While the Gregorian calendar is used in China, the traditional luni-solar calendar has a lot of influence on daily life. All traditional festivals are governed by the yin li. Many Chinese people mark birthdays by the yin li, not the Western calendar.
While I’ve already written about the bad air in Beijing lately, I compared the air quality I recorded in Oct/Nov ’12 with January’s air. I am thankful for my air purifier, but horrified by how this must be affecting an entire generation of Chinese.
Occasionally I meet a driver who has interesting things to say, and a good attitude, so it’s fun to listen. This was one of those times. I don’t share all his opinions but I’m always interested to learn more about another person’s perspective on life.
Beijing’s bad air is now international news. Articles about last weekend’s horrific conditions sprung up all over the place. Yes, it really was that bad. In the past two weeks we had 6 days in the hazardous range, with one day’s average off the scale.
I made a decision a while back to tell stories, not write a newsletter. While there’s room for improvement, I’m getting better at looking around me for stories that others may find interesting – stories that show a little of what life looks like here.
Moganshan is a mountain resort area near Hangzhou. It was settled by missionaries in the late 1800s as a retreat from the hot, humid Shanghai weather. Wealthy foreigners built sprawling houses with tennis courts and swimming pools.
We were put on buses and taken around the corner to an airport hotel for the night. We showed ID and gave our boarding passes in exchange for room keys. Later a woman came knocking on doors to call us down to the cafeteria for dinner.
It’s been a wintery, Christmassy week in Beijing. I had plans to shop with friends at the Christmas market and snow falling all day added to the Christmassy mood. Some plastic display trees had fake snow, others were covered in REAL snow!
It is definitely winter in Beijing now. As I walked home just now it was was -9 (16 F). The forecast MAXIMUM tomorrow is -2 (29 F). While I may call one of Australia’s coldest cities home, it is still Australia, and nothing like the cold of Beijing.
Autumn is my favourite time of year in Beijing. It’s crazybusy but I enjoy it! We have great weather, get a holiday (helps the weather), and we have our annual youth camps. We had over 200 people from at least 15 countries (5 continents).
The first week of October is a holiday in China. Flags go up everywhere, red and yellow flower arrangements brighten every complex, and almost the whole country goes on holiday. Great weather adds to the festive feel.
The scenery along the Li river was wonderful – huge bamboo stands along the riverside dwarfed the boats, then were dwarfed by the karsts that reared up behind them. At times, wisps of cloud swept along the karsts – it was so beautiful!
Stories From Tanya 