Today was a tour of the city of Beijing. Remarkably this city for its size is very clean. Tiananmen Square and the People’s Congress and the Pearl Market. The square rather crowded as the People’s Congress is in session with approximately 3000 representatives. The people have expressed their concern over the health of the city and the haze that envelops the city. Literally the sun should have been shining strong but a tan fog hung over the city. One of the best experiences was lunch with a local family in a hutong. From a resource standpoint the hutongs do not waste anything. The home was approximately 300 years old and this particular family had lived in the home for 150 years. They were extremely hospitable and friendly. The living conditions were not the best, but good compared to other areas of the world I have seen. They had no bathroom as you went to a community toilet and shower in the hutong. In an effort to preserve the history of the areas but still improve the life of the hutong the government is razing entire neighborhoods and rebuilding them in the traditional style. The family we visited said they would rather this not happen as the new buildings were built to the lowest cost and the quality was not as good. We had Peking Duck in the evening. It was an amazing experience and the complete use of EVERYTHING. The cook prepared the entire duck. You could eat the bill and brain (we were told that many people fight over these items). They even brought out a soup made from the duck juices (kinda like a broth). You must use everything in terms of food when you have 1.4 billion people to feed.
Tiananmen Square, Hutong, Forbidden City, Pearl Market.
No comments:
Post a Comment