Lion in Dreams

Cousin Ian saw this photo and thought: China.  Actually it was Chinatown, in Edmonton. 

Before heading out on my big adventure, Paul and I went to our favourite greasy spoon.  As usual, we passed the stone lions at the China Gate. 

This time, I pointed out that the two lions were different. 

One (the male) held a ball, and other (female) held down a baby lion. 

I'd heard somewhere that it was lucky to touch the ball, but nothing much about the baby.  Maybe it was actually a some other small animal (it can be difficult to tell sometimes), afterall, it didn't exactly look like she was being very nice to it.  

(Left: I guess if you're constantly held down, you'd likely want to bite someone.)   

So began my search (well, more of a heightened interest) for lions in China (especially female). 

I didn't have to look far.  Before I even had to ask, our tour guide, Mr. Lee, pointed out the Forbidden City's two most prominent lions and told us their story:

An emperor awoke from a dream where a strange animal had saved him from death.  From this, he understood that the animal had been a protector and had artists and sculptures recreate the dream animal as a guardian for the palace.  The animal bore a resemblance to the western lion, and was hence known as such. 

That explained, in part, why these lions didn't look much like the lions I've seen in pictures or at the zoo.  But what of the ball and the little animal?  Mr. Lee continues:

These guardian lions took on a second meaning to represent the emperor and emperess.  The emperor guards the ball, which represents the world, while the emperess takes care of the children, representing the people. 

I couldn't help thinking, considering history, it might have been better to show the world less of a play-thing, and the baby as less opressed...

Mom just wanted me to sit down at the Beijing Theatre for the acrobat show, but I seriously needed to stand up to take a picture of this specimen. Wow, a baby unsquashed! 

Outside the Friendship Store, this ceramic lion has a rather cartoon look, but the baby still looks unhappy. 

Right: At the Summer Palace.

When Ying Ying found out my interest lions (I hadn't seen any since leaving Beijing), she took me find the biggest and nicest ones she knew in Kaiping. 

Lounging outside a bank, these two most certainly were western lions.  No ball or baby in sight, but while one was stern, the other looked like it was roaring. 

In a different part of Kaiping, another more westernised lion.  The baby's face, however, is a bit disturbing... is that a human face? 

Moon Mountain's baby lion is kind of cute... is that a "I'm playing" smile? 

Now that I'm back, I've been looking into this a little more.  The rise of Buddahism bringing its guardian figure the lion seems to be the biggest theory*.  But perhaps the dream story isn't completely apocryphal. 

Regardless, I'll still be keeping an eye out for these lions - especially the baby. 

* Wikipedia "Chinese Guardian Lions" and Lion Legends and Myths

Last Views of China

Though early and foggy, Kaiping was hardly asleep.

Across the river were people in the square doing tai chi.

Mom, Aunt 5, Cousin Ian, and Ying Ying, were all there in the car to repeat the journey to take me back to the airport.

But this time around, things looked different. 

And rather than being delighted, I was feeling confused by all the contradictions and irony.  Cousin Ian has told me:

1. Workers unions are not allowed in the Chinese business sector. 
2. Worker rights are rarely, if ever, mentioned. 
3. Most companies sign annual contracts with their workers. 
4. There is no pension or retirement fund. 

All this to keep labour costs low and as a result, prices of good low. 

This all seems so wrong. 

(Below: Mascots of the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou airport.)

We arrived at the Guangzhou airport where Aunt 5 to charmed the baggage handlers to wave the extra pounds on my luggage.  (What is in there?) 

Now I'm at Beijing airport.  There's not much I need to do aside from write down exactly what I didto get through to my gate (all to be I can relayed later to Mom for her trip home), so I blissfully wander and explore.  It feels like the first time I've been by myself for a long, long time. 

Breakfasts in Beijing

The Bejing Deshengmen Holiday Inn has a fabulous complimentary breakfast in the Gallery Cafe - especially appreciated after all the sweet and sour laden meals we've had. 

The very sleek and modern decor might have been a clue (if I had been paying attention) for the Gotan Project and Ella Fitzgerald soundtrack.  But as suprising and a bit jarring as it seemed at first, it was certainly a nice reminder of home. 

Mom and I had plenty of food to choose from the buffet.  I'd like to think some of it was authentic Beijing cuisine... but I know chances are they've been watered down for a more broad appeal. 

