Beijing Day Three

Our last full day in Beijing began with a trip to Beijing University, or Bei Da as the locals call it. It is said to be the Harvard of China. Though it has only been around since 1898, it is the premier liberal arts college in China. We attended a lecture by the man below. He is 87 years old and one of the leading experts and practitioners of Chinese calligraphy. He demonstrated his technique for us and showed us famous examples of his work.
If you look carefully at the picture below you can see an interesting juxtaposition. (AP students, do you know what that means?) This photo was taken at a lake on the university campus. If you click on the picture you can clearly see a pagoda that is several hundred years old next to a coal plant smoke stack. More on air quality later.

After lunch at the university, which had many European and American students, we drove to the nearby Summer Palace, a place where the emperor would escape the heat and stench of Beijing during the summer months. In fact, Beijing University is on land that was once part of the Summer Palace complex. Above is the Tower of Buddha Incense. This photo was taken about 2 in the afternoon , and we all started to notice that the air was becoming smoggy. I was ready to praise Beijing and its air quality because every other day has been clear and sunny. However, on this Friday afternoon we had very limited visibility and our throats became irritated because of the bad air.

After we left the Summer Palace, which was a very beautiful but crowded place, we drove past the Olympic sites in Beijing proper. Please notice how bad the air quality is. I was only a few hundred yards away from the Bird's Nest and could barely see it. The Water Cube, of Phelps Arena as we Americans like to call it, was almost impossible to see even though it was right next to the stadium. The Cube was not lit up like you saw during the Olympics, and my view was blocked by the smog and some trees, so I did not take a picture.

Finally, after a Peking Duck dinner, which was pretty tasty, I ventured to a side street market and took the picture all of you were waiting to see. That's right, you can eat deep fried starfish, scorpion, seahorse, or silk worm on stick. They also have so sea snake, or so I am told, but I did not run across it this evening. In case you are wondering, no I did not partake of these rare "delicacies" but a few members of our group munched on a seahorse or two. Salty, tough, and crunchy is how they described it. Someone videoed that particular taste test. If I get a copy, I will post it for you.

Tomorrow, we visit a hutong, one of the old style Beijing nieghborhoods. Then we catch a plane to Japan. I imagine their internet hookups will be even better so I should have no trouble continuing my blog.

Chuck Newell
Beijing
10/17/08