Pan Jia Yuan Market & neighborhood

     My advice, don’t buy any antiques in China unless you are an expert or have the counsel of one.  Even then you will undoubtedly find at sometime that you have bought a new antique.  We went to the Pan Jia Yuan antique market here in Beijing the other day.  There are two very large buildings with several floors with lots of small antique shops.  There are genuine antiques here and some very good ones.  However, most of the shops carry brand new forgeries.  We saw a few things that we liked, but nothing of importance.

    There is an outside square with a cloth roof to protect sellers and buyers.  The sellers sit on some kind of fabric covering with their goods displayed on the fabric.  My fasination with this flea market was to see the variety of the kind of antique pieces that were offered.  There were jade, porcelain, silver, jewelry, sculpture, paintings and prints.  I saw one album of paintings with a cover that seemed to have very nicely carved dark wood covers.  The paintings were watercolors of decorative quality.  The whole package was well done enough that a person with no experience of Asian art might think that he had found a treasure.  The covers were actually fabricated from plastic and plywood!

      I’m trying to become a little better at speaking Mandarin by taking special one on one classes in Mandarin.  Tomorrow is my last day of this class.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the classes and may be a little less confusing to people as a consequence.

     While I’m studying Mandarin, Judy has been taking classes in Chinese cooking.  I’m looking forward to her new cuisine.  They are held in the home of a Chinese woman who speaks English.  She lives and teaches in one of the several Hutong in Beijing. 

     The Hutong are long buildings with winding passages and rooms that are impossible to fathom the configurations from the outside.  Originally they had a courtyard in the center.  That courtyard has disappeared as the tenants expanded their living quarters.   These Hutong are a place of residence for people usually involved in manual work of some kind.  There are 300 of them here that are protected from the development of new highrises and new construction.  They simply represent a style of life that has been around for hundreds of years.

       Down the street from my hotel their are two very large Hutong in back and beside very luxurious malls, businesses and restaurants.  Last night we decided to enjoy the Beijing Duck in Beijing at one of the top restaurants here.  It’s called Da Dong after the name of a famous chef.  There are a few of these restaurants.  They are as luxurious as anything in New York, Paris or London.  The duck was great and the price by ordinary Chinese standards was hideously expensive, but reasonable by Western standards. 

     Several years ago I saw a display at Rockerfeller Center in New York of a famous designer’s antique car collection.  It really astounded me, such fabulously expressive designs.  Las night on the walk to Da Dong I was amazed to see one of the most beautiful designs.  It was a Bugatti that had an elegant and powerful style.  China is a nation whose people live on about a hundred dollars a month per person. This magnificent luxury would cost the equivalent of what thousands of people would earn in a lifetime.  The Hutong and the Bugatti are on the same street.  For now I think everyone here is willing to accept the current state of affairs in China so they and their children have a chance at the great life, whatever that may be. There are many example of those that have succeeded.