Today I took a day off. So now weblog.

Till tomorrow!

In Europe we have the Gorge du Verdon but then of course the Americans have their Grand Canyon which is much deeper and wider. Do we have a desert in Spain, then the Americans have of course their much bigger desert in Nevada. Do we still have some old and big trees left, then in California there are the much older and taller sequoia’s. It cannot be helped, in America it’s often bigger, higher and deeper. However, without any doubt they can say in China that they have the biggest culture market.
This morning we visited the Panjiayuan market, indeed a huge where each day a few thousand merchants offer an unbelievable variety of curiosities to about 50.000 visitors. Art, well, should it always be called like that? Antiques, well, keep your eyes wide open. Real silver, be very careful. But it is an experience not to be missed! It was really interesting to see the many stalls with communist memorabilia from the time of Mao: posters, photo’s, old newspapers, everything out of this time seems worthwhile to collect nowadays. The Great Leader himself was never far away. Somewhere we saw a big poster of him, consisting out of three pieces, rolled out on the filthy floor for a customer and held down by a considerable number of his Red Book. In times not yet too far away this way of treatment of his image probably was not appreciated very much.
You can stroll here for hours without a dull moment, have a look at the traditional Chinese art on paper and the fakes of paintings of now world famous modern Chinese artists, the ornaments of Chinese minorities, Buddha’s in an overwhelming quantity, Tibetan furniture, tapestry, worn out hats of small children and big vases, but probably not those of the Ming dynasty. And of course you don’t pay the price they ask. But isn’t that the same all over the world on these kinds of markets?

Today I allowed myself a whole day off to have a look at modern Chinese art. This meant also a visit to the 798 Art District, an area we already visited about two weeks ago for a much too short time. Some books say this was the area for ammunition factories, others state that it was for the development and manufacturing of electronics. Whatever it may be, in the fifties the old DDR helped the Peoples Republic of China to build up this complex where at its peak about 20.000 people were working. But modern developments diminished the value of the complex and its decline set in.
After some time professors and students discovered the area and the big halls as an ideal settlement for their studios. This gave a new impulse to the complex but in 2004 the situation became very unsure because the government developed ideas for the building of apartments there. But in some way or another they were pursued to let fall this idea, may be because at that time Chinese art was already booming in the Western world. So the new idea of making it an art district as never seen before got shape. Now the development accelerates as seems only possible in China. Many hundreds, may be even thousands of cheap workers are busy with new pavements everywhere, with planting trees and lot of flowers and with renovating the many big halls that are still there, even after the huge number of galleries that are already settled here. In August, when the Olympics start, the tourist will walk through an art district no one has ever seen before, a propaganda place for Chinese art and fashion of which all other countries can be jealous.
I found it fascinating to see the many young Chinese people strolling around. Here you get a glimpse of the new, modern China. Of course I tried again to illustrate this with a large number of pictures of the huge exhibition spaces, the mess in the streets at the moment and the kind of art that is shown.

What to do on a normal Beijing Thursday? Well, some work in the morning, then lunch in town with members of the Dutch Club here because it’s the third Thursday of the month (just information for the insiders), have a look in the neighbourhood of the restaurant where a big band of young children is receiving some very important person visiting their school and then of course to the Lama temple. Who did say something about diversity and contradictions?
The lunch was really nice, sitting outside and talking uncomplicated in Dutch to the ladies of working male expats in Beijing. I’m curious in which language I will dream tonight, Dutch or English. Because the last couple of nights English started to become dominating.
The young big band, fascinating to see these children play so well, sounded really good. At home I have heard bands of adults with less quality.

But the highlight of today was the Lama temple, the most important Tibetan Buddhist temple in town. Here the next reincarnation of the Panchen Lama used to be chosen. In the middle of Beijing amidst the high apartment buildings, new offices and the heavy traffic in the streets suddenly arises this centuries old complex representing a lot of history. Within the walls rules a benevolent quietness unless the many tourists, as well Chines as foreigners. I found it remarkable to see so many young Chinese offering and praying very concentrated.
Because usually one doesn’t speak to much about the recent past it was also remarkable to read on one of the official signs that due to Tsoe-En-Lai, the Prime Minister in that time, the temple had survived the Cultural Revolution and had been opened again to the public in 1981. More queer it was to read on the most important temple of the complex the other official remark that in 1990 the big 18 meter high Buddha inside, made out of one piece of sandalwood, had been mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records. How important this book can be! And how nice is it to show the ambience of the temple by a lot of pictures.