threads are dyed and woven using these looms, making silk cloth.

The process for silk padding for quilts is a little different. The worm larvae is separated by hand from the quilt, and after being thoroughly soaked it is stretched over that U-shaped hoop that Melody is touching. After 100 cocoons are stretched over the hoop, it is taken off, dried...

and then stretched by hand to make the inner padding for a quilt. They let us pull one of the skeins and it was rather a thrill. It takes at least 8,000 cocoons to make enough padding for a quilt.

And that ended our silk factory tour. It definitely gave us a new appreciation for silk; and I felt a lot smarter. Well, at least a lot smarter than I did that morning.

Humble Administrator's Garden

2008-11-20T17:49:00.004-08:00

After the silk factory, we went to visit the "Humble Administrator's Garden", considered one of the finest gardens in China. I am inclined to agree. Even in the cold and Kevin's disclaimer that this was not the proper season to see the garden, it was extraordinarily beautiful.
There was a much different feeling to this garden than the YuYuan Garden we saw in Shanghai. That garden was owned by an aristocratic family who used it as a tool to display their power and prestige. This garden was built by a retired administrator who had no need to impress anyone and designed it as a place of meditation and contemplation.

And since the owner was more concerned with spiritual matters, the garden was heavily designed with Buddhist beliefs in mind. For example, in Buddhist philosophy there are three mountains--in the east is hell, the west heaven and in the middle is earth (where man lives); and dividing heaven and hell from earth is a great river. To represent this, our humble retired administrator had the garden built with three pavilioned hills with a lake separating the two of them from the third.

And instead of a preponderance of dragons, there were bats. This is because the word for bat is bian fu and since fu is the Chinese word for luck, bats are lucky. Five bats are especially lucky because there are five elements: Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal.

Lastly, since the garden was to be a place of relaxation and artistic appreciation, all the buildings and architectural details were designed to compliment and frame pictures of nature--so that every view was like a painting.This, perhaps, is one picture that the administrator would not have thought of as particularly scenic, but I think it quite adds to the beauty.

impressions of Suzhou

2008-11-20T17:49:00.003-08:00

My jet lag finally began to settle down and on our way to dinner I was able to stay awake and see what the of city of Suzhou was like. And that was fortunate, because Suzhou is really lovely. Unlike the very metropolitan Shanghai or Beijing, there seemed to be a nice blend and balance of old and new. It is probably like what Boston feels like to New Yorkers, a little more provincial and slightly quaint. I really liked it and decided if I ever do a picturebook with a story in contemporary China, I will probably use Suzhou as the backdrop. Which is why I took many, many photos.I did have to stop taking photos eventually, because it was dinnertime. Kevin told us that Suzhou was famous for a type of noodle dish that some considered "the best noodles in China" as well as some rice cakes desserts. We asked if the rice cakes were considered "the best rice cakes in China" as well; and he said,"No. But still very good."

I'm not sure if the noodles were the best in China but they were pretty good and we ate a lot of them. It seemed like every meal, Kevin would order what we would think was a gigantic amount of food...until we ate it all up. Personally, I blame Melody. She's barely 5 ft tall and maybe 85 pounds but she can pack it in. Every day after eating, when everyone else could barely move, she would talk about our next meal. I think she set the eating pace for the rest of us.

Anyway, we took so long with dinner that by the time we were done it was dark out, Suzhou was lit up like a Christmas tree, and it was time to go.

Goodbye, Suzhou!

eating our way out of Shanghai

2008-11-20T17:49:00.001-08:00

It was our last day in Shanghai and Kevin promised us a great last day. My suggestion for anyone going to China is to get a private tour guide--not one of those big bus groups. The big bus groups go to factory restaurants, very low-grade (but safe) fare. If you get a private tour guide, he can take you to specialty restaurants.

But, then again, maybe it was just our tour guide that does that. Kevin got to know us quite well and we all enjoyed each other's company (Alvina and Jen even went to karaoke with him). I think he was quite amused at having the company of five girls constantly teasing him and asking him unusual questions (Jen asked him who his favorite panda was. He was very confused.).

