Day 6 in China
The summer palace is located in the northwest region of Beijing. It wasn’t too far from our hotel actually. This tourist destination was absolutely breathtaking. There was eye candy on every inch of the architecture and palace grounds. Some highlights included here was the 17 arch bridge, which had filled with people right next to it singing traditional Chinese Hymns. The group had a full choir, brass, percussion and a conductor. I did very little talking early on at this tour, I just wanted to soak in the beauty of the natural landscape. There were tons of boats out on the lake that made for… well… a real summer like atmosphere. To get from the gate we came in at to the entrance to the actual palace itself there was an enclosed hallway called the “Long Corridor”. They weren’t kidding; this thing is literally almost a mile long. Each beam and spot of woodwork was carefully painted and every large exposed beam had a mural on it. The materials put into each minute aspect of this exquisite facility were certainly Royal, I enjoyed the fact that it was the opulence you would find in a European Castle with gold and bronze everything. Although I was told that all the gold collared paint actually had a significant amount of gold in it; the extravagance was most notably depicted in the woodwork, the glazed tile roofs, the paintings and detailed murals all over everything as well as the architectural integrity of some of the buildings that were close to 400 years old. After we climbed to the top of the palace where a beautiful temple sat we took a few minutes to soak in the bird’s eye view. It was still morning which tended to be more hazy/smoggy than in the afternoons; however you could still see a pretty good distance. What blows your mind is being inside such an old grounds and seeing sky scrapers throughout the distant landscape. We climbed back down from our nest to take a boat ride half way around the lake. We ended our summer palace experience in this neat market place specifically designed for the tourists at the Summer Palace.
Next up on our day was a company visit to Capital Bio, another startup company that originated at Tsinghua University. Cap Bio’s products are all in the medical field however encompass a wide variety from instruments, testing computers/machines, reagents and even disposable products and containers. Capital Bio is an incubator project of the Chinese Government and received heavy subsidies, however they are close to repaying their “loans” and they seem to be ramping up to go public. Any investors out there, this company know what they are doing! Interestingly enough they do not sell any of their products in China, they are primarily in European and American markets. Some of the notable innovative products Cap Bio is working on include: a deafness gene mutation medicine and computer chips that track and measure social impacts of cell phone use. Out of the 500 employees roughly 200 are positioned in their R&D department.
Another MUST in Beijing is to have Peking Duck. We went to one of the most famous places to do so. This was a dining experience second to none. The duck was cooked to a golden perfection, it was exquisite. If you take slivers of the skin and dip it in a little sugar it literally melts in your mouth. Also there is a proper way to eat the breast meat that involves a little rice wrap as well as reduced dark soy and some greens…. Yummm. All of the food here was absolutely amazing, a combination of quality as well as perfection in plating. Unfortunately for myself, professor Chung and Denise we were a little rushed through this fantastic meal, as we had tickets to go to the National Opera House to see a show. I didn’t realize it until early today when I saw a picture of the opera house and understood how vital it was for me to go. NOT going to the Opera House in Beijing as a music/theater enthusiast would be like visiting New York and not going to Lincoln Center. This was one of the best spontaneous decisions of the trip. But first we had to get to the opera house!
So I don’t think I’ve mentioned the scene in Beijing during Rush hour yet, have I? Put it to you this way, there are already rules involving a vehicle owner’s last digit of their license plate number and restrictions on places in the city and on particular days in which they can drive. With that said it is still an absolute nightmare. So in order to get from the restaurant to the Opera house we had absolutely no choice other than taking the subway. This was frenzy; however it was like organized chaos. Did I mention we only had an hour till show time!!! Utilizing the public transportation was a true experience and a rite of passage for me, as I consider myself to be an urbanite. Couple of quick notes about Beijing’s subway system: the lines and the lay out are SIMPLE, I mean they just make sense…. It’s a grid! Clean as a whistle, I mean you could eat of the floor it was so clean, it is against the rules to bring any food or beverage into the subway…. So actually it would be against the law to eat off the floor…. But you COULD! Not once when we stepped on to a platform while changing trains did we have to wait for the train to come, it was there ready to roll. I’m not sure if it necessary to tell you but I will anyway, we were packed in like sardines… but it was fun.
