Kung Fu Demonstrations in People's Park

The day before we left for Huainan and the liuhebafa conference, a group of teachers and students demonstrated their kung fu skills in People's Park. Here is a link to the video on youtube.com

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CrPnxYTb_7U

And here is a link to some clips from the liuhebafa conference:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hKSHWJJCC58

Huainan City

We've spent a lot of time"on the bus" since leaving Shanghai (it turned out to be a 9 hour ride from Shanghai to Huainan). Our first day in Huainan we had lunch at 4 PM (due to the late arrival) and then dinner and drinks at 6:30 PM. After breakfast on the morning of day 2 we all got on the bus to go to the Workers' Stadium for a ceremony to celebrate Wu Yi Hui's 120th birthday... lots of speeches and reading of letters of congratulations. Then on the bus back to the hotel for lunch. Then back on the bus to Workers' Stadium for liuhebafa demonstrations. I have over two and a half hours of tape that I'll edit and post when I get home. Then back on the bus to the hotel for more eating and drinking. Day 3 we went to visit the liuhebafa headquarters in Huainan, then Bagong Mountain, (a national park). We walked through the stone forest up to a temple and viewing platform on the top of the mountain. There was a haze obscuring the view. Lunch was all tofu dishes since this area is famous for its tofu... a vegetarian's dream.

People's Park, the Shanghai Museum, and MOCA

I didn’t recognize Peoples Park (Renmin Yuan). Since the last time I was here in 2000, a lot of the park has been paved over for subway station entrances/exits, a pedestrian underpass (the overpass is gone), a new museum (MOCA) and coffee shops and restaurants. The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) had an exhibit on art and sport that was fabulous, especially the photography and video exhibits. The Shanghai Museum is better than ever, though the first thing I did was find my favorite bronze piece, the bells of Marquis Su of Jin (mid-9th century BC). The exhibit includes a recording of the bells being played which I could listen to all day (and almost did).

Shanghai

I took the overnight train to Shanghai on Saturday, arriving Sunday morning. The city is exciting, full of energy and light, smaller in scale and warmer than Beijing. The streets around Nanjing Hotel were closed for the running of the Shanghai marathon and I had to walk about 15 minutes through the crowds to get to the hotel door.

I was met by Master Gao and spend much of Sunday and Monday with friends and walking around the area by the hotel, Nanjing Dong Lu and the Bund. The photo shows the view from my hotel, the Pearl Tower dwarfing the smaller, old buildings that are doomed before long to destruction.

The Da Shan Zi Art District

I had my last Chinese language class today and said goodbye to my teachers, Sissy (Wang Laoshi) and Niki (Guo Laoshi), and tongxue (classmate) David. Having spent four hours a day together over the past 3 weeks we had developed bonds of friendship and it was sad to say goodbye.

I then took the subway and bus to the Da Shan Zi Art District, an area of industrial buildings that have been converted to artists' studios and galleries. One building is the old No. 798 Electronics Factory. It was once the center of Chinese high tech and produced parts for China's first nuclear bombs and satellites. Today the space was filled with large photos and a bookshop and restaurant.

The Last Weekend in Beijing

On Saturday I went with a friend of Master Liu's, Xu Jie, to visit Dong Hai Chuan's Memorial in Fragrant Hills Cemetary.

Sunday morning was spent at Panjiayuan Market. I thought about buying one of these buddhas but they were too heavy to carry on the train to Shanghai. There were also lots of old swords and other weapons that were tempting.. and nice big calligraphy brushes... and Tibetan jewelry...

I took a tourist bus from Qianmen to the Badaling section of the Great Wall in the afternoon. I didn't think I would have time to go to the Great Wall on this trip, but was very glad I did. Mao Zedong said "Bu dao Changcheng fei hao han" --If you don't go to the Great Wall you're not a real man... I guess woman applies too. It was a sunny, clear day and freezing cold. I had been hoping for photos of the Great Wall covered in snow, but was glad for the clear skies and grand views.

Kungfu Tournament

Friday afternoon BLCU (Beijing Language and Culture University) hosted a college student kungfu tournament. Here are some of the highlights of wudang taiji, chen taiji sword, spear, staff, and other forms of kungfu. Most of the competitors were of very high skill. The group form at the end is a very unusual form of kungfu!!??!!