So by now, Kevin knew we really liked to eat. I mean, we really liked to eat. For our last day, he took us to one of the best restaurants in Shanghai and ordered all the local delicacies (including the much recommended marinated roasted pork- hong shao zhu ro, and these stuffed Chinese dates that I don't know the name of) that amazed our gastronomical palates. It was the best meal I had in China so far, and that is saying a lot.

At one point we asked Kevin if he had ever eaten this much before. He said, "Yes, but never with girls."
Oh well, glad to hear we are able to keep up with the big boys. Or at least the Chinese ones.

Homes, Shanghainese Restaurant
Ju lu ed 791
Shanghai
54030010
54030060

vantage point

2008-11-20T17:48:00.003-08:00

After our very long lunch, Kevin brought us to the Jinmao observatory tower to see the aerial view of Shanghai. This tower was designed by SOM, an architectural firm that Robert once thought of working for, so I think he would've approved. It is one of the better-looking skyscrapers of Shanghai.
Unlike the Pearl Tower (the one with the round bulb) which not only looks a bit like a skewer of two tomatoes, it is strangely purple-pink. I feel pretty certain Robert would've scoffed at it. But it is very striking and one of the memorable buildings in the skyline

And it is only from this vantage point, from way above, that I see what Robert had told me about Shanghai. He had called it a modern architect's dream, a city without any rules--allowing an architect to design his/her dream. Shanghai is an enormous hodgepodge of buildings, seemingly built upon eachother. And perhaps because I know how much Robert would have loved to have seen this, it is here that I see how much my life has changed. Faster than I had anticipated, I have created a new life for myself with a future that looks different than expected.

So, strangely, the pangs of grief I suddenly feel are not for myself but for him. It is for all the dreams he had that will not come true, all the plans he made that will not happen and all the things he wanted to see but never will.
I am glad, at least, I will see some of them for him.

leaving Shanghai

2008-11-20T17:48:00.001-08:00

After a good luck rub on a jade Buddha's belly, Kevin rushed us off to the train station. There would be just enough time, he told us, to grab some fast food and get some traveling snacks before putting us on the train back to Beijing.

We were all still stuffed from our huge lunch (well, Melody was hungry, but she was the only one) so we decided to go to the restaurant in the train station and get youtiao, a type of Chinese donut that you dip in warm soybean milk. I had had youtiao before, but only in the States where it is rather rubbery and tough. This fresh youtiao was soft, light and flaky. It was quite a revelation to me. While eating it I thought, "Oh, this is what youtiao is suppose to taste like!"

We were sad to be at the train station because it meant we were leaving Shanghai, Kevin and Melody. Melody had been a constant source of amusement for us. As we prepared to go to the train, Jen asked about the bathroom. Now, bathrooms in China can be quite disgusting to those with Western sensibilities so asking about the state of the local bathroom is a common question.

However, this time when Jen asked, "How is the bathroom?" Melody responded quite vehemently, "You're in a train station. In China. What are you expecting?" I guess she had a point. Ah, Melody, how we would miss her.

But as goodbye gifts, Melody and Kevin stocked us up with these traveling rice cakes with shredded meat in them, the Chinese equivalent to ham sandwiches. Very tasty, especially at 5 in the morning on a train.
A train we were soon on, waving goodbye to Shanghai. It had been a great trip; hopefully with some of that Buddha belly luck, we'd be just as lucky with the rest of our time in Beijing.

Hou Hai

2008-11-20T17:47:00.004-08:00

We returned to Beijing in the morning and rather than waste the day, after a break , we decided to visit the Hou Hai, an area known for its hutongs, traditional houses that people still live in.

So we began this tour of this traditional area with the ancient custom of drinking Starbucks coffee. Yes, right at the start of Lotus Lane is a Starbucks.

Yet even with this slice of US commercialism, this is not an area just for tourists. Thousands of native Beijing-ers come here to ice skate and (something I have not seen before) ice-sled.

In fact, this whole Hou Hai area is an interesting mix of tourist attraction and local living. Visitors from all over take overpriced rickshaw rides to explore the neighborhoods of hutongs which is a labyrinth of ancient alleys and antique housing. At one time, these were the homes and courtyards of the nobles and merchant; now they are lived in by the less wealthy as they do not even have indoor plumbing (residents use public shared bathrooms). It's fascinating to me that people live in these homes at all; that what we photograph and stare at is some one's everyday home. It must be strange to have crowds of strangers gaping at your house all the time.

