Saturday-Sunday in Beijing

After the Great Wall, while heading back to Beijing, the CCAI tour bus stopped for lunch at a jade factory / showroom.  I admit that it was not high on our list of things we were dying to see, but it was interesting to see how much the Chinese admire and treasure jade.  In the outside parking lot, there was a mini Terra Cotta army of warriors. As you can see from this picture, I am teaching the boys cultural sensitivity.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but there was a warning sign that said, "If you cross barrier, you will bear the consequences of people's action oneself" 

After the jade factory, an extremely memorable experience. We watched the Beijing National Acrobat show at a theater. It can best be described like Cirque de Soleil. It features young, talented, artistic people doing insanely dangerous tricks or painfully flexible moves.  Pictures weren't allowed, but here's a shot before hand. 

It was very, very exciting for all of us.  The theater wasn't for Western tourists. In fact, we were among a very small handful of "Western" white tourists. The majority of people in the theater were local school children, senior citizens and many, many Chinese tour groups.  

Dylan was particularly excited to see grape flavored mentos: How often do you see THESE being passed to you in church?  

Here is a picture of some of the tour groups waiting to get in after our show was done. Getting back to the bus was our first experience of dealing with crowds of people, not heavy pushing, just congestion.

I will admit that growing up in the Lower Mainland has lessened the "shock" of seeing large groups of Asians or only hearing Mandarin.  At many moments during this trip, I am reminded of being on the Skytrain or in Vancouver's Chinatown, and it feels strangely familiar. I'm not saying this to be humorous: it's really true. What I was NOT expecting was the sheer volume of people. Everywhere.

 

 I almost forgot to mention is that while we were waiting to get INTO the theater, there were lots of school students leaving the theater.  Their teachers were rushing around trying to get them organazed into lines, counting heads, etc. They were interested in us, these white Americans. Whispering to each other, some of them said "Hello" (in ENglish, to us, of course)  It's funny that most of them are wearing English slogans on their clothing. We just stood there grinning, waving back. At a certain point, I approached the girl in the red jacket with grey sleeves. She had a badge on her left upper arm sleeve that says "I AM NOT IN THE FASHION BUSINESS" I tapped on the badge and read it out loud, and then gave her a thumbs up. They giggled. Who is this man with the strange nose and greying spiked hair? 

I find that I'm looking at Chinese kids differently now. What will Anna look like now? What about when she's 9 or 15 or 30?  I used to think that most Chinese children looked all alike. But look at the difference in facial features among these kids. It's just fascinating!

We are getting ready to leave Beijing tomorrow (Sunday) to embark on our train ride to Taiyuann, the city where we will meet her. Michelle admits her stomach is in knots as we get closer to this momentous occasion.