Happy Niu Year, part 3

When it comes to temples devoted to springtime offerings in hope of a good year to come, the Temple of Heaven is the big daddy, so it makes sense that something would be happening there during Spring Festival. Yesterday a Chinese friend sent me a text message advising me that they have performances of some kind at 10:00 and 13:00. 10:00 seemed a little too early for a holiday morning, so I opted for the afternoon show.

Tiantan (天坛) was decorated with colorful banners, and there were lots of people dancing in the open areas.
The main temple itself looks as impressive as ever.
Lots of people everywhere, including the altar mound.
At a bit after one I made my way back toward the main temple, not completely sure where the show was taking place. The central part of the path was roped off and a crowd was gathering. I joined them, early enough to get a good viewing position.
After a while, we started to see colorful banners making their way down from the temple area.
The crowd gathered closer, and I, not being quite so pushy or rude as many others, found myself shoved further from the security line and close pressed on all sides. I felt sorry for the two tiny old ladies near me that suddenly found themselves with views of nothing but the backs of taller young people who squeezed in front of them. I considered what my Chinese vocabulary would enable me to say if anyone should apologize (like “I expect this kind of rudeness”), but the situation never arose.
Music started playing over the loudspeakers, and there was some kind of narration in Chinese that I could make out very little of aside from the frequent use of the word 皇帝 huangdi (emperor).
I have lots of pictures that feature parts of people’s heads in the foreground.
The guy in the modern style red coat was directing the performers from so close that he became an anachronistic part of the show.

As the procession made its way slowly closer, the police started moving people in my area to the sides. There was much confusion and shoving as the security line was moved so the performers could pass through the area where we had been standing.
Well, at least it allowed me to get some closer pictures as they marched past.
There were many groups of men in different costumes.
Many different kinds of banners went by.
And then it was done, and the crowd that had seen the part of the show up in the main temple area started flooding the thoroughfare.
I suspect I probably missed the most interesting part of the whole show, but still it was nice to see.

After that, I wanted something a on little smaller scale, so I made my way to Dongyue (东岳) temple, which is not far from where I live. I’ve visited this place before, not long after I first came to Beijing. You can check out those pictures to see what it looks like on a normal day.

There were a bunch of vendors with tents set up outside the temple entrance.
This guy has a wide variety of dried fruits and nuts.
This guy was using a big mallet to mash something (probably rice) into a treat.
And this guy was selling completely legitimate (of course!) DVDs and games.

I paid my ¥10 and went in.
The place was decked out in red, and there were also people selling things inside. Dongyue is no longer really a functioning religious site – it’s officially a “cultural museum” now – but people still make offerings of incense and prayer ribbons.
You can also have a go at the old-fashioned grinding wheel.
Or more modern activities...
Here is the official slogan for the occasion:
Inheriting Folk Culture – Promoting National Spirits

And here I finally found one of the other attractions of a Chinese festival.
I finally got my yang rou chuanr (羊肉串 mutton on a stick). Add some sweet potato chips, and I was a happy festival-goer. Tired too.

An appointment with the sky

An entry about Thursday 18 October. Some photos by me, some by D.

The end of D’s visit was fast approaching, and it was busy enough at work that anything very far away was out of the question, so we opted for Tian Tan, the Temple of Heaven. It’s one of Beijing’s major attractions, but I’d never been there, and the new subway line has a stop right at the east entrance, so it was a perfect choice. And aside from a stiff breeze, it was a perfect day for sightseeing. As at the Summer Palace, you can buy either a simple entrance ticket or a “through ticket” which includes admission to the special areas that require their own paid admission. With two through tickets in hand, we went in. Maybe it’s always mellower here, or maybe it’s just past the peak tourist season, but we were happy to find very few hucksters offering postcards, Mao watches, guidebooks and the like.
There’s a long covered walkway that goes from the east gate to the main temple. Lots of locals seem to hang out there, playing cards or mahjong.
This old guy was stomping rhythmically and chanting, kind of an old school Chinese rap, I guess.
The obvious thing about this temple compared to all the other Chinese temples I’ve seen is that it’s round. Cool.
But seriously, some of my American coworkers had told me they didn’t much care for visiting Tian Tan, but I rather liked it. While it was far from empty, it was incredibly quiet within the gates, and very peaceful feeling. The buildings are impressive, and don’t resemble anything at the Summer Palace of Forbidden City.
Okay, I take that back. The standard elements of traditional Chinese design are all here. I guess I’ve seen enough of them that I’m now noticing very subtle differences.
The terraces leading to the main temple are decorated with dragons (representing the emperor) and phoenixes (representing the empress) in alternating layers.
It’s hard to get a good shot inside the big round building, especially with the crowd always gathered at the small openings you’re allowed to look through.
This is the circular altar where the emperors made sacrifices to ensure good harvests.
The central stone serves a more secular function now.
To the west of the temple complex is the Institute of Divine Music, where musicians were trained to participate in the ceremonies.
The first interesting thing about these buildings is that they are actually less than ten years old. The original music school went through some very hard times after the last dynasty fell, having served as medical facilities and barracks for troops, various government offices, and finally as raw materials for people to cart away and use for other buildings. In the 1990s, it was decided that the Institute was an important cultural site and should be restored, so old drawings, paintings, documents, and plans were consulted and the whole things was rebuilt. It houses a museum devoted to Chinese music as well as a concert hall for performances. Most of the explanations are available in English. Some ancient instruments are represented by real pieces, while others are just photographs. The variety of drums in particular is impressive and unusual. We respected the no photo sign, so you’ll have to take my word for it.

After leaving the music museum, we were about done for the day, so we headed back across the park to the subway.
And speaking of music, we encountered several groups of people making some around the place.
Here’s another in the series of pictures to cute to avoid posting.

There was a KFC across the street from the park gate, so we grabbed a late lunch before leaving that part of town. On the subway, D and I parted ways. She headed back to Wangfujing to pick up some gifts for people back home, and I headed for the office to catch up on developments and attend Chinese class, where we learned about expressing durations of time for actions.