Street Performer off WangFuJing

Just recently I was scanning through the videos we had taken during various times in Beijing and came across an interesting one (not great quality unfortunately — the evening we took the video we had just a small pocket digital camera with us which had basic video functions). That evening friends of ours and us went out for dinner in the Pacific Plaza Mall (near the intersection of JianGuo Avenue and WangFuJing) and after dinner decided to take a stroll in the area. We ended up in one of the backstreets (near the night food market) selling the usual small eats and trinkets but we also came upon a stage where amateurs performed various Beijing Opera acts….. So if you are interested in that, this could be an easy area to get to and spend some time checking out the various performers — apparently they are different each evening….Here is a short video of what we saw and heard:
Beijing Opera Performer off WangFuJing in Beijing

Looking back in history and current economic data

January 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of official diplomatic relationship between China and the US. In light of this anniversary I thought it will be good to bring in some interesting links about the recent history in the relationship between the two countries, as well as comparison data on statistics….

First a link to a summary on Nixon’s historic visit to China

Then if you want to really look way back into history, use the US Department of State good chronology - it goes back to 1784!

The US Embassy in Beijing has a brief look at the last 30 years here

And finally, I thought that the comparison statistics published in a March 19, 2007 issue of TIME magazine will show a good view of the current development of China (using the same statistics for the US as a reference). The image below shows the comparison. (It was also published by China Today also using the Time magazine data)
Interesting comparison…..

Of course what this table does not show is how the numbers (statistics) will look if we were to do that same comparison but for two sections of China’s economy - the prosperous coastal regions and cities (e.g. Shenzhen, Shanghai, Qingdao, Xiamen….) and Beijing vs. the Western (less developed although currently a focus for investment for the Chinese government) provinces….. Will look for such data in the coming weeks and see how the story may change.

At any rate, Happy New Year and hopefully this brief compilation of data points and links to historic events will help you discover some missing info (from your knowledge) about China and the US-China relations.

Warning–Be Careful Changing Money at the Beijing Airport

On my recent trip to Beijing in October 2008, I needed to change a small amount of money at the airport in order to pay for transportation into town to my hotel. This was my first time changing money at the airport, so I didn’t want to change a large amount of money as I was wary of the exchange rates. As it turns out, I was right to be wary as not only was the exchange rate considerably lower than that offered at my hotel and at the local banks (6.65 versus 6.75) but I was charged a flat 50 yuan fee to change money–a fact I only realized considerably after the fact as I was befuddled from my long airplane journey. As I had only changed $20 USD, I should have received 133 yuan even at the poor exchange rate of 6.65. However, I only got 83 yuan back–an effective exchange rate of 4.15 RMD to 1 USD. Once I realized what had happened, I was far past the currency exchange booth and it was too late to go back. On my return journey to the airport, I saw a similar currency exchange booth. This one had a reasonably prominent sign stating that a 60 yuan fee (even more than the 50 yuan I had paid) was charged for all currency transactions. Perhaps the place where I had so disastrously changed money had also had a sign, but I was too sleep-deprived to see it. At any rate, be cautious when changing money at the airport. ATMs may be a much better way to go.

Beijing Subway - an Update

The Yikatong, or One Card Pass
Upon arrival in Beijing, in October of 2008, I decided to purchase a subway pass, called Yikatong, or one card pass, in Mandarin, to make my subway journeys more convenient.

A Yikatong costs 40 yuan upfront–20 yuan of which is stored subway ticket credit (the equivalent of of 10 one way trips) and 20 yuan of which is a deposit. (I had read that you were supposed to be able to get the 20 yuan deposit back if you turned the card back in, but the lady I bought mine from did not think this was the case.) At any rate, once you have purchased a yikatong, you can add credit to it in 10 yuan (or 5 trip) increments. It is definitely a time savings to use a yikatong, rather than purchasing a one way ticket each time. However, one complaint about the yikatong is that it doesn’t have a map of the subway system on it, as the regular one-use subway tickets do. In fact, as far as I could tell, there are no paper subway maps available at the subway stations at all–just the large maps painted on the walls.

