Imperial China Day 9
Imperial China
OAT Day 2-05 - Monday, April 14, 2008 - Visit with children at Beijing Opera School-Optional Summer Palace Tour-Optional Peking Opera Tour with Dinner - Beijing, China
The weather is improving each day we are in Beijing; it was 74 degrees and only 50% humidity. The smog seems much worse today, but we could still see the sun!
We showered, had breakfast, and got ourselves organized for the day. We saw Hong right after breakfast and she offered to mail Gennie’s post cards for her and even buy her two additional stamps.
We continue to marvel at the caring and generous attitudes of the people here in China. At every stop adults and children wave and smile and only a few of the elderly decline when we ask permission to take photos.
Everyone was in a great mood this morning. It must be the influence of the positive attitude we see in this city. Huge signs advertise the upcoming games. The major ones are Nike and Adidas with slogans such as “Impossible is Nothing” and “One World, One Dream”.
Traffic on this Monday morning was incredible; the buses were packed, taxis buzzed by us, and private cars were weaving in and our of traffic and even driving on the shoulders and in the bike lanes. Among all of these speeding motorized vehicles were bicycles, rickshaws, and thousands of pedestrians.
On our way through the city today, Hong chatted with us about cooking and how picky the Chinese are about eating Western foods. This seems unusual for us because in the markets and the restaurants, it seems that nothing goes to waste!
Before we arrived at the #1 Chinese Silk Carpet Factory, Hong told us about the process and about the employees. Most of the weavers are “Country Girls” who want to come to the city to work and are willing to work for low wages.
Silk carpet weaving is becoming a lost art but still a tradition in the rural areas where mothers-in-law continue to evaluate their son’s wife by the quality of the needle work.
Our guide at the carpet factory, Mr. King Wang, welcomed our OAT group. He described the 2000 year old art dating back from the days of the Silk Road. China is the main country that produces silk rugs, not the wool or cotton ones we saw in Turkey or other Middle Eastern countries.
Here the weavers produce a very dense carpet with over 625 knots per square inch. For an 8 x 10 foot carpet, it could take as many at 11 months to complete a quality carpet.
We left the carpet factory at 10:15 after several of our members contributed to the local economy. Gennie restrained herself - no Chinese carpets to go home to Colorado although they were very beautiful.
Matt explained the education system in China as we drove. There are nine years of compulsory and free education. Many students go on to High School and then there is a very rigorous exam for entrance to the university. Only 30% of those who even take the test pass it. The score on ones exam determines the areas one can go into for further study at the university.
Our next discovery was at the Beijing Municipal Opera School. We met our guide Miss Cao who is a teacher at the school and a former Opera singer.
We had a chance to visit a studio where we saw young women refining their hand movements and dance steps. We went from one studio to the next observing many individual and small groups lessons. All of the instructors were very strict and all of the students were very serious!
We enjoyed our lunch together at the Hengxiang Ju restaurant, again family style, but with a few new varieties of traditional foods. Back in the bus at 1:30, we crossed through the old hutong villages we will visit tomorrow on our way to the Summer Palace.
This is the largest and best-preserved royal garden in China. Early in the Jin dynasty, an imperial palace named Golden Hill Palace was built on the present site of the Summer Palace. Through the centuries, portions of the grounds and buildings were destroyed during warfare, then restored or redesigned.
The Summer Palace of today is more or less the same as the palace rebuilt in 1903. After the last Qing emperor, Puyi, was thrown out of the Summer Palace in 1924, the garden was turned into a park.
After exploring the very crowded but beautiful park we took a Dragon Boat ride on Kumming Lake. We left the grounds at 4:00 and Mr. Gao drove us back to our hotel. We had an hour to shower and change our clothes to go to dinner and to the Peking Opera.
Five of us chose to attend the Opera. We had a very nice dinner at the Rainbow Hotel and enjoyed the company of Caryl, Jeanette, and Duane. Matt and Mr. Gao also went to dinner with us but ate at another table. Tonight’s dinner had an unusually delicious menu of vegetables.
At the Old Opera House we saw the tradition of the court societies beginning in the 3rd century BC. Although the music was a little different we all agreed that the face painting and costuming was exquisite.
We got home at 9:30 and began to pack for our train trip to Xiam and to write the journal. This was a long and busy day, but one we will long remember.
Accommodations: Shangyuan Hotel - - - Meal: B, L, D
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Comments
Beijing Monday Traffic
#1 Silk Carpet Factory
Dragon Boat on Kunming Lake
Summer Palace Temples
Peking Opera
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