MY CHINA DIARY II - World Association of Soil and Water ...

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was a Friday, so most people have finished their weekly job and wanted to relax. As a result all the entertainmentvenues were full.I asked Dandan to suggest what local entertainment may suit such situation. Then she took me to see the Chinesefilm Red Cliff at a cinema in a shopping mall on the east side of the city. This was only part 1 of the movie, whilepart 2 will be released in October. Fortunately, there were English subtitles, so I could understand it to someextent and I realized it was a good movie. One thing was shown clearly; the troop (in the movie) used the turtleshell battle strategy that Alexander the Great devised more than 23 centuries ago and could conquer enemy troopsagain and again.We parted at a train station on Line 2 close to her home, where she stayed with her auntie. We promised to meetagain in the future and will find a way to attend a performing art of our choice.July 19, this was to be my last day in Beijing; I would take a train to Dalian on the east coast this evening. My oldfriend Wang Zhaoyan came to meet me at 9.00 AM, announcing she had got her Ph.D. in Forest Ecology fromBeijing Forestry University yesterday. I congratulated her with one light hug. Chinese ladies can be more reservedin the way they greet a person of the opposite sex, by comparison with the situation in the west. People who havespent sometime in the west may behave differently. The first time I met Zhaoyan at the 2002 ISCO conference,she was a student recruited to assist the organisers in performing various activities. I met her again in 2004, in2006 and 2007.Zhaoyan came with the same car and driver that we had benefited from over the last two years. Today we plannedto go to 2-3 places in Beijing; the first one was obviously the Bird Nest. The car left us near the Dragon Building(Bangkok has Elephant Building, not far from my house). We crossed the pedestrian bridge to the other side andwalked along the hurricane fence to see at least two sides of the stadium. They had security people guarding thearea tightly. There were many people coming to walk in the direction of the entrance. We walked around for alittle more than half an hour, took many photos and got into the car that came to fetch us at the end of thepathway. Photos below show something of the Olympic stadium and people around it, mostly Chinese. ThisOlympic stadium has really attracted a lot of people and will remain popular even after this great athletic eventhas passed.From left: The Dragon Building, close to the Olympic stadium; Tourists looking at the Bird Nest stadium, the main stadium for the 29Olympiad; Me with Wang Zhaoyan; A security personnel guarding the Olympic stadium; Wang Zhaoyan in front of the Olympic stadium(inset: a lovely Hibiscus flower found nearby; Young students asking questions of foreign visitors about their attitude towards Beijing, andespecially the arrangement of the Olympics; Tourists gather in front of the entrance gate; A tourist guide leading her customers outside thehurricane fence that guards the Olympic stadium area.From the Bird Nest, Zhaoyan brought me to the Dongyue Temple ● Beijing Folk Custom Museum, located at141 Dongyuemiao, Chaowaidajie, Chaoyang District, Beijing.16th
According to the description at the temple: The temple was first built by Taoist monks in the 6 th year of the Yanyoureign period of Yuan Dynasty in 1319. The Dongyue Temple occupied an area of more than 6 hectares (15 acres),with 376 rooms during its prime. Only 500 m east of Chaoyangmen subway station, it is in the center of thebusiest part of Beijing, the temple is the largest in north China of the Zhengyi school of Daoism. Now it is one ofNational Key Cultural Relics Protection Units in addition to the Beijing’s most delightful scenic spots.In history, the Dongyue Temple was built for offering sacrifice to gods or ancestors on a national scale. Thesacred folk celebrations are more splendid, and now the Dongyue Temple, a valuable cultural and historicheritage site becomes the cultural activity center of profound cultural backgrounds in terms of folk custom. Afterits restoration, it is used as the Beijing Folk Custom Museum.Beijing Folk Custom Museum is the only one in Beijing that can hold national exhibitions focusing on folkcustoms.From the very beginning, many large fairs regarding folk customs of old Beijing were held here. Every SpringFestival, as well as other traditional festivals like the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-autumn Festival (15 th day ofthe 8 th lunar month), and the Double Ninth Festival, people gathered in the temple to celebrate various wonderfulfolk activities.The Dongyue Temple ● Beijing Folk Custom Museum is a window for you to know and to understand Beijing.From left: The principal stele of the Dongyue Temple; A guard of the Temple gate; These red tapes are put on the fence of a tree for goodluck; Plan of the Temple ground; Me at a large stele that has an animal figure under it; A gate under the false acacia, Robiniapseudoacacia, which is in full bloom everywhere in Beijing and its environs (this street has the largest number of trees in the capital city);The main temple building; A collection of steles; Wang Zhaoyan in an upstairs corridor of the folk museum.A local restaurant where we had lunch; Flowers of Robinia pseudoacacia tree, blooming on Beijing streets; Map of Beijing Badachu ParkIn the afternoon we drove across a large plain west of Beijing towards the mountains. After having had lunch at asmall village restaurant, we went to Beijing Badachu Park, which is a popular place for people to stroll up anddown the hill. There are as many as nine temples along the way. Zhaoyan and I walked happily up and up as thetime passed.17
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Page 4 and 5: From left: Young Hong Xiuquan plowi
Page 6 and 7: Before reaching Beijing the train r
Page 8 and 9: From left: National Center for Inte
Page 10 and 11: In addition, there were some 30+ po
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Page 14 and 15: Doug Wimble, Geeta Shrestha Vaidya
Page 18: From left: The main gate of the Bei

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