60th Anniversary Preparations / Project X

Nothing lasts forever but sometimes we just hope that things can last a bit longer... We have to die, things come to a natural end, even relationships have a natural lifespan if we are being philosophical about it.  Now is the not the time and this is not the place to talk about matters of the heart... and I wouldn't dare write about deeply personal stuff so openly (that's what my diary, called.. ahem.. 'Climbing Up The Wall' is for).   It's 3 weeks since I arrived in Beijing and it is a fascinating time to be here and a wonderful moment to celebrate 60 years of the People's Republic Of China (that's what all the news channels, sorry, news channel, says!)

At the risk of overdosing on superlatives, Beijing is gearing up for its biggest celebration yet.   It will require the highest number of participants, the tightest amount of security, the brightest and most expensive fireworks ever seen, the most pristine and orchestrated military procession, the unveiling of the most secretive never-before-seen missles, and a record number of unpaid volunteers (one million people).  

Let's also state that the organisation and the number of people involved beats that needed for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games last year.  Tian'anmen is closing from tomorrow (Tuesday)
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

40 million flowers have been grown in one small town in Hubei province to add even more colour to the already colourful Beijing parks.  And it is with that link that I move onto my trip on Saturday.

With girlfriend, her mother, one aunt and one cousin in tow, I visited the Temple of Heaven Park, south of the city centre.  We visited the famous Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Heaven, Echo Wall (with it's amazing acoustic effects) and eerie Round Altar, complete with symbolic acknowledgements to the number 9 - treated with respect simply because it is the highest single-digit number!

I was curious about the profileration of the words 'Heaven', 'prayer' and 'sacrifice'.  Much symbolic ritual went on this place... during the Ming dynasty (1368 CE - 1644 CE) but I wondered who the sacrifices were aimed towards.  Then I found the words 'God of Heaven' in the English translation in the museum for the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.  So, I guessed it wasn't a specific omnipresence but a guiding force the ruled over whether the crops would grow or not.  Anyway, cattle was slaughtered ceremoniously, with its blood and skin dumped into a circular pit.  and not a step out of line could be made during the ceremony for fear of creating some kind of bad omen... all mostly superstitious if you ask me.  But I can admire great architecture, buildings held together with little but wonderful design and numerology littering structure.  And at that point, I will move across to the current project surrounding my students.

Aside from teaching them English in the morning, the students have been working on 'Project X' in the afternoons.  I finally whipped out a camcorder today (borrowed from Bell) to film the transportation of their self-made structures, which they have been designing, buying the materials for and building in the last week or so, from inside the studious to outside.  They were given rough guidelines - to build it to certain dimensions, to make it unpenetrable for a human and for it to be strong enough to be dropped from a 2nd floor window and not break up.  Otherwise, 'X' is a variable (my definition, not the art teachers), which depends upon the students' own imaginations. Various highly-interesting structures have been created, although two seem to have been inspired by the Olympic Bird Nest, plus one which I, and I alone, believed to be similar to the logo for the 2012 London Olympics.  Anyway, I filmed them taking their creations into the turbine-hall like interior of the main studio building and out into the bright campus sunlight.  They had to record (take pictures, do sketches) of their work in at least 5 different environments (settings).  I will put it together as one video soon, but not until I record more footage tomorrow.  Unknown to them when they built their beloved artwork, they will have to destroy it tomorrow. 

Oh well! nothing lasts forever!!