Beijing Part 3

Lama Temple

After a busy first four days in China, we opted for a more relaxed pace on the fifth. After a later start and a large lunch, we headed to the Lama Temple. It was built in the late 17th Century by the Qing Dynasty as the residence of a prince. Once he became emperor, it was converted into a lamasery (a temple of Tibetan Buddhists), which is what it remains to this day. Many practicing Chinese Buddhists visit the temple on a regular basis. The entire complex smelled of incense, which is lit for ceremonial purposes. The smoke you see in the picture below is form the incense.

The architecture becomes more impressive as you walk along the axis of the temple complex towards the back. The final structure you reach is the one pictured below on the left. It houses a massive statue of Buddha that I sneaked a quick picture of.

Confucius Temple

Right across the street from the Lama Temple is the Confucius Temple, which was built to honor the most influential Eastern philosopher. Confucius is to the East what Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle combined are to the West. Confucianism is actually most deeply embedded in Korea because Mao sought to rid China of its influence when he came to power. That said, China is still a deeply Confucian society. Understanding Confucius can help you understand a lot about Asian culture, even why Asians tend to out perform Americans in school.

Confucius was born in 551 B.C. He was a teacher and an on-and-off adviser to many administrators and rulers. He emphasized the importance of studying because education could be a form of social mobility. He stressed that people should receive government positions based on merit, as opposed to heredity. Thus the harder you worked and the more you studied, the better position you deserved. Imperial China did not always work out that way, with its long ruling family dynasties, but the work ethic and obsession with studying stuck. Confucius also emphasized the correct roles that certain groups were supposed to play in society. Harmony could be achieved when each group performed their role without challenging the other groups. This meant natural inequality between the rulers and the people, children and parents, men and women, etc. You can see how this is not particularly compatible with Marxism, which is why Mao sought to diminish Confucian influence. Confucius also taught that rulers should be moral; he was a staunch opponent of corruption and coercion. He thought rulers should lead by example and help their subjects internalize a sense of right and wrong. According to Confucius, shame and sense of duty, not fear of punishment, should guide human actions.

The temple itself was not that impressive in comparison to the other sites we saw, but I really enjoyed learning about the history and philosophy of the influential thinker. Here are a couple pictures of the temple:

Massage

After visiting the temple we headed back to the hostel, but not before stopping at a massage parlor that Alvin had recommended to us earlier. There are plenty of options if you want a massage in Beijing, but this place looked very professional. The full-body massage lasted an hour and cost about $20 USD. It was performed in a candle-lit room and was extremely relaxing. We were all satisfied with the experience, and you certainly can't beat the value.

Drum and Bell Towers

We began the final day of the trip at the Drum and Bell Towers, which are right across from each other. The Drum Tower (right) has an hourly drum performance, but we missed it by about 5 minutes. We could hear the performance finishing as we approached the tower. We found out that they take a two hour break for lunch, so we couldn't stick around for the next one. The tower contains several different sized drums and that's about it. It was unfortunate that we missed the performance because everyone we talked to said it was very impressive. The Bell Tower (left) features a giant bell that was used to keep track of time in the imperial era.

Pandas

Growing up near the Toledo Zoo, which had pandas until recently, I assumed pandas were a staple of any reputable zoo. If they had them at a regional zoo like Toledo, I figured they had them at most major zoos. Apparently this is not the case. Ian and Kristy (our co-teachers from Canada) had never seen pandas, so we headed for the zoo. After an overpriced cab ride for which the driver had obviously rigged the meter, we arrived at the zoo. There are hoards of people around the glass looking into the panda area, so you have to fight your way just to catch a glimpse. I got one good picture of a panda by holding my camera over the masses and snapping a picture. Generally Asian zoos are a PETA member's worst nightmare. They throw three or four tigers in a 25 foot x 30 foot pit. The pandas, however, had more than enough room. In fact, all of the pandas sat within five feet of the zookeeper's door waiting for their next meal. All these animals do is eat and sleep. Some of the pandas had an entire pit to themselves, complete with a playground the monkeys would envy, yet all they did was sit by the door waiting for food.

One of the reasons pandas are becoming extinct, despite the best efforts of all kinds of activists, is that they are the only species that would rather eat than reproduce. Panda pornography is actually used to get them "in the mood". Here is a humorous example below:

Food

One of the best things about China was the food. I'd heard from many people that real Chinese food is nothing like American Chinese food. I found that some of the flavors were similar, but there were much fewer fried dishes, though we did find some. Also, in China you can find dishes with any animal part in them, so there are many dishes we avoided. Most of what we did eat though was delicious.

Food in China is so cheap, but instead of eating for next to nothing, we opted to feast for the price of a normal meal. Occasionally we would grab a quick lunch, but when we sat down we bought an entree for every person, fried rice, dumplings, vegetables, and maybe a soup. Above are two such feasts. On the right you may notice an untouched noodle dish that was called "noodles in potato sauce". We thought it was a low mein dish, but it actually was spaghetti and tomato sauce. It wasn't great, so we focused on the other dishes which had a more local flavor.

These are pictures from the Peking Duck dinner. They carve the duck up in front of your, giving you pieces of meat and fat. You eat the fat after dipping it in sugar; it melts in your mouth. You eat the meat by placing it on pancakes with spring onions, carrots, and sauce.

Left: Kung Pao Chicken. This was my favorite dish. It is from the Sichuan region of China and contains peanuts, peppers, and onions. It was much better than the Kung Pao Chicken in the US. Right: Dumplings; very yummy.

We also had hotpot, which was similar to the shabu shabu we had in Japan. You dip meats and vegetables in boilings both, then eat. The dish originated in Mongolia, then spread to China when the Mongols ruled. There were such an array of dishes because China is a very ethnically diverse country. The Han Chinese are the largest group by far, but there are many minority groups. China also has a sizable Muslim community, resulting in some delicious lamb dishes with a Middle Eastern flavor.

Now for the not-so-appetizing dishes. The Wangfujing snack street was really close to our hostel. It featured some good looking snacks, like noodles, interspersed with some of the most exotic snacks in the world. I could not bring myself to try any of them. To the right are sheep testicle skewers.

Centipedes and Snakes. Yum!

Scorpions too. There were a lot of humorous Engrish signs on menus too. I did not have any pee beef ball soup.

The most exotic thing I did try was donkey. It actually tasted okay, but it didn't have any sauce on it, and was kind of dry. That's all for China. It was a great trip and I had a lot of fun. I only got to see Beijing though, so I will have to go back to the country for another trip eventually.