River Walk ... Again

Fred --- our friend and colleague, invited us to the riverside to experience some culture. The weather was lovely on this Sunday afternoon.


Chinese-character Calligraphy is a respected artform. A father and daughter were practicing their beautiful strokes on the sidewalk, using water and a sponge on a stick to write. This is actually a common way to practice calligraphy in parks. Being students of written Chinese ourselves, our jaws dropped at the precision of their writing!



The water you see here is only half of the river. The shore over there is just a long island -- Orange Island -- in the middle of the river. A big bust of Mao Zedong is under construction at the island's southern tip. Mao used to swim to the island when he was a primary student here.


Chinese want to be together. Down by the river on a nice day there's tons of people sitting around drinking tea, smoking, playing Chinese checkers or mah jong, watching the boats and the performers. There's lone erhu (stringed instrument) players, a couple erhus with an old guy singing, dancers, whole bands, and Peking Opera. According to Fred the performers love their traditional arts, that's why they do all this for free in the park.






And here's a shot from the bus ride home...


lots of love,

d + r + t + b