mao before breakfast
so, i know that's an icky thought (ewww, pastey) but that's what i did this morning. i had to beat the rush on the queue - as it happens about a thousand or more other people had the same idea and i got stuck at the end of a massive queue anyway.
it was weird and a little upsetting to witness the spectacle that is dead so-called "communist" dictators. so much deference and reverence. but i think it is due to a combination of things - the hundreds of armed guards, ushers, and officials have a lot to do with it! i also think there are still some true brainwashed believers out there, perhaps thinking everything is just great, or possibly wondering what went wrong and coming to seek guidance from the big guy.
on my second day here i went to the forbidden city - the traditional seat of power and residence for the ming and qing dynasties. out the front of the forbidden city is a massive structure with a too-flattering portrait mao's big smiling face shining over tiananmen square - right above the space where the massacre happened. i took some photos of people having their photos taken with him. i found it upsetting but more than anything angering - angering that such a disgusting distortion is what people think of when they hear the word "communist". i've had to bite my tongue a lot when discussing chinese politics with other travellers who just throw words like "propaganda" and "surveillance" around in association with "communism" with absolutely no critical engagement with how downright one-sided that is, or not even one-sided but just plain wrong. i have argued with them, but have had to bite my tongue when i have become frustrated, contenting myself instead with saying something like "but do you think the west has less propaganda and surveillance?"
sheesh.
other than that i've taken lots of photos of the wacky things beijingers do in public. lots of spitting, gurgling, belching, farting and yawning louder than is probably necessary. i've never seen people hock such big loogies with that level of passion and energy. it's almost a sport.
beijing is certainly a sensory experience. the sun is hot, the smog tastes and smells strong, the dust in the air is thick and settles on you no matter what you do, the streets are often stinking from the sweet aroma of shit and piss wafting up from the sewer grates, your snot is black, and you are often touching people. in a city of 15 million there is no other way.
but in a city of 15 million people, everybody also lives their lives on the street - there are people everywhere all the time. whether it's playing checkers or mah jong, ballroom dancing in the park at 10am on a weekday or learning contemporary dance, doing aerobics on a seemingly random street corner next to a massive motorway in the evening, walking a little mini-dog, DIY karaoke in the park, fishing in the lakes, chewing the fat, chewing pumpkin seeds and other seeds and spitting off the husks, doing nightly exercises, wandering, sleeping, snoring, selling, buying, lounging, or most importantly, riding a bike. it makes you feel safe to walk around at night - if anything ever happened (which it doesn't feel like it really would anyway) there would always be at least 30 or 40 other people and probably more within your immediate vicinity.
travelling on beijing streets has probably been the most awe-inspiring activity though (other than the 10km hike i did on the great wall the other day - my leg muscles still hurt bad), especially on a bike. seriously, it's kill or be killed, and it takes some gumption. there are traffic lights, and they are sometimes sort of loosely observed, sort of, but not really. yeah, traffic lights. whatever! no one ever puts on their brakes pretty much. cars just career around the corners, pedestrians and bikes in the way but who cares? bikes don't care either, and nor do pedestrians, but there is obviously a hierarchy of who's gonna die in the arse if a collision occurs. which miraculously doesn't seem to occur very often. or not that i've seen anyway.
but there are thousands of bikes. millions even. there are lanes for the bikes that are wider than the car lanes. every traffic light pretty much has a little bike symbol set of lights. it's really fun to just cruise around. it is so flat that you never ever have to go up or down a hill EVER.
it's also been really good to stay in a hutong. hutongs are the little tiny weeny laneways that criss-cross beijing filled with tiny little weeny "houses" (these are usually rooms the size of a wardrobe that function simultaneously as a bedsit, shop, restaurant (with some seats out on the street and the pot/cooker on the front door step) and sometimes even a gambling place for cards or mah jong. sometimes people wheel their beds out on to the street and sleep there. most people don't have a toilet in their house, let alone more than one 2m x 2m room, so there are lots of public toilets along the laneways that everyone uses. but the great thing is that a lot of people wander past the hostel and strike up conversations, or stand around having loud and evidently hilarious conversations about the foreigners.
many people are currently learning other languages (english is most common) in preparation for finding work during the 2008 olympics and have been keen to practice. i've sat out on the street a few nights, sinking a few 2yuan beers (2 yuans is about 20cents - these beers are tallnecks too, though you'd easily pay 40yuan in one of the more public ex-pat bars), chatting to people. one guy i spoke to didn't speak english, and i obviously don't speak chinese, but he had been learning german for 2 years, so we were able to have a very rudimentary conversation in german which was really cool.
i think my time at this internet cafe is nearly up but here's a few other random things i've seen/observed:
- a motorcycle shop called "Chrome Horse"
- all the little kiddies trousers have no bum and the kiddies don't wear nappies - they just have a big split in their pants i guess until they are toilet trained
- through a window i saw a young apprentice guard/soldier get pretty severely beaten in the head by his superior while his comrades looked on... he had obviously done something that displeased the superior
- a hardcore woman who was a bike parking inspector - in the busy shopping areas you have to park your bike in the designated areas and you pay 1yuan to the inspector. this one woman was seriously hardcore, but she let me take a photo and even smiled afterwards!
