Michael

After a quick trip to the Beijing Zoo this morning, we were soon face to face with the Giant Panda. The Chinese call the Panda, Xiong Mao (approximate pronunciation is soong mow) or “bear cat.” They believe the panda is like a bear but not a bear and like a cat but not a cat. The Giant Pandas are considered a national treasure to the Chinese. There are not that many left in the wild (1200 - 1500).

As we had arrived early in the morning, the pandas were having a hearty breakfast of bamboo. Three pandas were actively eating outside where they could easily be seen. All were eating sitting on their haunches with a slouched posture, but each was eating the bamboo in their own individual way. One was eating both stalk and leaves whole heartedly. The second was eating mainly the bamboo stalk, while the third was stripping the leaves and quickly devouring them. I was quite mesmerized as was most of our group.

A short bus ride took us to the Beijing Capital City Museum. The first thing you notice is the absolutely stunning architecture of the building. The design is well balanced with a round section (symbol of heaven) and a square section (symbol of earth). The interior space was grand on a massive scale.

The museum has been open for about one year and houses a large collection of Chinese folk history, ancient calligraphy, ancient jade art, ancient bronze art, paintings and etc. We only had 1 1/2 hours to peruse the many exhibit floors.

In the ancient jade exhibit, I was looking at some wonderful pieces from a few hundred years ago when a Chinese gentleman carrying a Nikon digital SLR camera approached me. Of course, I had my camera out also. He began to talk about some of the pieces, reading the Chinese for me as the English description was very short. I could tell he knew the collection as he maneuvered around the exhibit in a well traveled manner. He told me to follow him as he wanted to show me the finest piece on the floor. I was brought to an exquisite dark, translucent green jade thumb ring from several hundred years ago.

The Chinese gentleman told me that the ring was very difficult to photograph. The lighting was low and designed to bring out the translucence of the jade without throwing too much light around. Also, a tripod was needed because of the low light, but tripods were not allowed in the museum. So, I pointed my Canon camera and took the shot. He immediately wanted to look at what I had taken. I showed him and he stepped back and smiled with approval. As we parted, I thanked him for showing me around. I walked away watching him taking photos from the angle that I had been shooting from.

I leave China with a tinge of sadness as I’m quite taken with the country and its wonderful people. I’m already planning my next trip and hope to experience more of Zhong Guo, The Middle Kingdom.

Have a great day.

Michael