Rock and Revolution

After a hectic week at my new job, I finally got to take a breather this past weekend. On Saturday night we headed out to Chaoyang Park in the East of the city to check out an outdoor rock festival, resembling those held throughout Europe in the summertime.

And it was lovely, just sitting on the grass, listening to the bands and watching night fall over the city. And the treat at the end was Placebo, who had made their way here all the way from the UK to entertain us. Well appreciated!

Tip for those in China, though: Stay away from Blue Ribbon beer. Sugary yuck with rice listed in the ingredients. Ugghh.

On Sunday, it was a whole different show. I met up with some people, whom we met on the bus on the way back from Tangzhe Temple two weeks ago...some very nice, unpretentious people, not like the many wannabe-Western rich people that often come to talk to me.

This extended family includes two friends & fathers, who share a tiny apartment with both of their sons, and one of their wives. This time our group consisted of both the kids and one of the fathers, with the aim of practising both English and Chinese together, and just spend some time together.

For this first meeting, Harry, the father, had picked our activity, which turned out to be visiting the first day of an exhibition on the Long March at the Revolutionary Military Museum. Wow. This is the side of China that most people in the West expect to pop up everywhere in this country and the side that I rarely get to see so clearly.

But this really was the stuff of all those documentaries back in Europe.

And what's more, as it was the opening day, the press & publicity people were all over the place. And of course, as they spotted the odd laowai, the circled around me loke sharks. I didn't check out the local papers on Monday, but I am sure that somewhere there between the article on the housing issues and the weather report is a picture of me looking thoughtfully at the portrait of past great leaders, possibly with a caption that goes:"Foreign visitors deeply impressed by our country's revolutionary accomplishments".

Maybe my 15 minutes of fame here in Beijing.