Unexpectedly, I spent quite Christmas like last few days.
On Friday, there was the invitation of a manager to her house to celebrate with her employees, colleagues, husband, an American colleague and me the Western style Christmas. There was the tree, home made delicious food, and presents. Thanks Fang!! :)
On Saturday, my office mate Carter and his wife took me for a trip to the Great Wall (Badaling) and Ming Tombs (Dingling). It was freezing, but still sunny; the wall was quite crowded, the tombs empty, but the tomb museum was very interesting and the history related to that including the Cultural Revolution consequences equally insightful (during that period, the original tombs were thrown away with all its remnants to be used by farmers most probably as lavatories.. a sad end for emperor's tombs).
The area of the tombs looks like a very badly kept park for weekend amusement for families, ..many of the gates no longer exist, however it still draws many visitors like me. The place is set in a beautiful countryside with views of nearby mountains and fields, the right place for emperors to be buried. Out of 16 Ming emperors, 13 were buried in the area. Dingling is the only Ming tomb excavated up till now, the works started in 1956 and finished two years later.
On Sunday the day was spent in a beautiful Lama Temple full of peaceful atmosphere with people burning incense as an offering to Buddha. There is the Guiness Book of World Records listed Maitreya Buddha made of one piece of sandal wood 18 meters high. There is also a statue of Congkhapa who was the founder of yellow hats in the 15th century, ..and many other preserved statues, but mainly the place is full of live because of the pilgrim visitors.
In the afternoon I was lucky to get in touch with some friends (thanks Jan for getting me in touch with Regis) who took me to antiques market where they were looking for items for their house/appartment. (The photo above is from there.) The storage place was quite big and full of old statues, furniture of various quality, price, allure, and stubborn sellers who did not want to reduce the price. Finally everyone was happy, all of my 3 friends bought something (kitchen table, wooden Buddha, big stelae with Chinese inscriptions)!
There was a dinner organized by the local French community in a small and friendly restaurant in the center of Beijing, to which I was invited by these friends. Many people turned up, about 25, from all 'walks of life' - French/English teachers, professionals, travelers, students of Chinese and Chinese culture and politics.
Katarina, a Quebecoise, who had a good knowledge of Russia and has traveled to Bohemia, asked me about the origin of word 'Vanoce'; we divined that 'noce' comes from night but I could not find any explanation for the preceding 'va'. So here it is, according to internet: it might come from the German "Weihnachten" originating from the pagan festivities of winter solstice - on sacred nights - "zu den wîhen nahten", so the Czech version might have kept the first part and translate the latter one..
Winter solstice (shortest day or longest night in year) now fell on 22 December, and in China, people celebrate this with having dumplings for dinner. Enjoy!
..Children playing at the antiques market
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