But I suppose they are used to it, as the area is full of several bars and restaurants. This bridge, the Silver Ingot Bridge, dates back from the 1200's; I bet the builders would never have expected to see the sights that surround it now:

like girls pushing for cotton candy,
or brides having photo shoots,
or an Asian-American tourist watching it all on the frozen water.

Beijing Boyfriends

2008-11-20T17:47:00.003-08:00

As I am reentering the dating scene, I find myself quite fascinated with the mating rituals in China. According to the stereotype, Shanghai women are very domineering while the men are domestic--they do the cooking and cleaning. Beijing boyfriends, however, are not so easily categorized. From what I gather, there are three things that signify a Beijing man is your boyfriend.

1. You pout at him. A lot. Whining is good too.

2. If he doesn't do what you want, you can hit him. With two hands if needed.

3. He carries your purse, at all times and in public.

Not bad, I can deal with those benefits. But I think I might lean more towards those Shanghai men...

dessert

2008-11-20T17:47:00.001-08:00

After our day in the Hou Hai area, we had dessert in the extremely hip and cool Bellagio restaurant. Did I mention how extremely hip and cool it is? Well, it is so hip and cool that all the waitresses have the same haircut.

I am not sure how they pulled that off. I wonder if when the women are hired if they are told that they must get their hair cut and are given a photo to copy. Or if there is a restaurant barber whom the waitresses line up for like sheep to be shorn. Or if the managers specifically recruit women with this haircut, constantly scouting the streets for this short spikey 'do.

But I am sure that one of the enticements that the restaurant uses must be the desserts. Eye-catching and mouthwatering, it seems the most popular dishes are the shaved ices covered with fruit and syrup. So even though they look quite large, we comforted ourselves by claiming the dessert was mostly water; and not as fattening as if it were a giant sundae.

Okay, so the logic behind that may not be well-founded, but after taking a few spoonfuls of the dessert I was willing to go with it. Heck, after a few spoonfuls, I was willing to get my haircut, too.

Bellagio
6 Gongren Tiyuchang Xi Lu
Beijing
6651 3533

dirt market

2008-11-20T17:46:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, we decided to go to the Panjiayuan Antique Market, known to the locals as the "dirt market." A place called "dirt market" didn't seem exactly appealing (especially after you've been exposed to some of the bathrooms here in China), but we were told it was something we shouldn't miss.

The first thing I couldn't miss was the thousands and thousands of carts and bicycles that lined the streets up to the entry way of the market. As the procession of carts grew longer and longer, I realized that these were all carts of vendors--that the scale of this dirt market would be immense.
And it was. There were rows and rows and rows of stuff that seemed to go on for miles. You could easily get lost amongst the goods. From antique robes to ceramic vases, everything and anything old(and not that old) you could imagine seemed to be displayed and for sale. Even used and polished gramophones.
There was brightly colored-jewelry being sold by ethnic minority Chinese, dressed in their traditional costumes.
And lots of jade. I was finally given the reasons why jade is such a precious stone in Chinese culture. Symbolizing good luck and longevity, many elder Chinese used to use jade rings in marriage (now the younger generation has embraced the western diamond instead) and the jade bangle bracelet as a health indicator. Apparently, if you wear the jade bracelet continually on your left hand (as it is directly connected to your heart) and are in good health, the bracelet will slowly turn a darker green and the lines or branches in the jade's surface will grow. It has to be real jade though, not those $2 green glass imitations you can get in Chinatown.

