I am surprised that I managed to wolf down a breakfast this morning of spicy Chinese pancakes, vegetables and deep-fried black pepper pork: yesterday, I enjoyed a selection of foods that would have given any self-respecting dietician a cardiac arrest! It was protein-rich, at least; deep-fried chilli scorpions, silkworm larvae, salted snake and shredded donkey meat. I had resigned myself to my fate after taking this strict ‘Dr. Atkins’ approach to food, but I live to tell the tale!
After sampling the delights of the bustling street-food markets, I spent the most fantastic evening sat on the misty banks of the moat surrounding the imposing walls of the Forbidden City. It is an extraordinarily quiet spot in a city of countless millions, where bats and mosquitos are the only tourists. Boys fishing beamed torchlights onto the water in the hope of sighting their quarry but, in more than three hours, I never witnessed a catch. We talked and drank cheap rum (although I’m not convinced it was a sugarcane-distilled spirit) well into the morning.
Away from the food, I could easily give you 798 reasons to visit the art district of Beijing that shares this number in its title. North of the city towards the airport lies a grid reference of abandoned industrial buildings that offer homes to countless urban, edgy and chic art galleries and cafes. At its centre sits ‘Power Square’, which would provide the ideal setting for any post-apocalyptic movie of your choosing: towering brickwork chimneys, rust-orange water reflecting giant abandoned metal cranes and colossal mechanical structures, walkways, boilers and platforms. The art is as much in the setting as inside the galleries themselves.
The movie-set feeling is not dampened by the occasional sight of skimpily-clad models being photographed and pursued by groups of men, mirrors and flashlights! There has been some commercialisation of this über-cool district, but, at its core remains a vibrant and eclectic collection of national and international art, sculpture and photography. One highlight for me was the gallery of socialist-realist North Korean art where I managed to pick up a copy of the DPRK's english-language newsletter. The galleries themselves are various disused factory buildings that provide the perfect size, acoustics and lighting to house giant pieces and extensive collections as well as more private and intimate exhibitions and video-displays. For more on this exciting area, see http://www.798art.org/ and also check out my photos attached to this journal to see more of Power Square and the streets of 798!
