Mei You Bu Ke Neng (Impossible is Nothing)

I felt so guilty about not writing for such a long time that I decided to give a full update and suffer the consequences tomorrow morning.

So, Friday afternoon, we went into the city to see this old Hu Tong (lit: alley. Refers to neighborhoods of Old Beijing style houses that are quickly disappearing as the city develops) called Nan Luogu Xiang. I didn't know we were going here at the time because we had a big group and a lot of us were just in sheep mode after a hard week. Unfortunately, when we got there, it started raining, so we just went to a restaurant right away for cover and good food. It was a great dinner. We had a good balance of Yale and Harvard students. The most interesting person at the table, by far, was a Korean diplomat who is in our class! The Korean government is practically paying his tuition at Harvard while he does some kind of graduate program. Part of his program involves not only studying Chinese, but also studying it somewhere besides Harvard and Korea. So, that's why, despite having a wife and a 5-month old daughter at home in Cambridge, he is at HBA with a bunch of college kids. He is such a great, fun, kind, and interesting person. We really enjoyed having him come along.

After dinner, a lot of us went back to the dorm to rest. Some stayed behind to explore the Hu Tong. I sort of wish I had done that too, but I think I am going to go on my own walking tour of the Hu Tongs later on. That night, I just went back to BeiYu, hung out a little bit, and rested.

The next day was pretty uneventful until the evening. At 5:00, we all piled into two buses to go in Beijing and see Jing Ju (Beijing opera). The place we went to is called Liyuan Theater. It's pretty well known for catering to tourists, but it was excellent.

Beijing opera has been around for hundreds of years and is famous for its elaborate makeup ensembles, ornate costumes, and portrayals of classical tales through acrobatics and dance. The kind of opera that we saw originated in the Qing Dynasty (so, starting in the mid 1600s). The actual singing was very interesting. From a musical perspective, Asian music uses a pentatonic scale, which is very different to the heptatonic scale that we are used to. So, I was very intrigued by the mere way the music took shape for each act. Usually, though, the performers were signing to the accompaniment of a percussive ensemble. Their voices, more often than not, were shrill and penetrating. My teacher summarized the evening as "nan ting, dan shi hao kan" (difficult to listen to, but good to look at). He was mostly right -- about both.

The costumes were so beautiful. They were unbelievably colorful and were decorated with lots of little beads. They also tended to be very long so that the performers could hide their feet as they gave the impression of gliding from one end of the stage to another. The make up was also a sight to see. It was very heavy -- almost like a mask. We actually got to see the performs putting it on before the show got started.

The whole show was so enjoyable. It was a great introduction to Chinese folklore (with the help of English subtitles) and had us all rapt. I'm really glad we went, because I don't think that we would have gone if left to our own devices. Here are some pictures from Saturday:

Getting started: sunrise from my window. I know, you can hardly see the sun.

Our driver on the way to the opera. Well, before we were on our way. He was a little more tired than we were.

My teacher, Wang lao shi, teaching us an old Chinese song and having us sing along on the bus ride in. She had such a great voice!

Beijing traffic.

We were provided with snacks and tea at the opera. This man had a teapot with the longest spout I have ever seen. To give us a preview of the acrobatics to come, he did an elaborate pouring ritual as he gave us water for our tea.

The stage.

One of the performers applying his makeup.

More makeup.

Me and Fu lao shi, one of my favorites.

Me and Vidya, a rising sophomore at Harvard.

This performer was supposed to be a woman in search of her beloved scholar fiancee...

She had to pay an old fisherman to help her get to her downriver destination. These two got creative with the choreography, bouncing up and down with opposite timing so as to give the effect of being in a boat, dipping up and down with their shifting weights.

I'm glad they had the English subtitles, because I do not know how to say "auspicious clouds" in Chinese.

The most acrobatic act of all. These men entered the stage doing flips and front handsprings.

My friend from Yale, Jared, staring in disbelief at the performers' abilities.

The last act was, by far, the best. It was about a woman (in white) who had to retrieve a special plant from a mountain and had to fight off the mountains guards in the process. At first, she was using swords against one guard ...

But then, she moved on to spears against three guards. They were all juggling these spears in the air, throwing and catching with both their feet and their hands -- in the air and on the ground.

Spears in the air!

So, that was Jing Ju. Today, I woke up to the fuwuyuan (service lady) knocking on my door to clean my room. I really appreciate that we have cleaning service in a dorm, but I was still sleeping and not enthused about being woken up. So, I told her I was still sleeping. She persisted, though, and said "Oh, mei shir!" (No problem!) She then came in with another fuwuyuan and proceeded to clean my entire room and bathroom as I lay there, unconscious, on what is gradually becoming my beloved rock-hard bed.