The market was really a slice of Chinese history. At one stall, we stopped and looked at these tiny, beautifully embroidered shoes--small even for baby shoes. In horror, I realized these are the shoes that the grown women wore after their feet were painfully bound. I always knew about the custom, but I never realized just how small their feet were made. At first, we tried to believe the shoes were for babies, but a nearby photo showing a women wearing the same shoes quickly dispelled our optimism; and I felt glad that this tradition was one that had passed.
But with all this stuff for sale, it was quite intimidating to try to buy something. I was tempted to get one of the many statues...
...until the puppets caught my eye. They reminded me of fellow blue rose girl Linda...
...and when I saw the shadow puppets, I knew I had to give this bargaining/buying thing another try. The young vendor poured on the charm, telling me how his grandfather hand made each one of these puppets from leather. I'm such a softie, I probably would've paid his asking price. But, lucky for me, Alvina is not such a sucker and got the price to about a third of what he originally asked for. But even then, she told me she suspected it was still way higher than what a local would've gotten. Oh well, I don't mind--I got my shadow puppet and I helped pay for this guy's rent...or maybe a hot date with his girlfriend. Somehow, I have to think it's good fortune for all.

Which is how I felt about our day's experience--the market was a fascinating place and I think we were dirt lucky not to miss it.

more dumplings

2008-11-20T17:44:00.002-08:00

I have to admit, since leaving Shanghai, I craved xiao long bao-- those amazing soup dumplings. So when asked what kind of food I wanted for dinner, I had to ask for them.

So, we went to Din Tai Fung-- a Taiwanese restaurant in Beijing that specializes in Shanghai dumplings. I'm not sure which Asian region is primarily responsible for our dinner, but it was delicious nonetheless.
It was here that the "real Chinese" dumpling test-- how eating these dumplings can prove your authentic Chinese-ness-- was further explained to me. Apparently these dumplings are made so that one side has a thinner skin than the other; and you are supposed to break the dumpling on the thinner side to sip the soup out--making less of a mess. But only a "real Chinese" person can tell which side has the thinner skin.

I failed this test everytime, so perhaps it is accurate.

But no matter, real Chinese or not, I still got to eat them. And I got to try the other variations of xiao long bao as well.
Ones with different fillings:

And different methods of eating:
These mini xiao long bao are meant to dipped and eaten with a spoonful of soup. For these, the soup is on the outside, so to speak.

And to cap off the meal, we had red-bean paste filled peach buns which symbolize longevity. I had seen similiar ones in Hong Kong and always regretted not trying it so I was glad to taste it during my China trip.

It was good, but somehow I had expected it to taste...peachier? Regardless, I think longevity peach buns was quite an apropos way to finish the meal. I forsee my love of dumplings being a long-lasting affection.

Din Tai Fung, Dongzhimen Branch
No.24, Xinyuanxili Middle Street, Chaoyang District
Beijing
010-6462-4502

truly great wall

2008-11-20T17:44:00.001-08:00

We had decided to save the significant sights of China for the latter part of trip, thinking it would be best to be over jet lag and able to truly enjoy them. So, it was with great anticipation when Monday arrived, the day we were finally going to see the Great Wall!

By now we were not only more acclimated to the time zone, but the weather. We each put on multiple layers(I had five) and carried extra hats and other necessities. Nothing was going to slow us down.

Well, except maybe the long bus ride. Kevin (our tour guide in Shanghai) put us in touch with a Nicole, a tour guide in Beijing who arranged for a minibus to drive us to the Badaling section of the wall. Usually, she told us, she didn't recommend that section as it is completely overrun by tourists. But since we were here in January, that wouldn't be a problem.

And she was quite right. Coming in the cold had given us an unexpected bonus. There was only a smattering of tour buses and the largest crowd of people were the performers at the entrance welcoming us in (while shivering).

It was almost as if we had the Great Wall all to ourselves. It was actually quite magical. The snow was falling lightly and the only footprints on the ground were our own.

However, climbing the Great Wall in the snow was a bit tricky. Many areas were quite steep and icy, we were constantly slipping and sliding. The whole way up I was wishing I had cleats on the soles of my boots.

And somehow, maybe because I am the least athletic of the group, I was always the last one in the back--the one whom everyone was waiting for. I think they felt obligated to shout encouraging words to me from time to time. But, I'm going to blame my slowness on my photo-taking dedication. Yeah.

So when we all finally made it to our desired location top, the emotions were quite strong, ranging from: victorious amusement,joyful jubilation,and quiet elation.
I think it was a thrill none of us will ever forget,

especially for me and Alvina. A long time ago we had made a list of things we wanted to do before we died, and both of us had put "climb the Great Wall of China." And now we had.
Of course, when I put "climb the Great Wall" on my list, I never really thought about climbing down. Ah, a new adventure!

