Mid-Autumn Festival and Back to Class

This past Friday marked the Mid-Autumn Festival. I am under the impression that the festival is something like a harvest festival centered on the full moon that occurs at this point in the year. The traditional food for this celebration is the mooncake, not to be confused with the equally delicious moonpie. Mooncakes are dense little cakes filled with an assortment of fruit and nut jellies. Each one is filled with a different filling but generally they taste something like fruit cake. On Friday night I sat out in the street and ate a mooncake while watching the fireworks through the ever present smog. There were many people on the street enjoying the holiday with their family members. It was kind of nice.

The day before my friend Bryne and I went to Temple of Heaven Park. This is a large green space in the middle of the city just south of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The park includes two of the most photographed structures in China, The Temple of Heaven and the Altar of Heaven. There were thousands of people at the park but not nearly as many as there were at Tiananmen Square. The complex was built in 1420 as a place for the sitting Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties to make sacrifices in order to ensure a good harvest. The north outer wall of the park is curved and the south wall squared. This design reflects the belief that heaven is circular and earth is square. It is a very impressive complex that attempts to balance heaven and earth, man and woman, north and south, and east and west. One thing that I was impressed with was the use of the Phoenix and the Dragon. The Phoenix represents the feminine and the Dragon represents the masculine in traditional Chinese culture. All over the park you see this balance. For every Phoenix you see there is a Dragon to match. Never on any one structure is there more of one than the other. The park is very peaceful and almost seems out of place in the middle of a city that is so chaotic.

I spent a few days in Beijing staying at a hostel in the Hutongs. Hutongs are old neighborhoods dating back from the Ming Dynasty. They are almost like suburbs within the city. Hutongs are small to mid sized homes, shops, restaurants, and ramshackle repair shops that are all connected by a system of alleyways. The small alleyways empty out in to courtyards that are commonly adorned with beautiful flowers and topiary. This is what people call 'Real China'. This is an old school lifestyle that exists to this day in the middle of Beijing. The Hutongs will probably not exists 10 years from now as they are being systematically torn down and replaced with 'economically viable' things like massive apartment towers and office buildings. Hutongs have a distinctive architectural style that is not displayed in any other structures built during the Ming Dynasty. It is sad that such a cultural treasure is being destroyed in favor of commerce. It was a really cool experience walking around/getting lost in the Hutongs.

Now it is back to work. I had to teach today (Sunday) because we were given an extra day off on the Friday before the break. When you think about it, a day off it was not. To boot Bryne is ill and I must take up the slack of his course load this week which means double the work at the same rate of pay. Awesome. I can't complain though I'd rather be working than suffering from impacted wisdom teeth. Impacted wisdom teeth at the age of 26!?! I guess should thank my mom for making me get those taken out over my spring break in high school...but I won't. I'm still bitter. Enjoy the pictures.