Home for the Holidays

BF and I are back home in the US to spend time with our kids. They are all back from university and it is so nice to be with everyone again. Absence really makes the heart grow fonder. We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday.

Hairy Monkey

BF has been spending a lot of time getting to know some of the Chinese folk and artistry. She has been introduced to the artists by an expat who has lived in Beijing for quite some time experienced expats.

She has visited several times the Hutong home of an 80 year old man who makes paper balls. She has taken other expats to introduce them to him. She takes pictures of the visits and sends them to him in the mail. He has lots of photos on the walls of his home including her visits.

She was recently introduced to a 37 year old woman who has created beautiful papercuts she was a small girl. She has taken several people to her small home to purchase her art.

Most recently we visited the home of a 48 year old artist who has continued the art of making hairy monkeys. Hairy monkeys have been created since the time of Emperor Tongzhi (1862-1874). So what exactly is a hairy monkey you ask? Here is what we have learned off the internet which was confirmed by the artist:

Hairy monkeys are a kind of folk handicraft of old Beijing. The body of these delicate ten-by-five millimeter toys is made from white Magnolia bud and shed cicada skin (as the doll's head and limbs), and because these handicrafts look a lot like monkeys, they are hence named "hairy monkey".

With an air of charming naivety, the hairy monkeys are enormously popular among old Beijingers. However, for various reasons, the folk art is facing extinction, as in today's Beijing, only several artists are well acquainted with the techniques of making hairy monkeys.

The creation of hairy monkeys was quite an accident. In the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), there was a drug store named "South Qingren Hall". One day, two assistant chemists in the store, while fiddling with some Chinese medicine, worked out a small monkey-like toy with a shed cicada skin, a hairy white magnolia bud, a bletilla striata (the stem of a kind of plant) and an akebi (another kind of plant).

Their accidental creation caught the attention of the shopkeeper, who then suggested selling the four Chinese medicines in a pack as raw materials for making such toys. Hairy monkeys then became popular as a folk handicraft, but were limited among the small number of folk artists and the banner men ("Banners" is the military organization of the Qing Dynasty).

Though the raw materials are quite simple, the artists are capable of designing exquisite patterns through their observation and perceptual knowledge of a wide range of images. By using the hairy magnolia bud as the body, and adhering the head and claws cut from the cicada to it, they can create artworks of various kinds of shapes and postures.

Modeled on human actions and scenes from daily life, the handicrafts vividly represent urban life and customs, like barbers, fortune-tellers, hawkers of sugarcoated haws on a stick and so on. Some of the handicrafts form a complete set of artworks, such as "The County Magistrate on Inspection," and "Marriage Series," which were sometimes available at the stalls of temple fair and in the Dong'an Market as well as some toy shops in Quanye Department Store. In recent years, additional creations of this handicraft, which, while sticking to the traditional subjects, also reflects the real modern life.

Protecting the Greenery

One of the amazing things the Chinese do with the onset of winter is to build frames and cloth blankets/tents for the shrubs and trees around Beijing.

Walk on the "Wild Wall"

I (BF) went on a hike December 5th with the Wednesday hiking group led by Leslie W. She took us to a small village 2 hours from Beijing at the bottom of a trail that led to the wild great wall. This is a part of the wall that has not been renovated for tourists to walk on (in other words, you take your own chances). We had an encounter on the road to the village. We were stopped on the road as a crew was filming a soap opera up ahead. We waited five minutes then went along. We arrived at and toured the small village; it being autumn we saw many signs of readiness for winter.














A local family who rents rooms invited us into their courtyard. The stick bundles are hand tied. That takes a lot of strength. They also had green lettuce drying and freezing for later stir fry’s. I love the corn cribs and the stacked stacks.

Leslie always makes a point to talk to the locals and satisfy their curiosity as well as learn a bit about the village or anything near by.

The trail begins. Later one of the villagers asked the driver how much he was getting paid to ferry us to the trail head. He wondered if the driver had been paid already. They had seen taxi drivers and others who brought people to this trail never to be paid and never to see the people again. They apparently hike and find other ways down and home.
Signs along the way are interesting. They are typical. But we are on the trail as are many others in fairer weather.

We hiked for two hours through the woods. It is lovely hiking in the winter. We can see everything. On a hike during the summer we lost the trail because the thicket was so dense, we couldn’t see the trail.

In the winter we can see the destination way in advance and so much scenery along the way. We climbed up onto the tower and had lunch. It seems that someone always brings home made cookies. What a gift from God. This time they were star cut hazelnut with almond liquor in the royal icing that topped them. It was a nice ending to my tuna and egg salad sandwich of course, along with my m&m’s.

