Here are some photos from my last days in Beijing that include a trip to Frangrant Hills mountains, a karaoke competition, the Temple of Heaven, Olympic "green", and the Summer Palace, among other things...
A puppet show outside ItoYokado (Japanese Walmart) on Children's day
Sunset at Tiananmen
The performing arts center which is really nice on the inside and where a saw a really great performance of La Traviata.
Fragrant Hills - A mountain park on the outskirts of Beijing
The plush surroundings of a Tsinghua University Conference Room
Classmates sing at the Karaoke competition for foreign students learning Chinese. Each performer gives a vague sense of recognition as people formerly known in the hallway, or around campus...
Experimental school for foreign languages!! But more often than not "foreign language" = English
Classmates performing a skit for our speaking class test. They look comfortable and relaxed here and for the most part they are. What they exude is freedom. I remember one Chinese asking me once if I thought the Chinese were free. At that time I did think they were free, at least in a political sense, but the true limit to the Chinese's freedom and that of anyone in a
developing country, is economic freedom. Economic freedom which grants a person not only greater
opportunities, but the imagination and confidence to pursue them.
The World Cup is mine at last!
This photo only proves that Beijing CAN have clear blue skies.
Dreamland park. A rural part of Beijing farmland which created this kind of flower park, marketed it on RenRen (The Chinese Facebook) and then drew out crowds of college kids.
English Majors at Tsinghua University act out Shakespeare. Camp gourmet.
At the Temple of Heaven
The Summer Palace
People fishing (I think) with an umbrella at the Summer Palace
It has been a while since I have seen a river like this completely covered with vegetation. Hen Cool.
The Birds Nest at the Olympic Park. Named "Olympic Green" for some reason, and with no note of irony.
More of the Olympic Park
What I would call a typical Chinese summer lake at Tsinghua University. With big water lilies and weeping willows.
Me with my dormitory reception staff, who always asked where we were going, met our friends in the lobby, and were effectively, kind of surrogate parents...
And now for the person who has drunk everything, Jews Ear Juice! (Really a kind of Chinese Fungus)
And finally a last look at the Tsinghua grounds outside my dorm in Summer. The grass is unkept and rarely mowed, compared with U.S. Universities which keep things quite pristine everywhere. Let me suggest that it matters...still, I will miss this place.
