This morning, before 7, I walked in Beiling Park, the site of the Manchu royal tombs. On the way to the park I encountered about 70 elderly men and women dancing to traditional music from a live band. I ran into a group of men spinning cylindrical bronze tops, using whips that made sharp cracking sounds as the men whipped the tops faster and faster. Each top emitted a loud musical hum as it spun. There were elderly men whizzing along on roller blades, and in the park, people doing tai chi, jazz ballet, ballroom dancing, country swing dance, spinning tops on cats cradle threads, playing a sort of badminton but using their feet and ankles to hit the cock. In one quiet and remote nook, a fat old man sat on a bench quite alone, loudly and melodiously singing a song I did not know. Groups of men played cards together. Old women walked backwards; one man with beautifully sculpted legs even jogged backwards. After an hour and a half, I felt overwhelmed by a peculiar sense of joy, and went back to my hotel.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 06:37:11 +0000
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