Beijing Beauty, Part 4: Community

What do many Chinese people do on warm summer nights? Watch Beijing opera? Go for a few drinks? Sit out on their balconies? No, no, and no. They gather in public squares and exercise together. Yep. They dance, play Badminton, do Tai Chi, skate, play a game I can only describe as "Badminton Football"- or simply have a chat. And I'm not talking just senior citizens, I'm talking all generations. That's teenagers, the fifty-plus generation, the working folk, even little kiddies. And they meet on any night of the week, even on Saturdays and Sundays, when, in our part of the world, the youngsters are out having a drink. And it's not like they don't do that here, but you do see many people of my (drinking) age kicking little badminton balls around with people three times as old as them.

I believe that this sense of community is part of the reason that fights, vandalism and other (drunk and non-drunk) misbehavior is very rarely seen in Beijing, and probably in all of China. And of course one can put the public safety down to the amount of security guards lurking outside each of these shiny new buildings, or to the fact that pupils and students are too occupied with their gruelling workload. One cannot, however, deny the magic of walking across a public square and seeing people standing in groups playing and chatting- family, friends, neighbours and strangers, of all ages and from all walks of life. This is something I've never seen in Germany, or in Ireland. Kids playing together? Yeah. Old people going for a walk? Sure. But not this wild mix of individuals coming together as one big, harmonious group.

Whenever I witness such scenes I feel that this is a harmony that has been long lost in the West, an ease that we have long forgotten. Happy Slapping? Wouldn't happen here. Drunk removal of traffic signs and retainment as trophies (greetings to my Irish friends)? Never. And you certainly won't read any news about pairs of teenagers playing football with the head of a pensioner, simply because they were bored. This is a community that sticks together, one whose members respect and care for each other, right in the middle of this vast urban jungle.

I wish we could be like that again. I really do.

Bis dann,

Nadine

PS: Of course, when I'm there to take photos of them playing at night, they're all at home watching the Olympics! Therefore I've only got a few photos of smaller groups, but I still find these inspirational.

Tai Chi-ing together (albeit in the morning)


My camera again- some people doing skating, while others are dancing and playing Badminton Football in the background

Three generations assembled outside my house around dinnertime