Day 5 Beijing Hutong

We began the day with a tour of  "Hutong" (a Beijing neighborhood that is hundreds of years old in the central city).  These areas are small houses built around a central common yard.  We were taken through the neighborhood in rickshaws.  The rickshaw driver pedaled us through winding alleys where we saw the hutong up close with people going about their everyday lives.  We brushed against people walking, riding on bicycles and motorbikes (electric), and driving in cars.  On the surface, the area looked poor, and there were poor people, but there were also people living there who had cars and air conditioners.  Our guide said that people choose to live close together in the hutong because of their traditions and because they liked the togetherness (all looking out for each other).  We then visited in a home that had been opened for us and had an opportunity to talk with the homeowner, a middle-aged woman and her niece.  The home was small ( 12 x 20 -- a living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom -- but really all one room).  It was furnished functionally and decorated pleasantly showing a relatively comfortable and prosperous life.  There was no bathroom; they apparently used a neighborhood public facility.   The niece was carrying on a family tradition of painting intricate scenes inside bottles. 

The next stop was a silk carpet factory and store.  We saw a demonstration on how silk is harvested from silkworm cocoons, made into thread, and woven into carpets.  The silk is dyed with natural dyes into only a few colors.  The carpet weaving is all done by hand using centuries-old methods.  The display in the store had a large variety of carpets, which we could buy and have shipped home (however, we found the carpets were very expensive).

After the silk carpet factory, we headed for the airport, (with our box lunches) for the 2-hour flight to Xian.  The flight was a nearly full A330 (which holds about 300 people).  Both airports were crowded and bustling.  Xian is an ancient city in central China of about 9 million people.  It is in a flat, dry area with extensive agriculture and manufacturing.  It was once the site of China's government with many of the Dynasty Emperors buried in tomb mounds all around.  The city is growing rapidly with extensive construction of high-rise office and apartment buildings.  It is a vibrant city with heavy traffic on the tree-lined streets.  At night, many of the high-rise buildings are lighted and colorful.  There are still the concrete buildings from the 1950's, but the city is rapidly becoming a "new" city.  We arrived at the hotel late in the afternoon and had to hurry to be ready for the evening's entertainment -- a dinner theater show on the Tang Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty show was spectacular.  It had lots of musicians, dancers, and actors all in brightly colored elaborate costumes.  The show began with dinner music during dinner by about 10 musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments.  In contrast to the Peking Opera, the music was melodic and pleasant.  In fact, I was struck with its similarity to Celtic music.  The show illustrated several aspects of life during the Tang Dynasty in song and dance, which provided a variety of dance and music.  It was quite colorful and enjoyable.