But, one that I will always remember.

cloisonne

2008-11-20T17:43:00.002-08:00

So after our cold but highly rewarding trek on the Great Wall, Nicole (our tour guide) took us to a cloisonne factory. I don't think the girls had a cloisonne factory as high on their list of priorities, but I had a professional interest.Because it was cloisonne that inspired the style of my 2007 snowflake for Robert's Snow. I had thought about making it real cloisonne, but after researching the process I settled for an look-a-like painting. That is because real cloisonne is a multi-step, complicated process.First there is the actual making of the copper objects--vases, hairpins, bracelets, etc.
Then someone traces the desired design onto the vase.
And then, someone painstakingly hand bends and lays the wire onto the vase to follow the design. Yes, every gold line in cloisonne is a hand-shaped wire. The wire has to be bent in right angles so that it does not curl up and it is stuck onto the vase with a special glue that will burn off during the firing process. This is eye squinting work, the use of tweezers and magnifying glasses is standard.

Then, the vase is painted with special paint--really colored powdered glass. Each outline of wire filled in meticulously. It is an extremely elaborate paint by number activity.

Then the vase is fired, the powdered glass paint melts onto the metal, creating a the shiny color and a lovely cloisonne object.

After seeing how beautiful it looks, I am almost disapointed that my snowflake was not real cloisonne. Well, maybe next time.

summer palace in winter

2008-11-20T17:43:00.001-08:00

After the cloisonne factory, we headed off to the famed Summer Palace. I had high expectations for this as people have told me how beautiful a sight it is.

However, there was a logic that had escaped me. It is called the Summer Palace for a reason. Due to it's location to Kunming Lake (a lake which was enlarged to the shape of a longevity peach as the emperor's gift to his mother), it is several degrees cooler here than the rest of Beijing. The Imperial Family made this their refuge because it was much colder here in the summer. Well, it's much colder here in the winter too.

So cold, that seeing the area was not that enjoyable. Even though we had layered up for the Great Wall, the wind from the lake seemed to seep right through. Instead of appreciating the artistry of the outdoor long corridor, it just seemed very long.
In fact, the highlight of the event was when we went into a gift shop to warm up. The gift shop sold all sorts of cd's, all Chinese music except for...Kenny G? Who knew? He had the distinct honor of being the only non-asian cd sold in all the gift shops of the Summer Palace. Maybe the Empress Dowager was a fan?But in the brief moments the cold did not bother us (usually just exiting a gift shop), I could see that, even in winter, the place had a silent beauty.

I just needed to scrape the frost off my glasses first.

old Beijing bargain

2008-11-20T17:42:00.002-08:00

With the viewing of the Summer Palace being so cold, we decided a warm meal was in order. But it had to be fast because we had plans for the evening, so Nicole brought us to Lao Beijing Zhajiang Mian Da Wang which somehow translates to Old Beijing Zhajiang Noodle King. As the name indicates, this place is a typical "Old-World" Beijing style restaurant with:

a very loud and open room--everytime someone walks through the doors, the waiters in blue yell a welcome as well as instructions on where to sit:
time honored food such as:
the conventional tea,
these Beijing specialty noodles, which you mix with the brown sauce in the small bowl before eating. Delicious!
thousand year eggs--not gummy like the ones you get in the States!
and my new favorite fruit, the Chinese hawthorne berry. Here they are marinated on noodles:
But the "old custom" feature we appreciated the most? The price. Why is Alvina smiling? Because this whole dinner cost $70 yuan, which is less than $10. US! Yippee, Old Beijing traditions!