Sausages, fried eggs, cereal, and toast were of no interest to me (but perhaps to those used to a more "Chinese" breakfast?).  I whole-heartedly welcomed the slightly more exotic congee (rice gruel) labelled "Beijing-style" (a coarser rice, with a tomato twist) and fluffy white, freshly steamed, mantou speckled with ground pepper.

There were tea eggs and tofu dishes (as found on my protein plate - above right), and something resembling an extra crispy youtiao brushed with hoisin sauce, all wrapped with uncooked lettuce and rice noodle roll. 

My favourite of all those I sampled was the dumpling soup that featured a clump of seaweed along with tiny little white shrimp (left).  Mom's, as expected, were the sprouts. And eventhough the menu did have changes from day to day, they were always there, and she went back to them again and again. 

As planned, we woke up early today, did some more rummaging around, and tucked into another glorious breakfast.  I think finally I've found the right words to order boiled water in Mandarin.  And, as it had been pretty much for all the tour, we were early.  Lisa, Lucy, and Momo, however, were late.  Eventually they arrived completely baffling me with their nonchalance - their flight was earlier than ours and there wasn't much time!

Miss Huang made up for the late start dashing us to the aiport, guiding them directly to the correct counter, and did some really quick talking to rush them through all the checks for their flight. 

Mom and I, continue our waiting, now at the airport.  We've talked, and Mom worried (and continues to worry).  But regardless, we'll soon be in Guangzhou. 

Beijing, Day 2 - Peasants and Heroes

Mom didn't go to bed until quite late - searching (again) through all our luggage for items she knew she packed but had forgotten where.  Between that and her waking up several times in the night, neither of us really got that much sleep. 

When we got up to start the day, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw in through the fog: Someone was doing tai-chi outside!  I could almost believe I'd stepped into a martial arts movie. 

On the bus, Mr. Lee and Miss Huang continued with facts, trivia, and jokes about people of legend and the Great Wall.  But before we could go on to become "heroes" (more on that later) we had to make another shopping stop: A jade museum. 

The front room of the museum featured glass cases filled with old artifacts and a mock workroom with people working on carvings.  A tour guide brought us into a quiet room to give us more information about jade ("the Chinese love jade" and "China is considered the Kingdom of Jade") - before redirecting us to the sales and show room. 

Mom was nervous as we walked freely looking at what was available.  There was no way we would be buying anything, but what if I knocked something over?  On the plus side, the really expensive stuff was underglass. 

(Right) "Happy Family" jade balls carved out of one piece of jade.  There are five layers that can move independently inside each other.  A lot skill is required to carve this, and even a simple design would take an artisan 7 days to make. 

Finally, we were back on the bus and on the way to the Great Wall. 

Miss Huang told us the Great Wall had been started over 2500 years ago, however the section we were visitng was only 500 years old. 

While it shouldn't have been a surprise, it still felt strange to see the entrance so overcrowded with souvenier shops and little cafes.  All those, I figured, I could visit later.  Mom and I were going first to climb.

(Left: Mom takes the first steps up, and is on her way to becoming a hero.)

Today's weather forecast, posted in the hotel lobby, predicted 19-27 degrees C, foggy and cloudy with chances of rain.  It had sounded fairly reasonable for physical activity outside... but despite not having scorching sun, it was still not an easy climb.  The air was humid making it difficult to breathe and the steps were never quite even.  In some places there weren't any handrails. 

Mom eventually decided to turn around, but I stubbornly continued, resting my ankle when I needed and keeping an eye on my watch. . 

It got busier.  I saw more people from my tour as well as another tour group wearing t-shirts identifying they were from South America. 

Up and up.  There was the second tower, then a bit further on there was the "Heroes" giftshop, and then finally The Great Wall Hero's "Plateau" (I'm not sure of the exact translation).

While I felt pretty good to have reached these points, I was also a little annoyed about the whole "hero" thing.  It was after all, a logical fallacy.  The Chinese proverb everyone kept quoting roughly translates as this: "Not climbed the Great Wall, not a hero (/good man)*".  It should not mean climbing the Wall makes one a hero!  And yet, everyone was congratulating themselves on making hero status.  Maybe this is all joke (a "I've done plenty of heroic things, but I couldn't call myself a hero until I did this!" in a sarcastic/ironic kind of way) and I'd completely missed it.  Regardless, I think the real people laughing are the souvenier merchants.

