We then decided to walk back to Houhai in the lake area since it was such a nice day. We tried to enter a Buddhist temple nearby because a description outside of it said it was one of the best preserved temples in the city, but it turned out it was not open for visitors but only for worshippers. One of our destinations that day was Plastered T-Shirts, a store that makes unique t-shirts only here in Beijing that was recommended by both TimeOut and LP. While we had to wander through some hutongs to get there, we did find it on a cute street with a bunch of other boutique stores. I make some purchases as some of the shirts really did communicate a vibe only to be found here. On Thursday night some friends and I came back to the area for some delicious Indian food (who knew in Beijing?) and ended up at a few bars near there. Since it is still rather warm at night right now it was pleasant to sit outside.
The next day some of us tried to visit the Beijing Underground City which was built by Mao in 1979 under the threat of nuclear war with Russia. Besides the novelty factor, I thought as a historian interested in Communism it would provide a fascinating study of cultural preservation. Unfortunately the government decided to close it down as they deemed it unsafe for visitors and in need of repair. Somewhat despondent, I suggested walking to the Temple of Heaven which was not that far away.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the Temple of Heaven is actually a mistranslation as in Chinese the name actually means "Altar of Heaven." According to LP, it was a place where the emperor would come to pray for plentiful crops at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, and also for the country's future at the winter solstice ceremony which involved taking the sacred tablets from the Imperial Vault of Heaven to the large Round Altar. This was supposedly quite a big deal, and the ceremony included a procession with elephants that was done in complete silence. These three main monuments are the main attractions of the park, especially the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. The building is beautifully painted and an architectural wonder: no nails or cement hold the pillars in place. A pattern here can be found in the symbolism the Chinese placed and continue to place in numbers. The four main pillars inside represent the seasons, the next 12 the months of the year, and the final 12 the day. The same care was taken with the numerological details of the Round Altar focusing around the lucky number nine. The top tier of the altar has nine rings of stones, with each ring having some multiple of nine number of stones, with the last containing 81. The bottom tier represents humanity, the middle earth, and the top heaven. Again, all information thanks to LP Beijing.
We then headed to witness another Chinese tradition, the tea ceremony. I have been able to watch some Japanese tea ceremonies so I had something to compare the Chinese one too. The tea house we were looking for near the Forbidden City didn't actually exist anymore, so we went to the one that replaced it. We ordered a pot of rose flavored tea and then proceeded to watch a server perform the ceremony, which involved dousing the various pots and cups in hot water to keep them warm, stirring some of the tea leaves with some interesting instruments, and serving us our very hot tea. The Japanese tea ceremony is definitely more of a formal affair where the tea drinker is an active participant in the ceremony itself. Here I'm sure the ceremony was much simplified for the benefit of time and the patience of the guests. According to this website, however, the Japanese tea ceremony was originally created in China during the height of tea culture during the Tang (618 to 907 AD) and Song (960 to 1279 AD) dynasties.
Saturday my room mate and I ventured out to the other side of town (the multiple transportation transfers I mentioned in a previous post) to visit the Panjiayuan Market, something TimeOut says "we can't recommend strongly enough that you visit this market while you're in Beijing...(it) is absolutely brimming with everything you could ever want in the way of presents and souvenirs from China's capital city." That sums it up pretty well - it has every curio, souvenir, bric-a-brac, and memento you could ever want from China. It was nice as it is less dominated by Westerners as the Silk and Pearl Markets are, and also by the berating salespeople, but there is much more selection available with pretty good starting prices. I thought I would have to bargain a lot more here because of LP's warning that everything was ten times the price it should be, but I felt I got some good stuff at reasonable prices. One piece I was excited to find was a unconventional clock for my uncle who collects them. It is a bronze birdcage that insides contains a bird that pecks its floor as the seconds tick by, and the clock part is actually in the center, round instead of flat, and circles through the numbers one through 12 to mark the hours. That evening some of us wanting more non-Chinese food and missing our American favorites went to a Mexican restaurant that somewhat satisfied our cravings.
Sunday was a day off to rest and relax in a local coffee shop on campus, and Monday I ventured a bit farther out to find a coffee place near Wudaoku, the nearby student area, that my Chinese friend had recommended where I could finish my book. After days on our feet sightseeing, these days of respite were quite welcome, also because of the extreme heat we've been experiencing.
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