Address Change

Hola,amigos. I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but I've had my ... oh, wait, I'm not Jim Anchower from The Onion. Anyway, I've recently changed my abode, and I am now living in a different residence from the one into which I originally moved in August. The address in the original post has been changed to reflect the current situation.

I'll post again soon -- much has happened in the last 3.5 weeks.

Llamasery's Not The Right Word

Hello, everyone! I went to another historical site today: Yonghe Gong, the famous Tibetan 'Lamasery' in Beijing. I wish I could go to another famous site tomorrow, but I've got too much studying to do. Before I talk about that, I need to mention that I saw someone with a BlackBerry device yesterday. I learnt that the device had been purchased in England, but that the device was considered by the person who purchased it to be the most reliable and robust of the phones available, even if it's a bit thicker than other phones. Kudos!

My Gretag-Macbeth Colour Checker was unhappy about being forgotten in my room yesterday when I went to Yuanming Yuan, so I was told to bring him to Yonghe Gong. Today I had planned to meet Ali, a good friend of mine from Waterloo who is teaching in another part of Haidian district, at 9:00 for that we could arrive early and perhaps avoid crowds. Because of some miscommunication on my part,we didn't meet until after 10:30. I'm sorry for the trouble Ali had; I, however, was given time to write a few post cards which I'll be able to post on Monday. While I awaited Ali's arrival, I had to use the washroom. While I was washing my hands, I saw a wonderful sign above the sink.

Why is this man so happy?

Ah, I understand, now

Ali in front of the main gate

Me, my paunch, and the Gretag-Macbeth Colour Checker

I've got a few things to say about Tibetan Buddhism, and also about this 'lamasery'. I would like to follow Donald Lopez's lead on this by decomposing my account into seven sections mirroring those in his book Prisoners Of Shangri-La, but I am afraid that I have little to say about several sections.

The Name
Okay, let me set a few things straight. Firstly, the compound has the name Yonghe Gong because it was once the palace of the Qing-dynasty prince-who-became-emperor Yongzheng. After he became emperor, he turned his palace (his 'gong') into a Tibetan temple. Secondly, the term 'lamasery' is a bit of a misnomer because not all monastics in the Tibetan tradition are lamas, and my understanding is that not all lamas are monastics. Of course, they should not be confused with those hairy mammals from South America, the name of which has been corrupted in its anglicised form to be homophonous to 'lama'.

The outsides of the buildings are really beautiful; I didn't have a chance to see their insides, for the most part. The buildings of which I saw the insides were filled with ash from the large amount of incense burnt.

The Spell
Ali and I saw some large prayer wheels at different parts of the temple. Many prayer wheels have mantras printed on the outside (and on the inside); most have 'om mani padme hum', the exact meaning of which has been debated for centuries. For a great exposition on this topic, I highly recommend Lopez's Prisoners Of Shangri-La (ISBN 0-226-49311-3).

The first westerner thought to have encountered that term was a Dutch Franciscan monk whose anglicised name is William of Rubruck, when he visited Mongke Khan's court at Shangtu (Xanadu, Shangdu 上都). His romanisation was 'o mani baccam', and he was told that it meant something akin to giving praise to God. Other westerners who had early encounters with Tibetan Buddhism include Marco Polo and a Jesuit named Ippolito Desideri. In his book, Desideri gave a limited account of the Chinese invasion of Lhasa in 1721, which marked the end of his five-year stay in Tibet. His account of Tibetan Buddhist religious practices is top-notch, and was remarkably dispassionate for his time.

The Gretag-Macbeth Colour Checker, being a man of his own, insisted on having his photo taken with one of the prayer wheels, so I consented.

Om Mac Beth Hum

The Art
I saw a sinicised statue of Maitreya, the buddha of the next age, in the first building which I entered, along with a number of other sinicised Buddhist icons. I found neither the bronze statue of Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Gelukpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, nor the statue carved from a single piece of sandalwood of Maitreya. I was tired of trying to push my way through buildings (we arrived quite late in the morning), so I may take another trip in the future to see these statues.