I climbed a little further and then decided it was time to descend.  As predicted, it was harder on my ankle to go down. 

When I made to the bus there was still 10 minutes to Mr. Lee and Miss Huang's return deadline.  Perfect.  Or, so I thought.  Lisa and Lucy saw me first and were quick to wag their fingers: "You're mom's so worried about you!" 

I find Mom and calm her down.  I'd returned to the bus before the deadline - what I'd told Mom I'd do - but, I'd not taken in consideration when Mom would start to worry about me and start looking for me. The two times are evidently not the same. Great, now everyone must think I'm bad daughter.

* Often cheekily followed with the rhyming verse: "Climbed up the Great Wall, a body of sweat".  This makes me chuckle. 

"Everything's big - like Texas."
~ One of our American tour members

Passing farms and an abandonned Disney theme park, we arrive at a tour popular restaurant for our "peasant" meal.  We were each given one dumpling each (a famous Northern favourite) and then ate slightly simpler food than the previous night (note the deepfried sweet and sour fish).  Still, I could not could not believe a peasant could afford such a meal. 

After lunch, we slipped into the attached souvenier mall funnily named "The Friendship Store".   

We were given a little time for shopping before being bused away - to another medicine shop.  This institution was located far away from anything else, and the salesperson boasted that the product was exclusive to those who visited them directly.  He was energetic and engaging and spoke in Cantonese.  That last point maybe why even though it all sounded like snake oil (essentially 3 topical products supposedly did everything from keeping bugs away, to healing burns, to relieving menstural and muscle pains, to treating acne...) Mom ended up buying a set.  I know she wanted some of it for Grandmother and some of it for our various aches and pains.  I'm skeptical, but the salesperson slapped on the patch version of the product on my ankle, and it did feel... a bit tingly. 

Finally, after that we were back on track: The Summer Palace. 

Twice the size of the Forbidden City (though mostly water), the Summer Palace supposedly has been designed to look like a different area of China.  To achieve this the lake and mountain were man made.  There are supposedly 10,000 paintings decorating various surfaces of the bridges and buildings (with no repeats). 

Beautiful as it is, the funds for its restoration and expansion by the Empress Dowager Cixi had been taken away from the Navy, which Mr. Lee indicated led to "The Downfall of China" (i.e. China was ill prepared to defend against the Japanese invasion).

I could see how this place could be a relaxing refuge - but for all the people and being on a tour.  We speedily wove between other tour groups to complete an abreviated circuit of the grounds and then we were off again - to be stuck in a traffic jam.

We crawled back to urban Beijing.  From the window I could see no graffiti, but the vendors spilling onto the streets must have violated some kind of traffic law. 

Eventually, we arrived at the restaurant for our final planned Beijing experience: Peking Duck.  Chefs with masks carved the ducks in front of our table, and then a waitress used chopsticks and a fork to demo the proper way to make the wrap.  I pretty much just used my hands when it came time to prepare my own. 

It was dark when we left the restaurant.  Waiting outside our tour bus was a man trying to sell his LV purses and wallets.  Mom dragged me onto the bus and the others laughed at how she managed to save me again.

In the short ride back to the hotel, Mr. Lee talked about tips (actually less than what I thought it would be) and let us know the times we'd have to meet him in the lobby the next morning.  Ah, it would be sleeping in compared to the past two days!  But Mom has other plans - wake up early to (re)pack.

More photos and details of the day here.

Beijing, Day 1 - Life as King

Mom and I woke up to a misty and already warm Beijing.  After breakfast, we and our other tour members piled into the tour bus for a very busy day. 

Our tour guides, Miss Huang and Mr. Lee, kept us entertained with jokes and facts about Beijing (almost all in Mandarin).  The main industries in Beijing were (1) Tourism, (2) Traditional Chinese medicine, and (3) Education / University.  That last point was apparently why Beijing girls don't make good wives (they're too educated and don't like to cook - unlike the Guangdong girls - though Mr. Lee was probably biased). 

The first of our busy day was a visit to the Forbidden City.  We go in the backdoor and have no trouble at all with crowds (despite the fact that 8 million visitors come to the place annually). 