Old Beijing Zhajiang Noodle King, Hong Qiao Main Branch
29 Chong Wai St. Chong Wen District
Beijing
67056705
67055678

kufu

2008-11-20T17:42:00.001-08:00

So we had to have a quick dinner because we were running off to see a Kufu show. Nicole had asked us if we had wanted see one and we said yes, thinking it was going to be some sort of martial arts competition/show--like a scene from Hero or Crouching Tiger but without the scenery and costumes.
So we were a little suprised when we arrived at a theatre, complete with programs and cds for sale.
For the Kufu show, was definitely a show, much more theatre than martial arts--with elaborate, sets, costumes and lighting. The performance was a mix of:
acrobatics,
karate tricks (here a man laying on a bed of nails on top of another man laying on a bed of blades is about to slab of stone broken in half on his chest),
and ballet
combined with very theatrical martial arts moves.
Once the shock of it wore off (the actors voices were also dubbed in English suprisingly, so that added to our recovery time); we were able to appreciate and enjoy the show. This was truly a Chinese Cirque du Soleil, much more so than the weak comparison I had made previously with the Shanghai acrobats.

But my favorite comment of the evening? When one of the girls (who shall remain nameless) said, "I've never seen so many buff Asian men in one room before. That was enjoyable."

Old Style Beijing Teahouse

2008-11-20T17:41:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, we decided to take have a low-key day and simply saunter the Qian Men area (near Tiananmen Square). I wanted to go to a real Chinese teahouse and my guidebook suggested the Lao She Cha Guan as a fine example of the "old-style" Beijing teahouses; and I think even translates to "old tea house". Since we quite enjoyed Beijing's "old-style" restaurants and it was nearby, we decided to give ol'Lao She Teahouse a try.

We were greeted in by a a large fellow who theatrically told us that small rooms were on the second floor and the large room was on the third. We didn't exactly understand until we reached the second floor and saw that it was divided up into small private tea rooms, beautifully decorated and serene. As we realized this gorgeous second floor was for the true tea conneusier, we quietly shook our heads at the elegant hostess and clomped our puffy jacket, furry hat, and dirty winter boot wearing selves to the third floor.
Which was elegant as well, but in a much more casual way. While a quintet of musicians played old Chinese music, we watched a woman order tea and take out a bag Kentucky Fried Chicken out of her pocketbook and precede to eat it without any qualms. With a sigh of relief, we stripped off our outerlayers, settled in, and ordered tea and snacks.

What we didn't know about Lao She Teahouse was that it specializes in sculpture tea. I think this is a fairly new phenomenon; and it is fascinating. Instead of tea bag or loose leaves, a tea "seed" is put in the bottom of your cup which blooms (and brews at the same time)in the hot water. When the blossom is fully open, your tea is ready.Very cool and beautiful. And the tea is very good too.

And if the tea was not enough of a show, there was plenty of other entertainment. A shadow puppet show took the stage. I was excited to see the objects I bought at the dirt market in use, even though I didn't understand a word that was being said. But that didn't seem to matter too much, as the shadow images were mesmerizing.

So mesmerizing that we didn't even realize how long we had been at Lao She Tea House until the musicians came back on stage. We had been there for hours! I guess that is "Old-Style" Beijing enjoyment, as well.

Lao She Teahouse
3 Qian Men Xi Dajie
Beijing
6303 6830

street food

2008-11-20T17:39:00.000-08:00

Before I left for China, my mother was full of dire warnings. "Don't keep all your money in one place," she said,"Don't leave your passport in the hotel. Don't forget to bring tissues for the bathroom. And don't eat anything."

Well, when I pointed out the difficulties of this last bit of advice, she begrudgingly allowed that I could eat at restaurants, but under no circumstances was I to eat food from a germ-filled street vendor. I agreed.

But in China, not eating food from a street vendor was more of a challenge than I thought. In the cold air, there always seemed to be some inviting warm wafting fragrance of roasting sweet potatoes or corn, as well as fascinating exotic snacks I had never seen before.

One such exotic snack was the bing tang hulu, which . Shiny and red, these candied hawthorne berries were too irresistible and despite my mother's warnings I decided to try it.

Ooohhh, it was good. The perfect blend of sweet and sour, crunchy and soft. After my first, I was smitten.

From then on, whenever bing tang hulu was for sale, I bought one. And ate it.
And I got the rest of the girls to eat it too,
even Ki-Ki.
Sorry, Mom!

cold village

2008-11-20T17:36:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday, we took an out-of-Beijing expedition to Chaundixia, a tiny mountain village dating from Ming dynasty. It is incredibly well preserved, a "living museum" of architecture from that time period. It is such a good example of an old village, that a major portion of the village's income comes from movie studios--it was the setting for a recent Jet Li movie.

