Getting My Chinese On - China, Part 2

October 11, 2013

Before we left home, a friend of a friend told us she'd been to China two years earlier. "I hated it," she said. "All we ate was Chinese food. And you can't even read the signs!" If those were her biggest surprises I am in good shape. I kind of expected to be illiterate and eat Chinese food in China.

 

I speak more Spanish than Cantonese, which isn't saying much, if you've ever heard me try to speak Spanish. I don't know why I mentioned that anyway, because Cantonese is completely irrelevant in Beijing. We are learning some basic Mandarin phrases.
     "Tsao" Hello.
     "Nee hao ma?" How are you?
     "Shieh shieh" Thank you.
     "Ding ding hao" Very good. (Or "ding ding dong" depending on who your traveling companion is.)

But there are a few more phrases I need to learn soon:
     1) Vodka martini, please.
     2) I am allergic to peanuts.
     3) Please call an ambulance.

What CAN you do in this park?

In Tiananmen Square it's really easy to get lost in the crowd. I've read and seen pictures of the place, but I couldn't imagine how incredibly huge it is until I stood in the middle of it. Thousands of people filled the square. They come from all over China, and for many it's their first time in a big city. There is a lot of excitement and shouting and jostling around. Thank god we had our Whispers - little one-way radios that can pick up our guide's voice from pretty far away. I placed the Whisper in my inside jacket pocket, strung the baby blue earpiece up through the neck opening and positioned it in my ear. It's almost like being undercover, in a dorky, touristy kind of way.

Our local guide Vivian and her trusty fuah-fuah, herding cats in Tiananmen Square

 
I wandered around taking pictures of people taking pictures of people. There was so much going on I didn't think anyone noticed me. But, then the staring. One thing that is both fun and annoying about this culture is that it isn't considered rude to stare. Fun if you're doing the staring. Really annoying if you're the one being stared at, and I mean STARED at - unblinking, mouth open, body frozen except for the head rotating to keep watching as you pass by. The champion starers might even start to drool. (OK, I made that last part up.) If you think you can outstare a Chinese person, you are wrong.

D and Cathy taking a picture of Stan

Once we entered the Forbidden City, I got my first real sense of Beijing's ancient history. It was built in the 15th century by a million workers. A series of four security gates must be breached before reaching the Emperor's living quarters. Six layers of brick completely cover the surrounding area to prevent intruders from tunneling in. It housed 24 emperors until the last emperor was forced to abdicate in 1912.

You figure out quickly that there is no waiting for your turn in China. Lines are for sissies. I picked up valuable skills from shopping in Oakland Chinatown that came in handy in the Forbidden City. The Emperor's throne room was surrounded by a swarm of people packed about five deep in the doorways. I stood behind them searching for an opening, but every time a gap started to form, another body oozed in to fill it. So I channeled a little old Chinatown lady and wedged my elbow between two people in front of me. Then everything else followed in a wave as I edged myself in sideways. So now we know that hula also works as a contact sport.

Here we go. Elbows out...

And we're in!