Beijing Series - The Smog

This says it all

Aircopalypse! Beijing on Saturday 22nd January 2014. One sure way of not living healthily.

Beijing Series - Street scenes

Street trader selling iced fruit near Tienanmen Square

Another street vendor with the iced fruit,
also near Tienanmen Square

The thoroughfare in front of Tienanmen Square,
patrolled by Public Security (or rather Public Safety)

Two players player Chinese chess near the Forbidden City

Street scene, away from tourist areas

Street traders near Sanlitun, the posh area full of bars and international stores

The guy sitting down was applying a film to a mobile handset.
All over Beijing there are traders doing just this for a living.

An ingenious way of plying the wares. No rental overheads.

A common sight in Beijing. Tricycles used by street vendors.

Beijing Series - 798 Art District

Where has all my time gone? The unrelenting pace of work has obliterated my personal life, and my camera hardly ever makes an appearance. My view of Beijing has been restricted to trips on taxis to and from the office, on the Jingcheng Express. Sometimes we finished work so late that there was a scarcity of taxis to catch. 

The trip to the 798 Art District in Beijing was a much needed break. Fortunately the sky on the day was clear of hazardous smog, so it was possible to wander around without feeling choked by poisonous air particles. 

The area has been promoted in the media as the nation's largest and most influential art scene in the country. It was once a factory complex but has since 1995 been gentrified to its present form. Today, the district's popularity has exploded with scores of high-end art galleries, design companies, craft and trinket shops, as well as fancy cafes. During the weekend, it was thronged by the smart-phone generation, but during the week after 7 pm, it had the feel of a ghost town. It is best to download a map for orientation. I got quite lost in D zone and had to retrace my steps to the main gates.

Some of the buildings and sculptures are quite interesting, but nothing arresting. Some parts are littered with rubble and covered by weeds, probably best described as shabby chic.

The ubiquitous 798 figure

Sculptures in a high end gallery
Not sure what the figures are trying to convey

Beijing Series - National Museum of China

The National Museum of China is designed to be one of the world’s largest museums and to be more enduring than the Olympic Games that China hosted in 2008. And yet it is not even ranked, according to Wikipedia, as one of the top 100 museums in the world.

The facade is impressive. This raised expectations.

National Museum of China, Beijing

When I first arrived at the Museum, I was greeted by a massive queue – entry is free – and there are 12 million inhabitants in the capital city. Unusually for China, the queue was orderly, in a neat line. Nearer the entrance, the queue split into two, one for the locals and the other for foreign passport holders. There were no signs in foreign languages, just an official announcing “passport” and gesticulating to the right. Then more queuing until an unsmiling official allowed batches of visitors to enter the ticket office where, on waving their passports to an official behind the counter, received an entry ticket. Patience exercised, visitors then entered a large screening area where all bags went through security screening in a chaotic fashion and then subjected to individual frisking before being reunited with their personal belongings.

Queuing for the National Museum of China, Beijing, January 2014

Massive columns greeting visitors at the National Museum of China, Beijing

Once past security, I looked in wonder at a massive atrium with a handful of statues, all of mediocre quality. There were no museum guides, just an A4 sign sitting on a counter, behind which sat yet more unsmiling officials. At that point it would be wise to have taken a snapshot of the sign to remind oneself of the exhibits on each floor of the north and south wing. Signage in the museum was minimal.

The massive atrium, National Museum of China.
Cleaners were on hand to maintain the shine on the marble floor.

For me, three sections made an impression: the Jade Collection for its exquisite objects, the Ancient China collection occupying the entire basement area for its mammoth survey of thousands of years of history, and the area displaying gifts from foreign diplomats to the Chinese leaders for its mixture of fine craftsmanship and kitsch.

An exquisite jade object

A sword presented by the Yassar Arafat,
a symbolic gesture from the late Palestinian leader

Terracotta figures of women playing polo, Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD)
Until I saw these figures, I was not aware that polo was played in ancient China,
let alone by women.

Brick with dragon design from the Kaibo Temple Pagoda,
Northern Song Dynasty 960 to 1127 AD

By far the least impressive exhibition was the massive hall on the ground floor given to all things Mao – statues, paintings, his calligraphy, all designed to elevate him to the status of supreme national hero. The sign at the entrance said as much - Mao Zedong The Giant. This is where politics dominated the story line of the entire museum.

The Exhibition Hall devoted to one man.
The centre display cabinets contain numerous calligraphy pieces
by Mao Zedong. 

China has an ancient history dated back to 2000 BC, and I was expecting a rich seam of cultural artifacts at this capital city museum. I was disappointed. The curators seem to have trouble filling the vast galleries with the variety and quality of exhibits characteristic of a world-class museum. Until this is done, and until the museum comes up with a narrative of Chinese history including the turbulent years of the Cultural Revolution when a lot of precious Chinese artifacts were destroyed, the National Museum is likely to languish outside the Top 100 museums in the world.

On leaving the museum, I had a glimpse of one of the iconic images of Beijing - Tienanmen Square with its gigantic portrait of Chairman Mao.

Tienanmen Square seen from National Museum of China, Beijing