If you are going to be using the Beijing subway system, I would recommend printing out one of the maps available on the internet–I found some quite good ones available at the following links

Metro Map of Beijing (English (PinYin) and Chinese)

Another Beijing Subway Map (English Only)

A Visit to the Malian Dao Tea Street Market in Beijing

On the first day of my recent trip to Beijing, I decided to take the afternoon and visit the Malian Dao Tea Street Market in the southwest corner of Beijing. This fascinating market stocks a dizzying array of Chinese tea and tea accessories and is a cultural experience in itself. There are a large number of stores in this area, but the one that my daughter and I went to was a four story edifice that houses a multitude of small vendors. The first floor is crammed with hundreds of small tea stalls, primarily selling loose leaf tea but also stocking teapots, tea leaf storage canisters, tea cups, etc. The second and third floors replicate the more crowded first floor, although the price seems to go up as you ascend to the upper levels. (The fourth floor doesn’t appear to sell tea at all, but has unrelated stores and perhaps a restaurant—I’m not sure!) On this visit, I concentrated on the first floor and ended up buying 6 pounds of loose leaf tea—four pounds of jasmine tea and two of green tea. The tea was remarkably reasonably priced at about $8.50 per pound and it was very good quality. Of course the initial selling price was around three times as much, but that is to be expected in a Chinese market. The obligatory bargaining was good practice for my scheduled visit the next day to the Hongqiao Pearl Market to buy jewelry for my online store Chinafinds.

Buying Murano Style Glass Jewelry in the Silk Street Market in Beijing

When I was in the Silk Street Market in Beijing last month buying some stock for my online jewelry store, Chinafinds, I noticed that there were a number of stalls selling beautiful Murano / Venetian style glass jewelry. There was no attempt to pass it off as ‘genuine Murano glass’ or ‘authentic Venetian glass’ as it was very clearly made in China. It would be hard to imagine importing the genuine art glass from Italy and selling it in a Beijing market anyway!

At any rate, the quality of many of the items that I saw was quite good and the prices were much, much lower than those of the real Italian Murano glass items that I have seen. I had seen Chinese Murano style glass jewelry in the markets in previous years, but the amount was smaller and the quality was not nearly as good. Clearly, the Chinese manufacturers are perfecting their techniques.

Buying Cloisonne Jewelry at Hongqiao Pearl Market in Beijing

Still on Day 2 of my recent trip to Beijing—my daughter and I headed back to Hongqiao Pearl Market after lunch and a bathroom break at the hotel (for those of you who have never had the pleasure of visiting Beijing, a visit to the hotel bathroom is generally infinitely preferable to using the (un)sanitary facilities when one is out and about!). This time, we were in search of cloisonné jewelry. Like cinnabar, cloisonné is an ancient Chinese decorative art. To create cloisonné, wires are first arranged on the item to be decorated in the desired design and then the spaces in between are filled with successive layers of colored enamel. Finally, the item is fired and polished. Cloisonne can be used to create decorative plates, bowls and ornaments as well as jewelry, but today we were only interested in its jewelry applications.

The large central area of the third floor of the Hongqiao Pearl Market is devoted to pearls and to get to the place where cloisonné, cinnabar and other traditional handicrafts are sold, you have to go to the far back reaches of the floor. There you will find a multitude of items other than cinnabar and cloisonne—wood carvings, rugs, stone carvings, Christmas ornaments, Chinese seals (chops), decorative boxes, glass spheres with carvings inside them, hairpins, writing pens, writing brushes, ink sticks, wall hangings and more! Bargaining is, of course, essential. We finally found a few places selling good quality cloisonné bracelets. One of the vendors, who was selling cloisonné of higher quality than those in the neighboring stalls, was particularly informative about the different quality levels of cloisonné. She showed us the difference between cloisonné items that were lighter weight and had a rougher texture and those that were heavier and had a smoother, more polished texture. From what I understood of her explanation in Chinese, the former used a less expensive four-step process in its manufacture and the latter used a lengthier and pricier six-step process. I may not have understood her all that clearly, but I was impressed with the quality of the items I purchased from her. There was clearly a difference between the two types of cloisonné and the six-step process simply produced a higher quality product. We purchased both cloisonné bangle bracelets and hand-knotted cloisonné bead necklaces from her and then returned back to the hotel to collapse in our comfortable room.

Buying Cinnabar Jewelry at the Hongqiao Pearl Market in Beijing

On Day 2 of my recent trip to Beijing, I rose early from my comfortable bed at the Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven, urged on by my nine year old daughter who was worried that we would miss out on all the good stuff at the complimentary breakfast buffet if we didn’t arrive sufficiently early. After quick showers and a long breakfast (the breakfast buffet really was quite tasty and all the good stuff wasn’t gone!), my daughter and I got into a taxi and headed over to the Hongqiao Pearl Market.

