the forbidden city and tiananmen square are two of beijing’s obligatory stops, and we reserved an afternoon for them. it felt strange to actually stand there for the first time, knowing of the historical significance of the place. it felt more serious than just a place to snap a few photos.
by then the clouds had mostly cleared and so the next few pictures are a mix of blue, red and gold. the forbidden city is a magnificent palace complex (the world’s largest) where china’s emperors used to live up until 1912. the buildings have curious names like east glorious gate, hall of supreme harmony, hall of preserving harmony, halls of literary glory and military eminence, palaces of heavenly purity and earthly tranquility…
i guess this is what comes to mind when many people think of china, the country’s picture postcard. it’s beautiful and grand, filled nonetheless with little (and big) details i loved:
so… after 2 years in china, we finally decided to visit beijing last week! it was a good choice to wait for this long, i think. after the olympics, a lot of historic monuments were at their finest in years, and we were able to enjoy everything without the crowds – or the olympic paranoia. so, we hopped on a D train late last thursday, and off we went. friday morning the sky was cloudy and it had just rained, but there was lots of wind which cleared out the clouds in the afternoon (and after that we had nothing but blue skies in beijing. how lucky is that?)
our first stop was the temple of heaven (天坛 or tiāntán), @ tiantandongmen metro station, line 5. it consists of 3 main groups of buildings that were once used by the emperors to pray for good harvests, in a very big park.
The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿) is a magnificent triple-gabled circular building, 32 metres in diameter and 38 metres tall, built on three levels of marble stone base, where the Emperor prayed for good harvests. The building is completely wooden, with no nails.
The Imperial Vault of Heaven (皇穹宇) is a single-gabled circular building, built on a single level of marble stone base. It is located south of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and resembles it, but is smaller. It is surrounded by a smooth circular wall, the Echo Wall, that can transmit sounds over large distances. The Imperial Vault is connected to the Hall of Prayer by the Vermilion Steps Bridge, a 360 meter long raised walkway that slowly ascends from the Vault to the Hall of Prayer.
The Circular Mound Altar (圜丘坛) is the altar proper, located south of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. It is an empty circular platform on three levels of marble stones, where the Emperor prayed for favorable weather. It was built in 1530 by the Jiajing Emperor and rebuilt in 1740.
meanwhile, oblivious to the hordes of tourists around them, thousands of people spread around the park, singing, dancing, playing odd instruments, practicing kung fu and tai chi or just doing their thing. it was mighty impressive. i caught this choir practicing, their singing could be heard from far away:
amazing, isn’t it? i was stoked! excuse my lame video skills, and if you know which song they’re singing, speak up! i can only catch “ni shi shei?” but not much more… (our “taiwanese refugee” TC says it sounds communist though…)
hello little blog, i missed you, as i always do when i go through a dry spell in posts. there have been projects to finish, trips to far away cities, restaurants visited, emails piled on mailboxes, friends sleeping in the couch and many many pictures…
so there is much to tell – and i’m starting to think that i’ll be leaving china before i have time to tell it all. soo… here’s the deal: one post (at least) per day till the end of the month. ok? ok! :) there, much better.
first things first, the weather forecast:
why does the bad weather always comes on the weekends around here?! i’m starting to think there a shanghai curse nobody told me about…
Recently, at the Newark home of António and Magda Araujo, Mr. Alexandre and his wife, Maria, cooked up a lamb feast. But instead of cooking it whole, they had Mr. Lopes butcher it to show off two Easter favorites — borrego assado (roasted legs of spring lamb) and guisado de borrego (lamb stew). The scene, as Mrs. Araujo described it, was typically Portuguese: “loud and fast.”
“Everything is better with olive oil!” Mrs. Alexandre shouted as she rubbed some into the lamb legs. Mr. Alexandre countered with voluminous and rapid-fire requests for bowls, pans and cutting boards. Their frantic pas de deux continued, and they dipped and spun to avoid elbows and sharp knives as they whirred garlicky pastes in the food processor, peeled potatoes and dressed the meat. In under 45 minutes, four pans along with a flan were ready for the stove. Ervilhas com ovos, a staple of peas and bacon topped with poached eggs, would be made right before dinner.
(…)
A short time later, half a roast suckling pig from Valença and both lamb dishes were nestled in the center of the table. Potatoes, rice, bread and the egg-topped peas filled the gaps. Around the table sat 10 hungry guests.
Dinner was suddenly interrupted by the bleating of Mr. Alexandre’s cellphone. A Portuguese woman was stranded on the highway and called for a tow. He stood up, popped another chunk of lamb into his mouth, and shrugged on his jacket.
“Got to take care of our own,” he said, heading for the door. “It’s how we survive.”
from a nyt article on the portuguese community in new jersey and their easter traditions.
the excerpt above actually happens everyday at my home, with my dad running out of the table to help some distressed driver on the highway :)
