We have a field trip to the Lao She teahouse today, a touristy little teahouse that has a sampling of various kinds of traditional Chinese entertainment, from 相声 (cross talk, a comic dialogue) to storytelling, a little sampling of 京剧 (Beijing opera) and some 杂技 (acrobatics). I am pretty excited, because I have been interested in acrobatics for a while, and this will be my first time seeing Chinese acrobatics in China. I told a teacher that I was interested in doing my ICRP (integrated cultural research project) and he was very excited, so I might even get a chance to speak with one of the performers, or get the name of a contact after the show tonight.
On Sunday some friends and I went to Worker's Stadium (Only the PRC would give it a name like that, eh?) to watch the paralympic judo finals. Imagine two blind people, who are both highly proficient in their martial art, going at it on the mat. Really exciting. When the Chinese competitors were up, my spine tingled from nearly the entire stadium shouting 加油 (literally means 'add oil to the fire', used as a cheer) in unison. That kind of power from the crowd was just amazing. It was also my first big sporting event, which was cool, and I can say that I have officially been to a (para)Olympic event now.
My classes still haven't been too exciting. The history and politics classes I took at Kalamazoo covered everything so far in much better detail. With the teacher lecturing with as little detail of the events as he is doing, I feel as though I know more, which is disappointment, because there should be a whole class offered here on these issues. But I think that we will soon be wrapping up the 'background info' part of the class and starting the 'contemporary social issues' part of the class, which should be cool. I've also found a few more martial arts places through some English language magazines here in Beijing (published mainly for expatriates, I assume), so I hope to check out some of those within the next week. A few of them look really convenient. Even though several are on the opposite side of town (a judo place is even right next to the German embassy!), they are right next to the subway, which is super nice. I know I've said it before, and I will say it again: I love the public transportation here in Beijing.
On Tuesday, one of my more open weekdays, Jamie (a friend, former suitemate, and future housemate) and I went to the Lama Temple yesterday. Lama Temple (雍和宮) is the biggest temple in Beijing, and it is the biggest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet. The buildings were beautiful, and there were dozens of amazing statues, many of which looked more Hindu that Buddhist. There were a lot of pictures that we weren't allowed to take, mostly inside the rooms that housed Buddha statues, but we got a few of the buildings' outsides. The culmination of the temple is a 26 meter (that's a little over 85 feet!) foot tall Buddha statue carves from one single sandalwood tree. It was about four stories tall, and was apparently in the Guinness Book of World Records. Aside from the incredible statues and architecture, one of the most interesting things about the temple/museum is how many people from the city came to offer prayers. Every time we passed a Buddha statue there were Chinese people, in t-shirts, monks robes, slutty looking skirts, punk rocker hoodies, and everything else, holding incense sticks in their hands and bowing the the Buddha. Regardless of whether they prayed for wisdom, good grades, a promotion at work, or to get lucky that night, the duality of the old and new was very interesting. These are people from all walks of life in the city of Beijing, coming to a 300+ year old Buddhist temple to say a prayer. Just another example to the interesting dichotomy between the new and the old that I see here.
I'll try and get some pictures up when I get back to a 网吧 (internet cafe/bar).
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If I can offer some insight, something to understand about martial arts in China is that getting real martial arts training is very old school. There are hundreds of martial arts academies in Beijing, many of them run out of universities, but for the most part, you find a martial arts master by asking around, making contacts, and eventually being allowed to see the shifu and asking him/her to teach you. It's not as easy as in the States, where you find a nearby school and go. Many of the martial art "schools" in China are purely form-based and many, as I've been told by many martial artists, do not drill strong stances and are therefore almost useless.
Your best bet for wugong is going to the parks, looking for someone who knows what they are doing, befriend them, and ask them. Like I said, things are pretty old school when it comes to learning martial arts in China. Not that it helps so much with your hope, but I thought I'd share that.
I dunno how far away from BLCU is (it's near Peking U), but I heard they have a good program. Anyway, good luck.
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