As I write this piece during the Spring Festival holiday, Beijing is amazingly quiet. Unusually so — as this year, the Year of the Dog, started without the usual cacophony of firecrackers lighting up the sky accompanied by deafening explosions. Within the capital’s major urban zones, setting off fireworks is now prohibited both for environmental and safety concerns. This scenario takes me back to the Beijing of my earlier days when similar enforcements were in place. Historically firecrackers were a feature of older Beijing festive traditions, a time when people lived mostly within hutong communities. They were believed to have been invented in China over 2,000 years ago and were seen as intrinsic to the start of the Lunar New Year. Many earlier conventions have been difficult to transfer into today’s urban scene, where the majority of the population now lives in apartment buildings. That initial ban in Beijing was lifted in 2006, but 12 years later the city is again quiet. The sky outside the cafe where I write this is clear, with excellent visibility.
Although I had lived in China for many years, I had not encountered firecrackers on any significant scale until the start of the Year of the Monkey in Qingdao at midnight in January 2014. I was enjoying a quiet evening in an Irish-themed cafe bar when the staff asked me to come outside. Suddenly the city seemed to explode! Everywhere firecrackers were going off —the larger and louder, the better! I had never experienced anything like it before, except maybe in action movies on television. So vibrant were the explosions I phoned back to my parents in Scotland and had them listen. In keeping with tradition, I was invited back inside to share great piles of steaming dumplings prepared for this auspicious occasion. The dumpling shape, said to resemble a Chinese tael, is reputed to deliver wealth and treasures over the coming year.
The following day, my stay in Qingdao could not have been more different, as I followed crowds of people towards Zhanshan Temple. Visiting such places had long been a traditional event on the first day of the Chinese New Year. A beautiful location, surrounded on three sides by mountains and close to the sea, the weather was delightful. People were lighting handfuls of incense sticks before kneeling in front of prayer halls and a tall pagoda. I sat there transfixed for about an hour taking in the scene. Although it was busy, I actually felt a remarkable tranquility. Within a few hours I had experienced two traditional customs — firecrackers and a temple visit.
Returning to Beijing and determined to discover more about China's traditional customs, I pored over many informative volumes at the Foreign Languages Bookstore on Wangfujing Street while visiting cultural venues such as the Capital Museum. From 1981 it was housed within the Confucius Temple at Guozijian until relocating in 2006 into a vast modern structure west of Fuxingmen.
Beijing's temples remain popular destinations over the festive period. They are fascinating locations to spend time observing how many traditional activities overlap with today's contemporary society.
Southeast of the Capital Museum is White Cloud Temple, known also as the Monastery of the White Clouds. It is Taoist and one of the "Three Great Ancestral Courts" of the Quanzhen School of Taoism. Dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), most current buildings actually date from the Ming and Qing periods (1368-1911). From its triple-entrance archway visitors or worshipers pass through a series of halls dedicated to different deities. Unlike the city's popular temple fairs, inside the courtyards there are no booths with things for sale. People visiting regularly participate in long-held traditions of finding health, happiness and good fortune. This involves touching a stone monkey embedded into a wall at the entrance while throwing coins below the decorative Wofeng Bridge. When I was last there, an oversized traditional round coin pierced by a square hole hung from the underside of the bridge. Visitors would throw small change towards the hole - if coins successfully passed through, maybe they would find the happiness they sought?
Regardless whether it is Spring Festival time, I often visit Dongyue Temple near Dongdaqiao within Beijing's Chaoyang. Quieter times, beyond the major festivals, allow a close examination of the many booths dedicated to Taoist deities and philosophy, while busier periods are better for people-watching. It also features the informative Beijing Folklore Museum, again better visited when crowds have dissipated. Dongyue is known as "Temple of the Eastern Peak", the cosmological name for Mount Tai, easternmost and holiest of the Five Sacred Mountains of China. Dating from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the temple is organized around three main courtyards holding around 100 stone tablets or "stele" from the Yuan, Ming and Qing periods. What are really fascinating are the 76 "departments" or booths, each containing quite vivid statues and scenes including sympathy, pity, punishment, health and of course, wealth. The entrances to the alcoves attract crowds during the holiday period, with many also lighting joss sticks or hanging up red tokens along the raised avenue toward the main hall of the complex.
Until recently Beijing retained a surviving street fair, the Changdian. Historically it was a popular outing for the city's residents during the Spring Festival. Changdian, actually a small street, would combine with other alleys including Liulichang and surrounding lanes over the holiday period. This created a large market and events area crowded with thousands of people buying festive gifts including children's toys, handmade curios, trading paintings or calligraphy works. They sat at bustling food stalls or watched performances by troupes of artists from other provinces. It was also a popular place to browse for antiques. The last time I visited Changdian, the fair had relocated. Xinhua Nanjie today is a busy north-south thoroughfare which had to be closed to traffic throughout the festival. Consequently the event has been moved south, to Taoranting Park.
One place I found beneficial for understanding more of the traditional culture of Beijing has been Longtan. This is held in a large park set around an expansive lake east of the Temple of Heaven. I first came upon the park in 1998 when living close by. The water adds to the ambience and sense of space within the garden. On one festive visit to Longtan, I came upon performances of "street characters", for example carrying popular fruits on long poles. They would shout familiar calls of hawkers going around Beijing's hutongs. It was colorful and great for photography. Similarly at the southwestern corner of Beijing's Ming Dynasty Outer City continues a fair based around "Dream of the Red Chamber", one of the four ancient classic masterpieces of Chinese literature. Created between 1984 and 1989, Daguanyuan or "Grand View Garden" was the location for the filming of that television series. Performances during the festival period include reenactments of scenes from that very popular production.
Over the last few days I have been out and about in Beijing with my camera at busy fairs, taking photographs and enjoying the scenes. Yes, the fairs can be busy, but also a lot of fun. People are in a festive mood.
At Ditan Park, I simply stood alongside the bustling alleys, between the many food and craft stalls, waiting for a good subject to move in front of my lens. There were many excellent opportunities to capture shots of people as they passed by. Children carried on parents’ shoulders; people nibbling snacks; decorative headgear especially for the festival; grilled food sizzling; salesmen trying to sell toys. There was always something to watch. At times you wonder what you're looking at, but you see the human side of this vast city.
I also visited Chaoyang Park — not a "temple fair" in the real sense but promoted as an "International Spring Carnival". It developed due to its locality, being home to a sizeable community of long-term foreign residents and location for most of the city’s embassies. International music and cultural events are performed both on stage and amongst the crowd. In 2013 Ireland was the ”Country of Honor” through the weeklong festival. Performances included traditional jig dancing, folk music and street theater. I was there for the duration!
Throughout the Chinese New Year period I usually stay in Beijing. I don't travel, because there is so much to see and enjoy, under increasingly blue skies that combine to create a relaxed, laid-back feel to the city.
In keeping with tradition, on the eve of the recent New Year, I was invited to a staff party at a popular Sanlitun burger restaurant. The invitation came via WeChat — a medium we in China were using to send our "Year of the Dog" greetings to friends worldwide!
