Old Summer Palace

A few weeks ago, I went to visit the Old Summer Palace, also known as 圆明园 (Yuán Míng Yuán) in Chinese, which literally means "the perfect bright garden". This palace was built in 1707 during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor. It was used as the private residence of the Qing Dynasty until it was looted and destroyed in 1860 by British and French troops during the Second Opium War.

The ruins of 远瀛观 (Yuǎnyíng Guān).

Many of the buildings within the grounds of the imperial gardens were built in a western style, mainly in the Italian baroque style, with grand mansions and fountains.

The ruins of 海晏堂 (Hǎiyàntáng).

Below is a replica of the statues depicting the 12 animals representing of the Chinese zodiac that used to stand in front of one of the western style mansions called 海晏堂 (Hǎiyàntáng), the ruins of which appear in the photo above.

One of the features of the imperial gardens include the beautiful 万花阵 (Wànhuāzhèn) literally meaning the "10,000 flower maze".

One of my favorite features of the gardens is the many willow trees swaying in the wind. This really added a nice relaxing touch to the atmosphere of the gardens.

Getting There

The Old Summer Palace is located across the road from the west gate of Tsinghua University. You can catch buses to there and walk across, or you can get on subway line 4 and get off at YUANMINGYUAN PARK station.

Qing Ming Weekend

Last weekend was Qing Ming Festival. This traditional holiday is a time for Chinese people to remember and make offerings to their deceased relatives and ancestors. The customs involved include cleaning the tombs and graves of relatives, and making offerings of incense, fruit, drink and paper money. 

Due to this festival we had a long weekend, so Juliet and I were invited by her family friends to spend time with them over the weekend.

On the Saturday, we went and had a look around Yuandadu Park. This park was filled with beautiful blossoms that had just came out in the recent weeks. Amongst the blossoms there was a group of elderly Chinese ladies performing humorous songs and a sort of traditional style poetry. 

The parents of one of our friends who took us around the park came along as well. They brought along this wheelchair attached to a bike for the grandmother to sit in. Everyone was so fascinated by this contraption, they started to ask our friend where he bought it and asked if they could have a go. Here in the photo below is a stranger having a go at wheeling the grandmother around. 

On the Monday we went to a lake on the west side of Beijing to have a barbecue. The scenery was quite beautiful (if you ignored the constant sound of loudspeakers crackling in the distance and the sight of a factory's smoke stacks in the other direction). 

The friends that invited us brought their thirteen year old son along and also invited his classmates and their parents to come. 

The men cooking lamb skewers for lunch.

There was lots of food and interesting dishes, such as pigs ears, seen below. I tried it but I didn't really like it. The black looking dish is pork ribs in a sweet soy sauce with spices, which was much more to my liking.

Some of the dishes at the barbecue included pigs ears.

Lotus root, a very common vegetable eaten in China.

After lunch, I joined in on a game the kids were playing which involved throwing a hacky sack at other players. The rules were a bit complicated, but I got the hang of it eventually. It's too complicated to write on here, but the basic rule is that if the sack hits you, you lose a life and if your lives are used up, you trade places with one of the throwers and become a thrower yourself. 

Other rules are used that allow players to gain one, seven or eighteen lives. Players can lose a number of lives depending on certain situations, and can even end up with a negative number of lives. It's all very much based on maths and quick thinking as well as just having fun running around and dodging a hacky sack.

Beijing Opera

Some other foreign students invited me to go with them to see a Beijing Opera. I knew this peculiar form of theatre isn't really my thing, but I still wanted to experience this iconic and ancient Chinese tradition. The person who first invited the other students is a teacher in our college. Surprisingly, it turns out she was actually performing in the opera, and she invited us to come backstage and see the other performers getting ready.

While the sound of the opera is definitely not to my liking, I very much enjoyed the visual spectacle of all the vibrant and elaborate costumes and props. I also liked the sound of the instruments used.

A teacher from our Chinese language college getting ready for the performance.

Shelves filled with hats used in the opera.

Fake beards.