And I must take full responsibility for this excursion. My new novel has some passages that take place in an Asian rural village, and I felt that this was too good of an opportunity to pass up to see one and take good photo reference. I mean, when would be the next time I could see this, right?

But one step out of the bus, and I was frozen with guilt. Oh, maybe that was the VERY VERY COLD air. Yes, I know I've complained about the cold before, but I take it back. This was definitely the worst--biting, freezing, and mind-numbing. Though my mind was able to process one thing: being in the mountains is colder than being by a lake.
So when our tour guide told us that one interpretation of Chaundixia was "oven", as it was to symbolize how the village was a warm haven from the cold, I was a bit skeptical. It probably was balmy back in the days, after traveling through the cold on foot or horse...but getting out of a toasty bus into the extreme freeze of the village seemed to make the name a bit ironic.

But, lucky for me the camera lens did not frost over(and I did worry about that) and we were able to stand the temperature long enough for me to take some photos. There were many interesting tidbits the shivering guide told us about (I have a feeling she gave us the condensed version) but my ice-cube brain could only focus on photographing.

We finished up by eating at a villager's house. Yes, people still live here. There are about 70 villagers all together and if you want something to eat, you simply knock on someone's door and ask if they want food customers. Many of them offer overnight hospitality as well.

And the rural cuisine was quite tasty. We spent more time eating then we had touring the entire village. But by the end of the meal, everyone agreed that the village was an interesting experience that we were glad to have seen.
See how that last picture is blurry? That is because the guide who was taking the picture was shivering from the cold.

bridge of lions

2008-11-20T17:35:00.002-08:00

After visiting the village, the next place on the agenda was the Marco Polo Bridge, or Lúgōu Qiáo. This was one of the sites that I had longed to see before I came to China (I had put it on my "must-see list")--a bridge described by Marco Polo as having "few equals in the world", with over 400 stone lions--each one unique. For some reason, I was sure it would inspire many picturebook ideas in me.

Unfortunately, the ideas were slow in coming as it was almost as cold at the bridge as it was in the village. My frozen brain couldn't process any thoughts other than trying to feel my feet. To our embarassment, the most we could do was cross the bridge, each pick our own favorite lion,

and run back. See us shiver? Cold is not conducive for creative thinking, at least not for me.

But all was not lost. As we scurried back over the bridge to the warmth of the bus, three children began playing with balloons on the bridge. Somehow, I had the sense to photograph them and when I look at them, they seem to be straight out of a picturebook. Perhaps, I have the inspiration right here...

I just needed to wait for my brain to thaw out, first.

foot massage

2008-11-20T17:35:00.001-08:00

All of us had "must-see/ must-do" lists that we made before going to China. Mine included the Chaundixia village, and the Marco Polo Bridge. Alvina's list,of course, was topped with the Great Wall and Ki-Ki wanted to see the art district. Jen's list, however, was starred with a foot massage.

So a day where we all had lost feeling in our feet seemed like a good day to accomplish this. Our tour guide directed our bus driver to a place she knew and within moments our feet were soaking in warm tea water. Ahh!

We had to tell the masseuses that we wanted "gentle" massages--Chinese usually get foot massages as part of a reflexology health regiment, and they can be quite painful. But since we were there for relaxation, we had the gentle ones.

Which weren't really that gentle. The masseueses hit and rubbed our feet in rhythmn and in unison, like a musical chorus, with a fairly good amount of strength. But for feet that had lost a great deal of sensation, it was rather invigorating. And luxurious.

And very Jen-satisfying.

Tian Tan

2008-11-20T17:34:00.004-08:00

It was on Thursday morning that we realized after the day was done, we would only have ONE more day left in China. There was still so much to see! We rushed out in the morning to go see Tian Tan, the Temple of Heaven; and we wanted to get there early because we were told that, every morning, big gatherings of locals did tai chi there. With the sky above and the temple above, we were told it was a sight not to miss.

