The Last Days of Beijing (for us, anyway)

Dear ones~

Random thoughts and observations follow:

*the story is that if your first child is a girl, you get to try again (ie have 2 kids, rather than be bound by the one-child rule), since boys are so favored

*It is almost impossible to register your 2nd child (without the exemption due to the dreadful disappointment of having a girl-child on your first try). If they aren't registered, they don't officially exist and can't go to school or work above-ground, so only the most menial work is available to them (this may sound familiar to any recent immigrants from south of the US border)

*and yet, all children appear to be much loved and treasured. I rarely saw a child yelled at and never saw one struck.

*There is no welfare and no social security and no pensions. Young people know that they will be taking care of their parents and probably living with them. It's just an accepted fact.

*Old folks have a good life in cities in China. They are out and about. They're in the parks, doing TaiChi or QiGong or playing cards or just hanging out with their pals. They're on a stool in the street, watching the world go by. They're caring for their grandbabies, They're walking their songbirds. And when all that is no longer possible, they're being pushed around in a wheel-chair, probably by a family member. What they are NOT doing is sitting holed up in their house in front of the TV becoming a human vegetable. They have lives. They have quality lives. Perhaps we have something to learn from this?

* I did try soy bean ice cream. It's better than you would expect.

*Fashion: the pony-tail is the most popular female hairdo. Many perm their hair. Many color it a reddish brown. Almost all (men and women) dye it when it starts to go grey. Baby-doll styles are popular for women. And a sort a prom-dress-gone-wrong look. High heels are the norm, tho funky young rebel or intellectual types are changing that. Women wear ankle-length stockings with their high heels. Young men wear jeans and a few wear them well below the waist. But middle-aged and older men wear their pleated pants above their waists. 

*In some ways it's a pretty egalitarian society. Women do some heavy work and a lot of the management. But I've seen some (all ages) who have this simpery shuffling, cutesy way of walking. The women are ferocious at selling (and funny, sometimes: "You want to pay how much? You're killing me! I'm dying here!"

*The pollution in Beijing was not nearly so bad as I anticipated. However, you may have noticed that my photos seem uniformly grey...that's not only my lack of skill! It's the general pall. The nastiness of the air from all the individual cooking with coal in other parts of the country is palpable and debilitating.

*In case you wondered why I went on at such length about the hutong neigborhoods, it is because my house in Chico is in an endangered historic neighborhood, so I feel an affinity.

*Tai Chi in Beijing has been a little different than in Xian, tho still good. Maybe I just like being up early, while the streets are less busy and the air is fresh. Mostly older people practise. I fear it may die out with my generation.

*We have biked Beijing quite a bit and it's good, but by afternoon rush, can be hard on the psyche and the adrenals! Hectic!

*People love their dogs. (Small dogs) They often walk them in their pajamas (the people, silly, not the dogs!)  common breeds: Pomeranian, Shit-zu and Lhasa Apso (all that long hair beautifully groomed), some poodles (with a handsome rust-red coat on a couple of occasions), one golden retriever, and one dalmatian. No strays. No dog poop on the streets.

* Old men walk their song-birds (in their cages..the birds, silly, not the old men) in the parks. 

*You hear many people singing or humming to themselves as they walk along or work.

*People read a lot. Of course, it may be the equivalent of People magazine, but often it's the newspaper. On walls around the cities, there are boards for the daily newspaper to be posted, page by page, so people don't even have to buy it. There are always people reading it at these boards.

*No, I don't think that the magnificence of art or architecture or engineering excuses an oppressive, hierarchical society. All that beauty or industry or whatever is built on, and demands, so much suffering. Of course, many societies, all over the world do and have done this. It is in no way exclusive to China.

*Beijing adds 1300 cars A DAY to its streets! (But before you start judging that too harshly, think 0f the households in the US that have 2 0r 3 0r more vehicles...think of your own,  perhaps) 

And now it's time for me and Cal to head down the street to get foot massages! A last treat before we board the train to MONGOLIA tomorrow morning. We are going from the world's most populous country to the least. I think I'm ready.

Sai Jen~

ChaCha