Anyway, I slept through all that until 11. I had planned to go to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square with Eli and some other people around then, but Eli was still not back from spending time with his host family. So, I had a nice lunch and then gathered up the other Harvard students for a trip into the city.

First, we went to Tiananmen. I will be honest: I was not expecting a lot. I thought we were going to see the square, take some pictures of the square, marvel at how big it was, and then go to the Forbidden City to spend most of the day there. I couldn't have been more wrong. As soon as we set foot in the Square, we realized that we were some of the only non-Chinese people there. Everyone was staring at us, scrutinizing us, and snapping pictures of us with their cell phone cameras. We tried to ignore what felt like a combination of hostility and curiosity. Zane, my friend, tried to articulate the nature of the atmosphere when she said that there was a "tension" there. I agreed, but I think that most of the "tension" came from the more fundamental sense of extreme pride everywhere around us. We were in a place where history has been made and one of the most important symbols of this country. We couldn't help but stand out as individuals who did not have a firm grasp over what it meant to belong to China and to have China. I hope that a shred of our afternoon's backdrop comes through this haphazard description. It was so sobering, unsettling, and powerful. We stayed for a while, trying to soak in the size of the Square and take our pictures without being delayed too long by strangers who wanted to take pictures with us.

Next, we went to the Forbidden City, but we had just missed business hours for ticket sales. So, we looked around at the outside of the city, a courtyard that is apparently open all the time. It was still an impressive sight. The architecture was exquisite: gold, green, blue, and yellow against the commanding red walls. A couple of times, people tried to come up to us and pass themselves off as art students who wanted to show us their work at a "nearby place." Vidya, a girl in my group, had heard of this popular scam, though. Apparently, they take you to a room with some mediocre art and calligraphy that they try to sell to you, and in some cases, try to take your belongings as well. So, we avoided that trap and continued to look around for a little bit.

Afterwards, we left the Forbidden City and went to Wangfujing Street, a popular shopping area that, to us, looked like the Times Square of Beijing. It is home to the biggest McDonald's in the world, some of the glitziest malls and stores around, and the biggest Olympics Flagship store. We looked around in the Olympics store for a while, which was an experience. EVERYTHING you could ever imagine buying was there and it had either the Beijing 2008 logo or one/all of the Olympic mascots on it.

When we were done shopping there, we just went back to the dorm to get started on dinner and studying. And that's pretty much everything that has happened. So, you are all up to date. I am sorry again for taking so long. I hope to be less busy this week. Luckily nothing too exciting happens during the week, so if you don't see a post soon, it's just because I'm working hard.

Before I sign off, here are some of the photos from today:

The Monument to the People's Heroes, in the center of Tiananmen Square.

Realist statues outside of the Mausoleum (where Mao is interred!) depicting students and workers protesting against the government.

Us in front of the Mausoleum. The first person who asked to take a picture with us is in the middle.

I tried to capture how expansive the Square is, but my iPhone lense is definitely not wide enough.

So big!

Keeping Tiananmen clean...

Tiananmen is more or less a park-type of place now. Lots of families come to fly kites or just to hang out. So, there are lots of adorable little Chinese babies running around. This one was particularly cute.

So was this father-son duo.

The Gate of Heavenly Peace, at the North of the Square, with Mao looking down over me and the rest of the people in the Square.

Person No. 2, with Alec. There were two other girls who took a pictures one after another with me after this, but I didn't ask for them to take one with my camera.

Person No. 5 with Vidya.

Mao.

The Chairman and Me.

Squatters! It really is comfortable. I don't know why people in America don't do this.

Inside the Gate. Looking at the edge of the Forbidden City. The structure before is is called Wu Men (Meridian Gate).

Detail on Wu Men.

Really big doors. And really small people, but the doors are still very very tall.

At the beginning of Wangfujing Street.

Vidya, Me, and Alec in front of the biggest McDonald's in the entire world! We didn't go in and eat anything ...

The Olympic Mascots. Their names are "Bei," "Jing," "Huan," "Ying," and "Ni." All together, Beijing Huanying Ni. In English, Beijing welcomes you!

Another shot of Wangfujing. It was really felt like a New York type of spot, but you don't really get that feeling here because of the pollution.

Me and my favorite mascot, Huanhuan.

Olympics mugs.

OLYMPICS EVERYTHING.

...even Olympics vases...

These ads are so amazing. They are Addidas sponsored ads promoting excitement for the arrival of the Olympics. The slogan is Mei You Bu Ke Neng. Or, impossible is nothing. At Wangfujing, there were several painted onto the entire sides of buildings.

Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed everything. I'll write more soon. Be sure you look at the post right below, which I just posted too. Miss everyone!