Terra Cotta Warriors (part two: the pictures)

Beijing Opera

I tried to like the opera. Really, I did. I went with an open mind, and I was actually excited to see it. Alas, I couldn't enjoy it. What I did like: the costumes were gorgeous, and the choreography was quite stylized and interesting. However the singing and the plot were ... different. First of all, let me start by stating that I really like western opera. My family and I go every year to the Met, and I love it. Everything about the experience is wonderful. So this was not an opera issue, but a cultural issue. And it was my issue, really. Chinese operative singing isn't really something I could get my head around. There is no harmony, for instance, and the scale they use is very different from the one I am traditionally used to. The plot was odd - there was a lot of time spent establishing the pedigree of one of the characters, and little in the way of establishing who the others were. Plus, characters were introduced, and then were never really heard from again. I can't quite figure out what the focus of the opera is supposed to be either. In western opera, the plots tend to be secondary (they are usually full of deus ex machina and all sorts of other devices that good dramatists hate to use (it's kind of like cheating). In western opera the most important thing is the music and the singers. In Chinese opera the focus doesn't seem to be the singers - only one or two characters have short little arias. The music is definitely not the focus, as it seems to be the same throughout the opera. Can it truly be the plot? Really? Anyway, if anyone happens to know, please let me know.

And again, I really tried to like it. Really.

21 July 2006 - Mao's tomb

This morning it was bright, clear and windy! It was still hot, but the skies were beautiful and blue. We walked down to Tiananmen Square, and got in line to see Chairman Mao's body in the mausoleum. Now that wasn't as easy as it sounds, Tiananmen Square is actually quite large, as is Mao's mausoleum, and we had to walk all the way around the mausoleum to find the end of the line, which then snaked all the way back around the mausoleum, through the front, where we snaked around another little courtyard. It's here that you can buy roses to put in front of a statue of Mao that's in the entrance hall to the mausoleum (Mao-soleum?). Then we were ushered two-by-two past the man himself, lying in repose in a darkened room. He's underneath glass, a light shining upon his face.

Frankly, it looks like he's glowing.

Then we all shuffled past and were deposited...

...in a gift shop. Lenin and Marx would be mortified.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the experience. There were a lot of flowers placed reverently in front of the statue, but I couldn't quite gage the mood of the people. Were they there in reverence? Were they bored? Awed? It was a surreal experience.

I'm also not entirely convinced it was actually Mao. Can a body last 30 years? (He died in September 1976)

I do not have pictures, as they are not allowed. We weren't even allowed to bring our bags into the line, let alone the mausoleum. Here instead is a picture of the line, and of use outside the mausoleum. You can see how windy it is.

20 July, 2006 - The Summer Palace

So today I hit my "too many people" limit, which I think is pretty good - 22 days in. I think everyone in China was at this place. Well, ok, 75% of them.

This is an enormous park in the northwest part of the city, and it's where the Imperial Court spent their summers. I can see why, too. It was gorgeous, and actually quite breezy in several spots, as it is situated on Kunming Lake. A nice vacation spot to get away from the heat of the Forbidden City. It was built in the 1700s, and damaged during the second Opium War in 1860. The Qing Empress Dowager Cixi refurbished it with money earmarked for the navy (she did build a stunning marble boat! see above picture).

We took a short boat ride across the lake, and then explored South Lake Island. it was quite pleasant, and a good deal cooler than the rest of Beijing, but it was so crowded that it was hard to really enjoy the park.

19 July 2006 - Temple of Heaven

I am pretty much templed out. I think the problem may be that I just don't understand enough about Buddhism, Daosim and Confucianism to distinguish the neat little details that must be in these structures, much as they are in European cathedrals (and I love me a grand old 1000 year old gothic cathedral). Nevertheless, the Temple of Heaven is neat because just before you enter into the actual temple, you are actually in a park, and there are hundreds (well, probably thousands) of people here, just hanging out. We saw people dancing, doing taichi, playing chess, playing music, singing, just plain hanging out. I think that this was my favorite part of today's visit because everyone was so relaxed and having fun. Oh yeah, the temple was pretty too.