til next time folks,
kd.
it was weird and a little upsetting to witness the spectacle that is dead so-called "communist" dictators. so much deference and reverence. but i think it is due to a combination of things - the hundreds of armed guards, ushers, and officials have a lot to do with it! i also think there are still some true brainwashed believers out there, perhaps thinking everything is just great, or possibly wondering what went wrong and coming to seek guidance from the big guy.
on my second day here i went to the forbidden city - the traditional seat of power and residence for the ming and qing dynasties. out the front of the forbidden city is a massive structure with a too-flattering portrait mao's big smiling face shining over tiananmen square - right above the space where the massacre happened. i took some photos of people having their photos taken with him. i found it upsetting but more than anything angering - angering that such a disgusting distortion is what people think of when they hear the word "communist". i've had to bite my tongue a lot when discussing chinese politics with other travellers who just throw words like "propaganda" and "surveillance" around in association with "communism" with absolutely no critical engagement with how downright one-sided that is, or not even one-sided but just plain wrong. i have argued with them, but have had to bite my tongue when i have become frustrated, contenting myself instead with saying something like "but do you think the west has less propaganda and surveillance?"
sheesh.
other than that i've taken lots of photos of the wacky things beijingers do in public. lots of spitting, gurgling, belching, farting and yawning louder than is probably necessary. i've never seen people hock such big loogies with that level of passion and energy. it's almost a sport.
beijing is certainly a sensory experience. the sun is hot, the smog tastes and smells strong, the dust in the air is thick and settles on you no matter what you do, the streets are often stinking from the sweet aroma of shit and piss wafting up from the sewer grates, your snot is black, and you are often touching people. in a city of 15 million there is no other way.
but in a city of 15 million people, everybody also lives their lives on the street - there are people everywhere all the time. whether it's playing checkers or mah jong, ballroom dancing in the park at 10am on a weekday or learning contemporary dance, doing aerobics on a seemingly random street corner next to a massive motorway in the evening, walking a little mini-dog, DIY karaoke in the park, fishing in the lakes, chewing the fat, chewing pumpkin seeds and other seeds and spitting off the husks, doing nightly exercises, wandering, sleeping, snoring, selling, buying, lounging, or most importantly, riding a bike. it makes you feel safe to walk around at night - if anything ever happened (which it doesn't feel like it really would anyway) there would always be at least 30 or 40 other people and probably more within your immediate vicinity.
travelling on beijing streets has probably been the most awe-inspiring activity though (other than the 10km hike i did on the great wall the other day - my leg muscles still hurt bad), especially on a bike. seriously, it's kill or be killed, and it takes some gumption. there are traffic lights, and they are sometimes sort of loosely observed, sort of, but not really. yeah, traffic lights. whatever! no one ever puts on their brakes pretty much. cars just career around the corners, pedestrians and bikes in the way but who cares? bikes don't care either, and nor do pedestrians, but there is obviously a hierarchy of who's gonna die in the arse if a collision occurs. which miraculously doesn't seem to occur very often. or not that i've seen anyway.
but there are thousands of bikes. millions even. there are lanes for the bikes that are wider than the car lanes. every traffic light pretty much has a little bike symbol set of lights. it's really fun to just cruise around. it is so flat that you never ever have to go up or down a hill EVER.
it's also been really good to stay in a hutong. hutongs are the little tiny weeny laneways that criss-cross beijing filled with tiny little weeny "houses" (these are usually rooms the size of a wardrobe that function simultaneously as a bedsit, shop, restaurant (with some seats out on the street and the pot/cooker on the front door step) and sometimes even a gambling place for cards or mah jong. sometimes people wheel their beds out on to the street and sleep there. most people don't have a toilet in their house, let alone more than one 2m x 2m room, so there are lots of public toilets along the laneways that everyone uses. but the great thing is that a lot of people wander past the hostel and strike up conversations, or stand around having loud and evidently hilarious conversations about the foreigners.
many people are currently learning other languages (english is most common) in preparation for finding work during the 2008 olympics and have been keen to practice. i've sat out on the street a few nights, sinking a few 2yuan beers (2 yuans is about 20cents - these beers are tallnecks too, though you'd easily pay 40yuan in one of the more public ex-pat bars), chatting to people. one guy i spoke to didn't speak english, and i obviously don't speak chinese, but he had been learning german for 2 years, so we were able to have a very rudimentary conversation in german which was really cool.
i think my time at this internet cafe is nearly up but here's a few other random things i've seen/observed:
- a motorcycle shop called "Chrome Horse"
- all the little kiddies trousers have no bum and the kiddies don't wear nappies - they just have a big split in their pants i guess until they are toilet trained
- through a window i saw a young apprentice guard/soldier get pretty severely beaten in the head by his superior while his comrades looked on... he had obviously done something that displeased the superior
- a hardcore woman who was a bike parking inspector - in the busy shopping areas you have to park your bike in the designated areas and you pay 1yuan to the inspector. this one woman was seriously hardcore, but she let me take a photo and even smiled afterwards!
til next time folks,
kd.
posted by kd | 5:05 pm
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