Wrap-up

Although I was a bit disappointed with my visit today, that stems largely from my lack of success in finding the two things I wanted to see. The only other disappointing thing was seeing persons who were trying to throw money into a device, almost as if it were a wishing-well combined with a machine at an amusement park. I hope that I shall be able to return and see the image of Tsong Khapa and the sandalwood Maitreya.

Some visitors trying to ring some changes with some pocket-change

Other visitors throwing money, as in a game

Thus Spake Avalokitesvara

Another Historic Site, Another Visit To Shuang An

Hello, everyone. Today, I went to Yuanming Yuan with Xuanying, Huizhen, Olov, and Said, an Uzbeki classmate of ours. Before I report on that, however, I have a few updates on a couple of things upon which I have previously reported.

Update#1: Plastic Bottles
When I first reported that I met Ali, I mentioned that an old woman seemed to be looking for water. I have since discovered (a long time ago, in fact) that this woman actually wanted the empty bottle. All around, especially on my campus, elderly folk can be seen rooting through garbage cans for recyclable bottles which they are able to return for a refund. The food service persons who clean the tables in the cafeteria lurk almost as vultures, waiting for the last few drops from a two-litre bottle of tea or pop to be drained, after which they ask 'do you want to keep that?'. Bizarre.

Update #2: The Lady In Pink
I went yesterday to meet Ali where I have customarily met him since we both arrived in Beijing. I arrived early, partly because I wished to ensure that I would arrive on-time (the walk to this meeting place takes approximately forty minutes, and I had planned a route which was new to me), but I also wanted to scout the area, and perhaps either write some post cards or do some studying. Because I forgot my post cards in my dorm room, I was reduced to studying and studying the local fauna.

Lo and behold, I saw again the Lady In Pink (another part of my entry regarding my first meeting in Beijing with Ali). She was still wearing pink (different clothing this time) and still asking something of almost exclusively individual women. This time, I saw that some persons did speak to her, and she handed each of them either a business card, a small flyer of some sort, or both. I saw exclusively one man speak to her, and the rest were women walking individually.

The Lady In Pink seems to have confederates of some sort. When I first saw her a month ago, she seemed to be working alone. I saw her speak to another woman, who I saw speak to another woman, in turn. The other two women approached both individuals and groups, but all who were approached are women. In fact, no foreign-looking persons were approached, although I have to admit that I don't remember seeing any foreign-looking women travelling singly. As previously, she simply disappeared at 17:30. This merits further investigation, I think.

Basketball
I forgot to tell all y'all exactly how much basketball is loved on this campus. When I first arrived, the sound of bouncing basketballs could be heard from my room from 6:00 until after midnight. Now that the evenings are becoming cooler, one may hear them now only until 23:30.

Shopping With The Girls
Another thing which I forgot to mention is that I went shopping with Cheryl and Courtney last week, on Wednesday. After most of our shopping was done (I served again as a man-bag/purse), we had pedicures. I am secure enough in my masculinity to tell you that my feet have not looked better, except as a newborn. :)

Trip To Wal-Mart
On my way to meeting Ali, I stumbled upon one of Beijing's two Wal-Mart outlets. Apart from the absence of McDonald's, it really does look like Wal-Mart in North America.

Gift From Florence
Before she went to Taiwan and Japan for a World Youth Conference for the Buddha's Light Youths, I asked Florence to purchase on my behalf, in Japan, some maccha. Maccha is a powdered tea, but it is most definitely not an instant tea. The powder is made by roasting tea leaves and then grinding them into an incredibly fine powder. To prepare the tea, one adds really hot water and whisks the powder so that the tea is a suspension. Yum yum! :D Anyway, Florence forgot to bring the tea with her from Mississauga when she and others visited me in Waterloo shortly before I left town. Typically of Florence, she refused to take any money for it, and instead turned it into a gift for my birthday. She sent it to me here on-campus; I'm pleased to report that it arrived safely. I haven't yet had a chance to prepare any yet, but I shall do so soon.

