The Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven. It sounds so ethereal.

Its actually an old temple sort of place in the middle of Beijing that is on the B+ list of Beijing sites, behind the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. Being a B+ place means that its still a really nice place, but there aren't as many tourists as in the other places. Last week between some meetings I had an hour or so, so I went over to the Temple of Heaven in the late morning. Its in a very nice park-like setting, and like many parks in China's crowded cites, its a beehive of all kinds of interesting activities. The people tend to gather in groups based on the activity that they want to do so its fun to drift around and see what's going on on any particular day. This day was a very good mix. Most people live in small apartments so the parks are very social gathering places, especially for old people. The old people like to do things that to me seem much more active than their counterparts in the US or Europe. It seems like a pretty fun way to get old.


Tai chi is a staple of any Chinese park. The slo-mo martial arts moves seem particularly popular with old people early in the morning. Most practitioners look like your grandmother, but this guy looked like the real deal Western sterotypical tai chi master. Check out the beard and the black suit.

After a while in China you become familiar with the standard repertoire of Chinese park activities. The next activity, the human ring toss, was a new me. You basically stand about 20 yards apart. One person throws a woven ring made of Guatemalan hacky sack-type material while the other catches it around his head without touching it with his hands. Its hard to imagine a bunch of AARP members in Florida saying "Hey, wadda ya say we get together tomorrow morning to throw each other some rings and catch them with our heads?" The best part was that they roped me into a few rounds of catching. They started talking to me asking me if I wanted to try and then one guy just threw a ring at me from about 10 yards. At that point you are facing a choice to let your inner trained seal emerge and catching it with your head or just letting it drop and looking like a more normal guy in a suit and tie might. I opted for the former and they were psyched.


The next big activity was group signing of revolutionary songs. This guy in the white shirt is the gung-ho leader. The rest of the people are just people who show up and want to sing. They sing loud and strong. This is one that I didn't have the linguistic (or ideological) where-with-all to join in on.

There are usually a bunch of other people playing instruments and singing usually in the parks. This day was no exception. This guy is more the American Idol drop-out type than the aging revolutionary.


This woman was basically singing alone with a one man accompanist. Sort of a Chinese version of the Carpenters. The old guy on the bench was either a groupie or a roadie - hard to say, but you can tell the years of hard-charging have taken their toll.


Some people group together and play their Chinese instruments in one part of the park. The individual tunes all run together. Its a pretty cacophonous scene, but still fun to listen to.








This is the card/dominoes/mahjong area. These card folks are very, very serious and there appears to be some minor cash on the line. When a hand gets called, they really throw down with gusto. The dominoes and mahjong scene is also big, but it doesn't seem as serious.












These guys play a racket sport which is sort of like what we called Smashball on the beaches of L.A. as a teenager, except that you aren't allowed to smack the ball. Your supposed to sort of cradle the ball with your racket when it comes to you and then in one smooth motion fling it back. Smashball gone zen I guess.



There is a usually a stick juggling crew. You see this once in a while in the US now, but here its old timers, not groovers at Venice Beach.




Anyway, those are some, but not all of the typical Chinese park activities. This was a particularly nice early June day. Clear skies, nice temperature, friendly people.

Good times at the Temple of Heaven.