We're told it took 27 years to build the 9,999.5 rooms (an attempt to show respect and not upstage his father, who's palace had 10,000 rooms).  We obviously didn't have time to visit each one, but the guides did take us to some of the highlights.

We were then lead through the front gates and into Tian'anmen Square.  Given 15 minutes of free time to explore, I apparently did the worst thing possible (at least in Mom's opinion): I made eye contact with a street peddler.  It was hard to disengage since I was actually interested in the stamps and postcards he was selling, but Mom kept pulling me away.  This worked in my favour in the end, the peddler took Mom's protest as bargaining and ended up dropping the price of everything without me having to say a word.  Unfortunately, that did cut into the free time, and I didn't get as many photos as I'd like. 

We then walked to Tong Ren Tang, a healing centre with over 341 years of history, that also served royalty for a time.  A woman gave a presentation on the basics of Traditional Chinese medicine (in Catonese, thankfully) before the doctors and their interpreters were unleashed.  From looking at me and listening to my pulse, the doctor concluded I had existing conditions and needed to prevent more damage from an unhealthy lifestyle.  I wasn't sure what to believe exactly, so I hedged my bets by buying a small amount of what he prescribed (Mom thinks I'm too gullible). 
We then break for lunch.  At the restuarant we're assigned to tables - the same group of people we're to spend all tour meals with.  Lucy is an architect from New York.  Her twin sister, Lisa, and her brother-in-law, Momo, are also part of our table.  They all are on the extended China tour and they all are super friendly and outgoing.  The others at the table are more quiet. 

After lunch, we're off to the Temple of Heaven, the place of offerings for good harvests for again, royalty.  We've reached the temperture high of the day 29 degrees, and Mom renewed her efforts to shield me with the umbrella.  Her good intentions drove me nuts though: Every few steps the umbrella would poke into my head (I wondered if it's a passive agressive act). 

A very hot hour later, we were once again round up to the tour bus (thankfully air-conditioned). 

We drove around to the Bird's Nest Stadium and actually stopped to go inside.  That was anticlimatic though.  The stadium was closed, and all that was there were other tourists and street peddlers with questionable souveniers.  We left after a quick bathroom break. 

After so much walking, we all gladly sat down at our next stop, the Beijing Theatre.  We watched lion dancers walk on planks and balance on large balls (as if they were puppies doing tricks) to the sounds of traditional horns.  We saw a contortionist bend and undulate on a platform to soft music (slightly ruined by all the unrelated girls with fans and puffs of smoke that swirled around). 

From there, the show got more and more interesting.  There was a modern electronic music piece with tumblers, which integrated some break dancing with gymnastic feats.  There was plate twirlling and great balance acts with many glasses of water.  Then, the show ended in a edge of the seat number involving a spherical cage and motorcycles riding so fast they were able to loop upside down or stay on the equator.  They started with one, and then continued to add more motocycles until it seemed like there was no way they could all fit.  And then they added one more (for a total of 6). 

We all left pretty thrilled.  However, as we took the bus to a restaurant for dinner, Mr. Lee relayed the reality of such a life. 

"Was this meal based on the lecture?"  I wish!  Dinner was not to my liking.  Though there was one dish of veggies with some other good things mentioned in the Chinese medicine talk, there wasn't much otherwise.  They ruined a perfectly good fish by deep frying and then soaking it with sweet and sour sauce.  But I guess this is Beijing style food - either sweet and sour, or spicy, or both.  I could make a meal out of the spicy items, but poor Mom couldn't handle that either.  (Thankfully, we'd saved dinner rolls from the on-flight meals.)

We returned to the hotel with the clear message that our day as royalty has ended - tomorrow we will be peasants and commoners.  

More photos and details of today here.

A Bicycle Built for Four

... and bicycles built for more.

There are a lot of bicycles.  And there are a lot of people riding bicyles.  A whole lane filled with bicycles pass through the intersection next to the hotel in the morning.  Almost no one wears a helmet.  Having accepted this, I still gaped: what looks like a family of four is riding one bike. "Dad" pedals, his hands are on the handlebars, his arms cage-in a boy who is possibly 6 years old.  Behind them sit "Mom", who's cradling a baby. 

Later, from the tour bus, I saw a man potentially moving house on a trike (below).

I guess I shouldn't be surprised any more.