Mid-Autumn Festival

中秋快乐! 

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival Everyone! 

Today was the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节). It is also called the Mooncake Festival/Celebration. Today, you are supposed to eat all the mooncakes you want. Mooncakes (月饼) are small pastries with a rich, thick filling such as red bean or egg yolk inside. They are more commonly eaten in the south of China in places such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, and Macau. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a harvest festival celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. It was a celebration of the end of the autumn harvest. The festival celebrates three fundamental concepts: 1. gathering: Chinese people return home and spend time with family and friends. The full moon is said to represent family reunion and that is why the Mid-Autumn Festival is so important. 2. Thanksgiving: give thanks for the harvest. 3. Praying: asking for conceptual or material satisfaction such as babies, a spouse, beauty, longevity, etc.  

I also was able to attend a concert tonight with some friends. We saw 梁祝小提琴协奏曲 which translates to Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto. This is my Chinese friend’s favorite musical piece. I have to agree, it was quite great. We were fortunate enough to have one of the composers Hu Zhanhao (何占豪) conducting. Before the concert began, he talked about what it was like composing musical during the Cultural Revolution. His story reminded me of a Chinese film called Youth (芳华). The film is about an arts troupe during the Cultural Revolution and I imagined Hu Laoshi to be composing music for an arts troupe. Whether he did or not, I don’t know. I didn’t understand much of what he was saying. The story of Butterfly Lover’s Violin Concerto is similar to that of Romeo and Juliet. Basically, the story is about a young woman (Zhu) who, disguised as a boy, meets a boy (Liang) on her way to school. This takes place in traditional China when women were not allowed to go to school. Zhu and Liang make a vow of fraternity. During the three years of school, they become really close. Zhu tells the Liang to go to her home and court her sister. Zhu is actually inviting him to marry her since she doesn’t have a sister. However, Zhu finds out that her father is planning on marrying her to a rich man. Her and her father fight. Then Liang comes back, falls ill, and dies. Zhu commits suicide to be with Liang and not marry the other man. The concert ends with the two being transformed into butterflies, never to be separated again. It’s rather dramatic and the music portrays that rather nicely. The soloists were very good as well. At the end, they – along with the composer – were presented with flowers which they in turn gave to members of the orchestra. My friend said that Chinese people are too humble and don’t like to accept gifts, so they try to give them away. I thought this was very interesting.  

Hope everyone has a good Mid-Autumn Festival and if you find a mooncake eat it. 

再见! 

Until next week! 

马乐 

The Great Wall of China

                “不到长城非好汉” 

“A man who has never climbed up the Great Wall is not a true man” 

This weekend, I went to the Great Wall of China (长城).  The Great Wall of China is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Construction of the Great Wall started during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States (770 BCE-221 BCE) period. Then during the Qin Dynasty, the fortifications by various states were all connected and became the Great Wall. The wall was designed to defend against the north and later dynasties kept expanding it. The current Great Wall of China dates back to approximately the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and runs from the Shanhai Pass (east) to Jiayu Pass (west). 

I went to the Mutianyu Great Wall. It is one of the best-preserved sections of the Great Wall as well as being very touristy. This section is beautiful as it is surrounded by mountain tops. There are also several watchtowers along this part of the wall. These watchtowers were used to send messages to other parts of the wall. If someone was attacking during the day, one of the watchtowers would send up a smoke signal. They did this by starting a fire and then putting it out which left only the smoke. During the night if someone was attacking, a watchtower would light a fire so that the other watchtowers would know and be ready. Some watchtowers have two stories while others just have one.  

We ended up climbing up about 136 flights of stairs to get to the top of the Wall. That was also the shortest climb though it didn’t feel like it at the time. Also, at Mutianyu, there was a cable car that could take you up and down from the Great Wall if you didn’t want to climb as well as a slide that you could take to go down the Wall.  

Nothing beats the view from the Great Wall though. Even if it was a pain to get to the top, once there it was stunning. It helps that we had clear skies which made for the perfect picture weather.  

再见! 

Until next week! 

马乐

The National Museum, Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square

                                                                         大家好！

Last week, I went to the National Museum of Beijing. It was very cool seeing all of the ancient artifacts of China. I learned two things while I was there: 1. Ancient China really loved wine and 2. They had a lot of drums. But all joking aside, I thought it was very cool. My favorite exhibit was “40s Years through China’s lens from 1978-2018.” I found it very interesting looking at photographs of China from the last 40 years. The pictures depict happiness but also sorrow and suffering. It’s also interesting just how far China has come in the last 40 years. Just two years after the death of Mao, the country was trying to fix the problems that he created. The pictures from the late 70s – early 80s show a time of hardship and change but the pictures also show hope. Each picture was a snapshot of a larger story and that’s why I think I enjoyed the exhibit so much.  

This weekend, I took a trip to the Forbidden City (故宫) and Tiananmen Square (天安门广场) with my school. Both Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City were really cool. The experience at Tiananmen Square is very interesting. Even though there was a tragedy there years ago, now it is filled with laughter and happiness. We were able to witness the changing of the guards at Tiananmen Square as well as see the building where all the important party officials have their meetings. The Forbidden City was also very fascinating. I especially liked how traditional everything looked. It’s weird to think that no one was allowed inside the palace walls nearly a century ago and now the palace is full of people. I found it extremely interesting that we had to go through four gates just to get into the palace. There was also row after row of courtyards. We would get passed one courtyard only to enter another one. I was lucky to have my Chinese friend, Cynthia, with me to explain parts of the Forbidden City. She showed me the place where the emperor executed people he didn’t like and where the emperor’s mother was allowed to stay. The Forbidden City is so huge that we weren’t able to see everything. There were also parts of the palace blocked off for tourists. It was a beautiful day and really hot. All of the Chinese had their umbrellas out to protect them from the sun. Cynthia had hers, so she followed me around with the umbrella. I felt like royalty. We made sure to rub the statue that provides luck and another one that provides fortune so here’s hoping that some luck and fortune head my way.  

再见! 

Until next week! 

马乐