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Post by guzhenglover on Jun 26, 2007 5:09:02 GMT
GZL - how was beijing (apart from the smog and dust and traffic) How nice of you to ask. It was a really good trip and I was excited to be in China for the first time. Went to the Great Wall (of course), Tiananmen Square (of course), the Forbidden City (of course), Yihe Yuan, Yuan Ming Yuan, Beihai Park (where I also tried the royal banquet), the Big Bell Temple (where the legendary Yungle Bell lives), did a Hutong tour, and even visited the amusement park. Also tried the Peking Duck (ate one there and brought one back to Singers) and enjoyed tea over traditional performances at Laoshe Tea House near Tiananmen Square. My guqin teacher recommended a few places at Liuli Chang (where they sell loads and loads of antiques) and Xi Dan (where the Central Music Con is), but I didn't buy anything (well at least not anything musical). There were many music shops at Liuli Chang. I saw those string-bound guqin books but decided not to buy any just yet as I've got plenty of books and compositions to work on at the moment and I can always order books online in future if I wanted to. In short, Beijing to me felt kind of familar and foreign both at the same time. It was fascinating. Have got an extended travel visa to China and I will be going back for a few more visits over the next few months to other parts of China. *P.S. You forgot to mention toilets! Whilst the general standard of public toilets seems to have improved, some were still, well, plain disgusting... |
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Post by Si on Jun 26, 2007 8:25:31 GMT
sounds like you did a similar tour to the one i did in 2000. I think that was with Chan brothers.
I will be moving back to singapore in 2 months! Will miss my qin lessons but i must have about 10 tunes that i can now focus on and try to bring to a proud playable standard!
so if your teacher can speak a bit of english i would be grateful if you can introduce me.
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Post by guzhenglover on Jun 27, 2007 2:51:45 GMT
sounds like you did a similar tour to the one i did in 2000. I think that was with Chan brothers. I will be moving back to singapore in 2 months! Will miss my qin lessons but i must have about 10 tunes that i can now focus on and try to bring to a proud playable standard! so if your teacher can speak a bit of english i would be grateful if you can introduce me. Oh, it'll be good when you move back to Singapore to get to know each other in person and to exchange musicianship. My teacher speaks English so that won't be a problem. I didn't do a package tour. I've got a friend who took me around sightseeing - a "lao Beijing" (old Beijing, literally) - and the only kind of tour that we did was with the buses operated by the China Tourism Board which took us to the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs. One can't be too careful when choosing the right bus/tour company as there are cowboys or "black buses" out there that apparently dump passengers off the road in the middle of nowhere unless if passengers met their demand by paying more bus fare. Buses run by the Tourism Board aren't the cheapest nor the most flexible, but I was told that they are by far the most fair dinkum since they are trying to set a good national standard for all. I thought they were quite a professional bunch of people. Anyway, why am I on about this...? Sorry... Re Han costume - I asked everywhere and not one single person knew what I was talkinga bout! I went to Wang Fu Jing and LiuLi Chang yet no luck. Is online ordering the only option? If so, what do you think is the most reliable Han costume company? Are there Han costume companies in Singapore? Surely those stars on Singapore TV dressed in Han or Tang period costume must've bought them from somewhere? |
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Post by Si on Jun 27, 2007 6:45:50 GMT
I met a student of gong yi, t'other day. He got his han fu from a tailor in Shanghai. Have to buy fabric first - sounds like a lot of hassle!
I want a costume too but I cant be bothered to look for fabric - if use in Singapore should be made from some easy breathing fabric so I was thinking of Hemp or Linen.
Has anyone see the Paul Merton tours China series. My mum taped it onto dvd for me. He visited Beijing but did not want to see the great wall so went to see a self taught robot maker in a village outside beijing - Very funny.
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jun 27, 2007 10:19:42 GMT
Yes, I saw the Paul Merton series. Quite interesting!
There are Hanfu places in Beijing, you just have to know where. Again, I do not know the addresses as I'm new to this. I'm relying on the Toronto Hanfu group to order mines on my behalf but it is taking forever... As I said, you best go onto Chinese Hanfu forums and ask them yourselves as they have hundreds of Hanfu people who know where the Hanfu shops are.
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