But we had not counted on transportation difficulties. It was our 12th day in China and we had managed the streets, subways and taxis without too much difficulty, so perhaps we were a bit overconfident. Because after our subway ride we got confusingly lost. So confused that I began to hallucinate math equations on bridges. Or was that real?
Anyway, by the time we got to Tian Tan, instead of crowds of people doing tai chi there were only two.

But Tian Tan was still a sight to see. Instead of the city, the temple stood against the backdrop of the blue sky--giving it a majesty and dignity I hadn't quite felt before.
And this, of course, was the intended impression. Built as the place where the emperor would make sacrifices and pray to heaven, it was meant to convey spiritual stateliness. For example, while most building have yellow or green tiled roofs, the tiles at Tian Tan are blue--the color of heaven.
The most common misnomer of Tian Tan is that there is an actual Temple of Heaven. There isn't. What I thought was the Temple of Heaven (the building above) is really Hall of Prayer. The Temple of Heaven refers to the whole complex: the Heavenly Gates--
the Hall of Prayer--
the Vault of Heaven--
and the Round Altar--
And connecting all these is the Red Step Bridge--the raised marble axis walkway which did not look very red to me...
so I was happy to add that bit of color myself.

white dagoba

2008-11-20T17:34:00.003-08:00

After Tian Tan, we hopped in a taxi with hopes to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. However, our taxi driver insisted that the area was closed off for a diplomat and offered to take us to a "very old" temple instead. With many a misgivings, we agreed and were then subjected to the mandatory Chinese taxi rip-off(where they drive you around and around). While it was slightly annoying, I mainly chalked it up to experience and realized it was pretty amazing that it hadn't happened before.

So, our unscrupulous taxi driver dropped us off at what I think was the Miaoying Temple White Dagoba. Of course, we didn't know this at the time, but I deduced as much from my guidebook later. We were given a complimentary tour guide with the price of admission, but he didn't speak and English so Jen worked as translator with amusing results.

For example, when the tour guide spoke at great length at each of these locations, Jen's version was as follows:

"This is a gold Buddha..."

"in a very old building. This building is old. Very old."

"This path and archway is old, too."

"I think he said this Buddha is not so old."

"But that white thing? That's what this place is famous for. And this is the end of the tour. Thank you. Goodbye."

Needless to say, I think some things were lost in translation.

forbidden city

2008-11-20T17:34:00.001-08:00

Finally, after a detour to the White Dagoba we reached the Forbidden City. Unfortunately, we only had a limited time before it closed, so I rushed the girls to the Imperial Garden--the area where I really wanted to see as part of research for my book. So it was a whirlwind of a visit--we whizzed through while I called out bits of info from my guidebook:

like how we were walking on one of the 5 marble bridges that symbolized the 5 cardinal virtues of Confucianism:

and that I thought this was the Gate of Supreme Harmony, but I wasn't entirely certain.
but I was sure this was the way to the Imperial Garden:

Which was correct! Because here is the Pavilion of a Thousand Autumns...or maybe it's the Pavilion of Ten thousand Springs?

I had no idea what this was, but it was very impressive.

However, this, we learned by an informational placard that is the Marble Carriageway--a ramp carved with dragons out of one single piece of marble, and reserved only for the Emperor.
Having learned one bit of information, it was time to go.

Outside, soldiers were running drills and we knew it was better not to try to do something forbidden in the the Forbidden City.

beijing duck

2008-11-20T17:33:00.000-08:00

Our days in China were quickly coming to an end, so we decided we HAD to have Beijing (Peking) Duck in Beijing! Friends too us to one of the best Beijing Duck places in the city. Duck, however, was not all they served. The menu was like a picture dictionary, everything looked amazing in the photos.

But, they looked (and tasted) even better in real life:

The chef came with the duck:

And could be eaten in three ways:
Which the hostess demonstrated:

The hostess also demonstrated the proper way of eating the yummy dessert, which we all only barely had room for.

It was a great dinner.

moon over Beijing

2008-11-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

And just like that, it was out last night in Beijing. Even after seeing so many things, it felt like there was still so much to discover. But had been incredible, a trip that I'll always remember and a place that I hope to come back to.