Temple Fairs. One of the things that Beijing is known for is its temple fairs. I kinda dreaded going because the last time I ventured out for China’s National Day people were taking photos of me as if I was part of the scenery. It doesn’t sound offensive but it does get annoying after a while. Anyway, I wanted to see what goes on in Beijing during the Spring Festival, given that it is the capital of China and 2nd largest city in the world. There are a lot of temples and fairs going on but I chose the two that are supposed to be the biggest, the Ditan Temple and Changdian Temple Fairs.
DITAN TEMPLE
Ditan Temple Fair was a bit more compacted as the temple and the surrounding park are small by Beijing standards. There were signs in the subway leading the way to the park. The entrance fee was 10 CNY and I got there just in time to catch the last five minutes of a Lion Dance.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/AU8blet0t2U[/youtube]
This Lion Dance was modernized with a soundtrack instead of the traditional drummer, like the one I saw in Malaysia a few years back. I don’t know how they do it but the lions do backwards summersaults without killing themselves. It really looks as if the guy holding the head is going to fall over and whack his head but they somehow coordinate it so that the guy holding the head rolls backward and the second guy holding the tail follows. It really is impressive.
The stage would continue to hold performances throughout the day. Ditan Temple is also known for its reenactment of a Qing Dynasty-style sacred ceremony. But the event took place at 10 am and I didn’t get there in time.
Other than that, the scene was much like any other fair the world over with local foods being served, handicrafts, trinkets, games and even karaoke. Noise makers seemed to be the popular item not just with kids, but university-aged students too. The other popular item was a stick of hawthorns, some type of fruit that you normally eat but these were plastic toy versions of it.
I stopped and had my first serving of dumplings for the new year, which is actually supposed to be done after midnight on CNY Eve. A bit later on I tried the churros which came with a rather small lump of ice cream. And then some teenager with her parents stopped, and, to my dread, raised her phone to take a photo, giggling as she snapped a shot. I imagined what she was thinking in the style of a documentary, “The great beast of a white man grazes, scanning the crowd for signs of other food.”