The market is located right beside the beautiful Temple of Heaven, so it is quite convenient to do both of them in one day. However, we had already had several pleasant outings at the Temple of Heaven in the past, and today only shopping was on our agenda. We entered the Hongqiao Pearl Market through a side entrance as it appears to be undergoing some sort of construction facelift, leaving the front entrance not easily accessible, and went straight to the jewelry section. To do this, we had to march determinedly past the first floor vendors selling scarves and knickknacks and electronic equipment, evade the second floor vendors as they tried to sell us shoes, clothing, luggage and purses, and go right up to the third floor where all the jewelry is. This morning, our objective was jewelry made from carved cinnabar. Cinnabar jewelry has an interesting history; originally, it was made from a tree sap lacquer that was colored by the beautiful but toxic mineral cinnabar (otherwise known as mercury sulfide). The resulting red lacquer was painted onto an item in multiple coats, letting the item dry between each coat, and then the resulting layers of lacquer were carved by artisans in decorative patterns. Obviously it wasn’t known at the time that the mineral cinnabar was dangerous and any poisoning that resulted was probably low level enough never to be noticed. Today, Chinese cinnabar products contain no actual cinnabar—the classic red color associated with cinnabar is provided by a harmless red dye.

Cinnabar jewelry, our objective of the morning, comes in many forms. One of the most common is the cinnabar bangle bracelet. Carved with a variety of traditional Chinese designs, these bracelets come in various widths and sizes. Some aren’t even red—I encountered pure black cinnabar bracelets on this visit for the first time. There are also cinnabar bead necklaces, cinnabar pendant necklaces, and cinnabar earrings. My daughter and I managed to buy a good quantity of each type of cinnabar jewelry and came back to the hotel laden with loot. Our next objective would be cloisonné, but that could wait until after lunch!

Watch Out for a New Scam — this one organized by “clever” taxi driver

Well, when you thought you have finally mastered the various forms in which you might be taken to the cleaners by a clever taxi driver, here is a new one I had not thought is possible — China Daily reported on a weird way to steal — by having an accomplice (to the cab driver) hidden in the trunk of the cab.

According to the report, the cab driver took the unsuspecting passenger on board and only a few minutes after taking off from the airport, informed the passenger that he got an urgent call and needs to head back…. The “helpful” driver found another cab and transfered the passenger’s luggage….It all seemed good until that passenger found out (later on while at home) that her laptop computer was gone — per the report, the police investigation determined that the rogue cab driver had an accomplice hidden in the trunk of the car. While the vehicle was on its way, that person searched through the luggage and removed valuables…

So on your next taxi ride, pay attention and watch carefully what the driver is doing.

Beijing Botanical Gardens and WoFu Temple

In the cold winter days of Beijing it is good to remember the nice sunny weather of the summer — that is when I remembered about our visits to the Beijing Botanical Garden. The Garden is located near the West Hills in a nice wooded part of the city outskirts. It is a nice place to escape in the summer as the garden itself has plenty of greenery, nice walk through fountains and plenty of interesting plants to see. The complete Garden is comprised of:

• The Ornamental Plant Section
• Rose Garden
• Ornamental Peach Garden
• Tree Peony Garden
• Herbaceous Peony Garden
• Lilac Garden
• Crabapple and Cotoneaster Garden
• Magnolia Garden
• Bamboo Garden
• Perennial Garden
• Aquatic Garden
• Mume Flower Garden
• Arboretum
• Acer-Rosa Section + Coniferous Section + Tilia-Populus Section + Magnolia-Berberis Section + some other ones we did not see
• and Glasshouses
• Tropical and Subtropical conservatories
• Here you can find also examples of Chinese Penjing — which includes Tree Penjing (also known in the west as bonsai), Water & Land penjing and Landscape penjing. Essentially all these forms of art are focused on recreating parts of a landscape in a very scaled down format. Some of the trees grown in those landscapes are over 100 years old — quite an accomplishment indeed! I must point out also that the art of penjing also has geographical / regional aspects. I did not quite see all different types but from what I understood from some exhibits, there are essentially Penjing styles in pretty much most provinces of China - e.g. Jiangsu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Beijing, Fujian, Yangzhou, Anhui, Zhonzhou, and EVEN a Taiwan style.
• Another interesting part of the Botanical Garden is the WoFu Temple - also known as the Temple of the Sleeping Buddha.

At any rate, you should plan a visit to the Gardens, and spend a day among beautiful trees as well as surrounded by colorful Chinese Halls in the WoFu temple.

You can see some images from both the Garden and WoFu temple in the Photo Album area of the blog. (Scroll to the area labeled Beijing Botanical Garden and WoFu Temple)