So we finally arrived at the Opera House. This thing was enormous, for anyone from Pittsburgh here is how Denise and I would describe it: essentially it was Heinz Hall, The Benedum, the O’Reilly and the Byham all under one fantastic glass roof that made the whole building look like a Faberge Egg. We weren’t allowed to bring our cameras into the theater (which is standard) so this will remain one of those fantastic memories that will only get better and more fictionalized in my mind over the years. Inside the “Egg” every piece of material used in the architecture was gorgeous. Marble patterns I’ve never seen before, wood grains completely foreign to me, the first thing I noticed was the acoustics and how my words were just getting sucked up into the air like a black hole.
The show was amazing, and much more like a musical than an opera. The sets and the costumes as well as the sound and lights were unreal. Although I obviously couldn’t understand the dialogue I was pleasantly surprised to discover how much of the plot line I was able to understand, luckily we had professor Chung to fill us in as well. The music was fantastic; the orchestra was filled with a plethora of instruments I’ve never seen before. Watching the pit was equally exciting, to be a musician for as long as I have and be able to witness so many new instruments and sounds and techniques was one of the greatest thrills for me. I couldn’t help but think about everyone I’ve ever been to a Broadway musical with, or played music with or even acted with on stage, sitting in the theater and taking in this beautiful production put me into an almost meditative state of mind. Aside from the fact that I was sitting a solid half a foot higher than anyone else in the theater I’m sure other patrons thought I was weird because I couldn’t stop smiling. Couple of neat things about Chinese Opera: although there was a conductor, there is also a percussionist that raps on what sounded like claves throughout the songs. I discovered this was used a device similar to a metronome, however would also follow the melody and not necessarily the beat, this instrument also gave signals for repeating a refrain or to tag the end of a song. The costumes were eloquent yet simple, the lighting acted as a costume change in some ways, although there were a few costume changes. The robes have this huge elongated sleeves, watching the actors maneuver with these sleeves and rearrange them accordingly to the actions transpiring was a show in it of itself. The vocal style is all in the throat and they barely move their mouths, it is basically the exact opposite from what I was taught throughout my entire life; however I could see how it makes sense to hit many of the minor notes required by their traditional scales. After the show we were able to see the inside of the theater with the lights up (there wasn’t an intermission) and I asked Rachel (Professor Chung) to ask the musicians if they knew where I might be able to find a music shop… I desperately wanted to buy a drum. Unfortunately all the musicians were Szechuan; Rachel is Taiwanese and only speaks Mandarin.
The three of us hung out outside the Opera House debriefing about the storyline and talking about music and theater, Denise is a thespian at heart and regularly attends shows in the Cultural District, even at my theater too! It was a beautiful night and much needed break from the hustle and bustle of managing a group of 20. I saw some kids playing street hockey outside the theater and there were plenty of people utilizing the park grounds outside the Opera House for recreation.
The Subway was significantly less crowded on the way back, so yes it was still packed by my standards. On the way back Rachel talked us into stopping for a foot massage before we went back to the hotel. That sounded like the perfect ending to our day! We bought some exotic fruit outside the subway stop and headed toward the foot massage. So I’ve never had a foot massage before, and here I am in a Beijing massage parlor at midnight with two really fun ladies (insert joke here). It was well needed; however I must say it was a bit painful. Funny story, I actually didn’t bring a good pair of sneakers for walking and climbing so my wreck shoes were really just loafers. I tried to buy a pair of sneakers earlier in the week at the Wu Fujing Market which looked like Time Square. Long story short I went into about 20 shoe stores and came to the conclusion that there was no way in hell I was going to find a pair of shoes above a size 10 in this entire country!
I slept extremely well tonight, and had magnificent dreams about climbing the Great Wall… which coincidentally was on the itinerary for the following morning!
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