History is Fun!

Yesterday we went to the zoo and saw some of the Sichuan panda bears that had been displaced by the earthquake. The Sichuan region is known for its pandas, so the Beijing Zoo now has 4 Sichuan pandas. Some nice Chinglish as well: China was spelled Chnia on an Olympics/Panda advertisement. Remedy: tape a piece of computer paper over it with the correct spelling.

Vocab word of the day:熊猫 Xiong2mao1 = Panda bear

Today we went to Houhai, a beautiful area with 3 small lakes, lots of history, and a really nice hangout for both tourists and locals. Among the many places we visited was the home of Sun Yat-sen's (one of the most significant political figures of the 20th century) wife Soong Ching-Ling, also a very prominent figure in Chinese political history. I was also born on her birthday.

We also visited Prince Gong's palace, which is one of the best preserved historical palaces/gardens in Beijing. Being in all these beautiful places made you forget about the pollution around you. Today's sky was actually almost blue and there was much less pollution today. I would like to think that it is because yesterday, June 20th, was the day they were supposed to stop construction in Beijing. However, we saw construction going on today, so either there are special extensions for some projects, or it was my misunderstanding.

Finally, we visited some hutongs, which are traditional Chinese housing that people still live in today. They are basically narrow alleys with small courtyard housing that is all connected. There has been a push and pull by the government to both destroy this housing to make room for development but to also protect this housing to preserve history, a tourist attraction, and also people's homes. Some people's families have lived in the same hutong for over 100 years. The man we talked to had lived there for 12 years but said his hutong was over 100 years old. Pretty incredible! I would love to explore the history and the "rise and fall" of hutongs more through research and interaction with the residents.

CHINGLISH ALERT:
(At the Nocturnal Exhibit at the Beijing zoo)
Slow lager
Lesser slow lager
...so the take home message is: if you see two species of lager at night roaming around and get them mixed up, just look for the less slow one. 好吗？