I Love Megalomania

This past Friday was our last night in Beijing. Peter and the other UCLA interns, Andrea and Guillermo, gave their presentations at CAUPD on Wednesday. Not a huge turnout of people, but the president of CAUPD was there, which we didn’t even realize until the end. We had a last dinner out with Andrea, Guillermo, Stephan, an intern from Germany, and Song Ting, an intern from Beijing University at a yummy Yunnan restaurant near our apartment building.



Now we are in Xi’an, home to several Chinese dynasties, and most importantly, home to the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Qin Shi Huang was an amazing figure in history. He united the Warring States into the first China, he created a universal coin system that lasted until the 1900s, he unified Chinese characters writing systems so that despite different dialects, China could communicate at least in writing, built up the Great Wall, and best of all, spent 40 years working on his afterlife preparations. Which is what we’re here to see. The largest tomb in the whole world, estimated to cover 56 sq km. This is Peter’s first trip. I’ve been here before in 1996, but I am no less awed by the tremendous scale, beauty, and resource allocation.

The life size soldiers are exquisite. All the faces are different, probably modeled after real soldiers. The tomb contains a full army contingent – calvary, infantry, charioteers, commanders – with all the details of their rank and position demonstrated in their uniforms, their stances, their headgear. What really fires up the imagination is thinking that next door to these Terracotta Warriors is the rest of the mausoleum, with its untold treasures, which remains unexcavated until Chinese archaeologists can figure out better ways to preserve what they unearth. I hope that happens within my lifetime.



Us at the South Gate of Xi'an's Old City Wall


Some of the 6,000+ soldiers in Pit 1

Peter’s brother, Andy, Andy’s girlfriend, Kim, and her 1 ½ yr old son, Oliver, are currently visiting with us in China. Having Oliver around has been so fun and interesting. The people are fascinated by him. Chinese love children, and a white kid is all the more lovable. When with him, I constantly hear people saying 洋娃娃 yang wa wa, which means “doll” or “Yankee baby.” Peter thinks it’s hilarious and telling that foreign baby and doll are indicated by the same phrase. People are always trying to pick him up, pinch his cheeks, coo at him, or just stare. Here’s a great photo of what happened when we paused in the shade at the Forbidden City and were discovered by a Chinese tour group.





We leave Beijing at the end of this week – Peter’s internship is over. Stay tuned for our further adventures in other parts of China. Our itinerary still isn’t completely planned, but we did buy tickets today to travel to Xi’an, home to the Terracotta Soldiers, and then on to Shanghai.

Family Visit

Peter's mom and her friend, Sharon, arrived a few days ago, and we've been touring them around Beijing. They're fabulous guests, always pleased and entertained. The tour group is scheduled to expand soon when Andy, Peter's brother, and Kim, his girlfriend, arrive, along with Oliver, Kim's 1 1/2 yr old kiddo. I'm looking forward to seeing all the attention Oliver's going to get as a little white baby here. The Chinese love kids, and foreign babies are generally quite an attraction.

We started off with a little of Old Beijing, with meandering through hutongs. Of course, modern life intervened, see the below pics of a hutong traffic jam.





Next, we went to Jingshan Park, the highlight of which is a tall hill from which you get a great overview of the Forbidden City. And finally, a short walk over to Beihai Park, to see the famed Nine Dragons' Screen, a beautiful example of porcelain art.




On the next day, we tried to show them New Beijing, so we went back to Dashanzi/Factory 798, the largest of the contemporary arts districts in the Beijing area. Peter and I had gone about a month ago, but many exhibits had changed, and we hadn't seen anywhere close to the whole complex before anyways. It's a factory commune converted to art galleries, just an amazing space to display art.