Christmas in China



We live on the 21st floor of the 41 story building.

On Christmas Eve which was a Saturday I gave a final exam to over 100 students.  After that, I hurried home to my new apartment in a high rise building where I met my sister, brother-in-law and two nephews who had been traveling in southern China. 

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This pagoda commemorates Xue Tao's poetry.

We spent Christmas Day walking around the Bamboo Park which is just across the river from my new apt. The park is dedicated to a famous female Tang Dynasty poet named Xue Tao.    It has over 150 varieties of bamboo which is not like the spindly plant that grows in my backyard in Albuquerque. Instead these bamboo plants are towering trees that arch over the paths in the park. It is easy to see why most of the pandas in China live in Sichuan province given the lush bamboo that grows wild everywhere in the mountains around Chengdu.

The candymaker.  Check out the designs on the white slab.

My favorite vendor in the park is the candymaker.  He creates custom designed suckers in intricate patterns on a white slab right before your eyes.  You spin a dial and whatever creature of the zodiac it lands on is the design that is created.  He deftly pours the hot burnt sugar liquid out in swirls and loops which instantly hardens around a bamboo stick into a custom-designed sucker.  I must take a better picture to show the amazing shapes that are created.  It's magical.

Nephew Ben getting a lesson in the top spinning.

In the park, there is always a group of retirees who gather to practice a game in which a top is suspended from a long string that is held in both hands of the participant. The person manages to gracefully turn, squat, and hop around while spinning the top on the string. The noise sounds like a swarm of locusts. Since the park is so close to my house I have been quietly observing this group for weeks. It looks much more active than playing bridge! 

On the weekends a traditional band meets to play Chinese folk songs in the plaza.  Often times a singer will join them and people will dance in front of the group.  In addition, there are dozens of people of all ages playing badminton. Exercise is taken quite seriously here.  People walk through the park swinging their arms in a windmill fashion or stomping and marching.  It is very rare to see an overweight person here let alone an obese one.

Wooden boats on the lake in the Bamboo Park

We all rented a wooden boat to paddle around the lake and canal that is in the middle of the park.  It was heavenly to be in a boat with experienced rowers from Pt. Townsend, Washington.  We finished the day by eating chicken soup and discovering that the $2 bottles of Great Wall of China Red Wine are not so bad after the first glass or two.  I hope everyone had a delightful holiday season!