We walked up and seemingly around a u shaped portion and the path was narrow and the views spectacular.

We continued up and here I am looking through a tower back where we came from. This is me. I dressed the lightest and didn’t have to shed any clothes. The hot flashes are a godsend. Thank you, God.

The path looks narrow and almost impassable but if you look closely, you can see a person in a red coat up ahead. It would be difficult to see this path in the full of summer. Now we are almost to the top of the u shape. It is a long climb and the path is in turns crumbling and well maintained. Finally we are facing the downward side. Leslie announces that we are close to our destination and it is too early to be so. She and several others leave the wall to explore a peak with a wench and a radio tower at the top to see what they can see from there. They discover the hike that spans 15 watch towers. The day is fairly clear and we can see for a long, long ways. It is impossibly unimaginable that I am on the great wall..again; a very necessary grammatical error.

We walk along. It is much more difficult than the climb up. The paving stones are large and very inclined downward. Someone commented that it looked like someone had been up here sweeping the brush and dirt from the path. It seems unlikely, but in China, very possible. I had to grip the openings along the sides to keep a steady pace and not run forward with abandon.

Here we come upon a tower and we have to step down these improvised steps to continue on the wall. We did have to climb over some topsy turvey paving stones. Here is the road ahead. It seems like a long ways. It was interesting how I had to pay attention to looking up and out at the beauty around me. I was easily intent upon my footing and always moving forward. How much I would have missed had I not stopped. Needless to say, I was almost always at the end of the line.

We arrive at the next tower. It looks intact from here but in fact is falling down on the opposite side. The weather, the wind, and people take their toll. Some of you may recognize this next picture. I am speaking to those of you who have labored the 324 (is that right Lynn?) steps to this platform when visiting the great wall as our guests. I am most proud of this picture. I think it was easier to approach this platform from the hike than from the renovated wall. But here you have it. This is the farthest one is allowed to go when walking on the great wall at Mutianyu. Now I must copy Pete in this “faking it” picture. It is a bad job of it but I tried.

Down we go to the steps that lead away from the wall through the woods to the village where we will meet our cars. We have been hiking the wild great wall for 2 hours. We have an hour and a half through the woods and down a newly paved road to the village. Most of you will more readily recognize this picture of looking up to the platform as you wonder if you will make it.

Here is a contrast to the towers you have already seen. This is on the tourist side. It is clean and well preserved.
Now we go off onto the path to the village. We all look so prepared and not a bit tired. (P 33). I must tell you though that after all of that downhill walking, I legs were shaking at times even on this gentle (?) path. After a time, we came into the village and saw some interesting sights. A man was pruning bushes for his firewood harvest. This is his cart. We saw men running electrical wire. Apparently a foreigner is building a hotel nearby and this will help service it. These Chinese are so practical. Why use a pole when a tree is right there and handy.

This lovely tree belongs to the man who was collecting sticks. He would not allow the road construction crew to tear down his tree and so, this is the result.
The sun is setting and it is getting chilly. That might have something to do with my not exerting myself so much, but, whatever the case may be, here is a picture of the sun on the wall behind us. You may have to look closely, it is just below the topmost ridge in the middle of the picture (trust me). The last story is the best. The driver located a basket maker in the first village. He inquired if there was one and someone called his house. He was not at home, so they called his daughter. She said he was at the mill grinding corn. He agreed to meet the driver and sell him some of his willow baskets for 25 Yuan each (3.33 USD). He is nearly 80 years old. We were thrilled. The stone pieces on the right are a chicken feeder and a pig feeder or trough. Leslie had contracted a man in a village she had visited in the spring to make a few of these. When she went back to collect them, they had sold them to foreigners afraid that Leslie had forgotten. The driver talked to the villagers in the last village and although they didn’t have a basket weaver they did have some unwanted feeders. I believe the chicken feeder cost 30 Yuan and the pig feeder, 60. We auctioned off the chicken feeder as it seemed to be the most popular. I was persistent and won the chicken feeder. It is a cool little thing. It weighs about 50 lbs. It took half a day to carve it and a full day to carve the pig feeder ( thus the price difference). The stone is special from a specific place. It is very dense and hard. People compared Mao to it as in both have a propensity not to budge after being set.

It was a wonderful day.

Holiday in Beijing

The work team got together at the new Goose and Duck for a holiday get-together. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend as a Director at JPM was her in Beijing for meetings during that time. I understand the new G&D is a Chinese version of Dave & Busters but not in a good location.