Mark 'Dashan' Rowswell
A poster featuring the most famous Canadian in China, Mark Rowswell, caught my eye and lured my into an electronics cum book store. He's currently hawking some sort of electronic PDA and multilingual dictionary. Dashan's got a really interesting signature which is a play on the 'shan' part of his Chinese name ('shan' is 'mountain'). I'm quite interested in meeting him some time, although I suspect that I'm not currently important enough to do so. :D

After browsing the electronics, I went to look at the books. Many of the books were for preparing for various English examinations. One section in the area on computers caught my eye: 'Assembly Language And Compile The Principle'. One of the sections in 'Science' was 'Biosciuence'; this word had manifold reproductions.

Yuanming Yuan
As I mentioned previously, five of us went today to Yuanming Yuan. As with Yihe Yuan, we took the 726 bus, which passes right by our campus, and costs 2 kuai to ride (approximately 28 Canadian cents). Silly me, I thought to economise on what I was bringing, so I left my bag in my dorm room. As a result, I forgot the colour checker. I guess I'm going to have to return to Yuanming Yuan.

Five adventurers: Huizhen, Olov, Xuanying, Said, and me

I love willows

Nice bridge

Cool stone stairs

After making the mistake early in our trip of going to a place at which Chinese painting and calligraphy were being 'exhibited' (see an earlier post), we hired a boat to take us to another part of the Park. The Park itself is composed of three historically separate parks.

The type of boat upon which we rode

The architecture of the parks was designed in the fashion of many different styles of architecture, from all around the world. One of the designers was Jesuit Castiglione, who was played on television by Mark 'Dashan' Rowswell. The collection of architectures there is reputed to have been unrivalled in all the world.

During the Second Opium War, all of the parks were destroyed by the united European forces in order to demonstrate that China really had no choice about entering the 19th century. All of the parks are now collectively known by the name Yuanming Yuan, which was originally the name of one of the three.

While we were travelling on our hired boat, I was hit by a wave of melancholy and I pondered how far we've really come as a species. I couldn't help but think of all of the wonderful works, which took decades to create, and how little time (a couple of days) we took to destroy them. Victor Hugo reportedly described it as one of the greatest tragedies in history. I'm reminded of Percy Bysshe Shelley's 'Ozymandias'.

'My name is Ozymandias, King Of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair'

I have decided to call this Travesty #1.

Travesty #1, part 1

Travesty #1, part 2

According to Frommer's Beijing, the government is being stymied by locals who don't want a full restoration of the garden. One of the things the park has now is the feel of an amusement park. Some of the boats on the water remove the feel of whatever majesty was left in the park, and have replaced it with cheap plastic. I call this Travesty #2.

Travesty #2, part 1

Travesty #2, part 2

The name says it all

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Return Of The Son Of Dirty Laundry Blues, Trips To Historic Sites, And Engrish

Strong enough for Balding Great Wall, but made for wireless networks

Hello, everyone. I'm sorry that I've not posted anything throughout the last two weeks. I've been quite busy with my studies. Since my last posting, I have visited two historic sites and, more than anything else, I want to share some photos of these places (and the signs I've seen there) with all of you. Unlike during the preceding weeks, nothing earth-shattering happened to me; I'm quite thankful for that. While I'm writing this, however, I'm experiencing more problems with the laundry machine. Enh.

Badaling Great Wall
On 23 October, Cheryl and I visited Badaling Great Wall, a site approximately one hour's drive outside of Beijing. This is the first of a series of (approximately) monthly trips organised by the school for long-term international students. A large number of my classmates went, as well, and I encountered many of them throughout the day. We spent two hours climbing up and down the wall, which really is quite steep in places. I recommend that those who are not in good shape work-out at the gym for a couple of weeks before attempting to climb along this part of the Great Wall. I can't imagine how difficult the Great Wall Marathon is going to be for Dean and another of my classmates, Olov, a Swede who is one of my class's most talented and hard-working students.

