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Monday, May 15, 20061147735032
Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan) and Thoughts on Smog
The pure awesomeness of today requires some introduction. So, here goes.
Today I went to Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan), and had the best experience of my vacation in Beijing. Indeed, it should count as one of the best days of my life. I took a gondola ride up a mountain, stood where an Emperor once did, and even wailed at the Sun Yatsen Memorial. Yet its awesomeness was only increased when considering how Xingshan was bookended by horrible, horrible times.
I woke up feeling very ill. I have been feeling worse every day, and it increased to being barely functional last night and early today AM. Indeed, I probably feel worse now.
The reason is air pollution. I was chatting with Biz of Trumpy Productions (read his tdaxp reviews of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and The Partly Cloudy Patriot about this earlier today, I informed him of facts such as
- The dust from the burning of soft coal coats the city like a tattered old blanket. Breathing Beijing air for a day, concluded a recent study, is the equivalent of smoking three packs of unfiltered cigarettes.
- the air is really hazy. We had to get through this stuff our entire time in Beijing, and it takes time for your lungs to adjust. At other times, we realized the city was literally being covered in light dust, evident by the dirt that kept collecting on our faces and sandaled feet and the always absent sky
- The pollution in Beijing is considerable.. the city seemed to be fogged in with some kind of haze... If you have respiratory problems, be aware of this! Sitting in traffic is the worst...
- &c
This was just absent from the Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan) park. High above the city, one could look down at the smog bowl and realize how terrible it was. It's one thing feeling the carbon monoxide eat away at one's life as an incompetent cabby gets lost on the fifth ring road (as would happen later in the day) -- it's another thing to realize you can't even see the downtown.
Anyway, enough bitching about the pollution. I know it's a problem, so I will manage my health as best I can. Fragrant Hills was amazing, and the pictures today are all about the beauty and glory of Xiang Shan.
When Multilaterialism Had Teeth
A Rocky Gate
Beautiful Roof fo a Buddhist Temple Over the Rocks
The Lower Part of the Park Was Filled with Retirees
Strange Rock Carvings Are Everywhere
Framing at a Restaurant
Approaching a Building
Crossing the Bridge to Get There
Reminds Me of Descriptions of Alhambra
Graffiti in Chinese and English
View from the Courtyard Inside the Building
After the Building, Passed this Rocky Entrance
Successfully Distant Objects Through a Circular Arch
More Succession, This One Leading to an Old Portrait
A Complex of Buildings and a Pond
Real Live Growing Bamboo!
Vines Growing on a Support Mesh (Looking Up)
A Heart-Shaped Lake through a Waterfall.
Exiting the Waterfall Pass
On a Gondola!
More of the Park from the Air
It's a Long Line of
Birds of Prey! (Typically Absent from Beijing)
A Scary Mountainous Road
Reaching the Top, Lady of tdaxp and I rested under this
Stereotypical Chinese Building
A Pagoda on the Roof of Xiangshan
Looking down from the Pagoda, this scene seemed Mexican or Californian
More of the American Southwest @ Xiangshan
Hills Beyond (One of the Best Shots of the Trip)
Can you see Beijing? I couldn't either -- because the city is covered in smog.
More of the Smoggy City. The pollution prevents you from seeing all of the "country," let alone the city itself
The City attacks a Valley
Flowers. As I took this, I remarked to Lady of tdaxp "I bet old people will like this."
Mother of tdaxp has the same type of flowers in the garden -- as deer throughout South Dakota know well.
Elder Signs?
Proof that Old People do, indeed, like flowers.
Crossing the Road to find the Sun Yatsen Memorial, We Stumbled Across This Lake
The Lake from Some Rocks
Unidentified Rocky, Barred Something
Is the Sun Yatsen Memorial Through Here?
Approaching the Gate of Pax Aeterna
Sanskrit (this is for you, Biz) Writing Welcomes Visitors, as does the same message in three other languages. Dated from around 1776.
Closer to Neverending Peace.
Beyond the Gate and to the Side: an Apparently Lived-in Abode.
The Stone Shield, Viewed from the Center of the Pavillion
The Pavillion Beyond the Stone Shield
Closer View. In the center, an old sketch (of the emperor?) is visibile. I imagine Catholicgauze would paint icons of noted Saints here...
The Pavillion, From the Center Step on the Stone Shield
A Sweet Raindrop is on the Other Side of Eternal Peace
Looking Back at the Stone Shield through the Gate
Walking down the Grand Stairway, Commoners
At the Bottom of the Stairs, This Beautiful Scene with a Flowery Moat
Well, back to the pollution of the Northern Capital of the Middle Country. Goodbye Xiangshan!
18:17 Posted by Dan tdaxp in Beijing 2006 | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this
Comments
Keep the pictures coming!
Posted by: purpleslog | Monday, May 15, 2006
Purpleslog, thanks!
I used up our memory card on the Xiangshan trip, which prevented a bunch of other neat shots (if not so picturesque). The People's Liberation Army has a college/hospital/complex between us and Xiangshan, which was really neat to drive by. On the way back we passed a crumbling old castle that was just "there," Little Sichuan -- all sorts of neat places.
Posted by: Dan tdaxp | Monday, May 15, 2006
Looks like the government reads your blog http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/16/060516132400.eml4a2y7.html
Posted by: Catholicgauze | Tuesday, May 16, 2006
If they're reading my blog, then why doesn't the Party let me blog free throughout the Middle Country?
Pollution may be the greatest problem China's big cities have. It shortens life expectency, keeps workers away, and generally spreads misery.
Posted by: Dan tdaxp | Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Great pictures. Thanks. I don't even think those who have never been to China can understand China pollution.
Posted by: China Law Blog | Thursday, May 18, 2006
CLB -- Thanks! You are absolutely right about the pollution. It reduces anything in America to a footnote. Already my mask -- only occasionally used in the worst conditions, and just for a few days -- is notably soiled on the outer side. 400k national deaths a year from it must be an understatement.
Posted by: Dan tdaxp | Friday, May 19, 2006