Here's a nice photo of Cheryl. It's nice not because I snapped the shot, but because she framed it. She used to work for a wedding photographer in Toronto, so she rapidly developed a good eye for placing persons in settings. If I were less lazy, I might crop the photo for to centre the arch.

Cheryl, relaxing after a steep section of wall


A section of Great Wall which was too busy for us


An as-yet-unrestored portion of the Great Wall


The Gretag-Macbeth Colour Checker at Badaling Great Wall

Here's a photo of a cool guy named Matt. He did a Ph. D. at Harvard in Biotech, and he was, until recently, a student at BLCU. He got a good job at a biotech research company in Beijing, and decided to withdraw from school. However, before he withdrew, he had already registered for the trip, and so he had a ticket.

It's a smiling Matt! Isn't he cute?


Is this the kind of Bactrian used in yoghurt?


Another fine example of Engrish


And another



Yet another


Only the finest ingredients are used here

Bad Engrish
Conchita and I had lunch and went shopping on the day after the trip to the part of the Great Wall Which Is Losing Its Hair. She was the only one of us intending to make purchases, so I served as her 'man-bag/purse'. While we were shopping, I noticed some wonderful Britesh Engrish. Is Conchita as innocent as she looks, or is she really abetting the abuse of a camera to photograph some heinous uses of the English alphabet?

It's a smiling Conchita! Isn't she cute?

Let's get a closer look at that logo, shall we?

China's National Day
01 October is China's National Day. On 01 October 1949, Mao Zedong declared in Tiananmen Square the official founding of the People's Republic Of China, while the Guomindang was fleeing to Taiwan. Olov and a friend of his went to see the flag-raising ceremony on 01 October, but I decided to sleep-in because I'd had a bit of a cold. According to Olov, it wasn't particluarly interesting. I had lunch with Cheryl, Conchita, and Linda, who is a friend from Waterloo, and who is also a sister-in-law of my master's thesis supervisor, Steve. She is currently in Beijing visiting her parents, who live in Beijing's Chaoyang District.

Later in the day, I met someone who has since become a language partner for me, Xiaoying. She attends another university in Beijing, but she is originally from Lanzhou, the world's capital for factories. According to author Peter Wessler in his book 'Oracle Bones' (which I highly recommend), if you've got something which was manufactured in China, it was probably manufactured in Lanzhou. At least, that's one thing which I think he wrote. Anyway, she seems far more promising than SMS Girl, and far more interesting, to boot.

Yihe Yuan
Today, five of us went to Yihe Yuan to see some of the more famous structures in Beijing. Dean, Olov, a Korean classmate of mine whose Chinese name is Huizhen, and her Korean roommate, whose Chinese name is Xuanying. At one point, after a walk along the 728-metre-long Long Corridor, and approximately an hour after we arrived, we rented a motorised boat with which we could navigate Kunming Lake. We travelled throughout an hour, and saw the famous Marble Boat, the purchase of which bankrupted the (already shattered) Chinese Navy when Dowager Empress Cixi commissioned its construction. We also visited the Tower Of Buddhist Incense, in which I saw a statue of Avalokitesvara.

We had much fun, but we were all pooped by the time we left Yihe Yuan.

It's a smiling Xuanying, Huizhen, and me. Aren't we cute?

Girls

And boys

The Gretag-Macbeth Colour Checker at Yihe Yuan

The Gretag-Macbeth Colour Checker with the Marble Boat

A majestic view

I have to admit that the toilet is an important site

The meaning of this is probably not at all obvious to most speakers of English

Does this mean that persons who need wheelchairs can come hither for healing?

Is someone able to tell me exactly what I am allowed to do?

An ad for a deck of playing cards

This place apparently uses different ingredients from what are used at Badaling Great Wall

This reminds me of LLAP-Goch