10th February, 2001
Chengde, North West Of Beijing, In Cold Days. Street Outside Chinese Restaurant. Children Line Up To Enter School. Zhong Inspects Chinese Paintings On Street
December, 1994
Our Chengde train tickets had been booked, but we had forgotten to book a taxi to take us to the Beijing Railway Station. Leaving the flat at 5.30 in the morning, on a bitterly cold day, we hoped to pick up a taxi fairly quickly, but that was not to be. Zhong and I rapidly walked to a bus stop on the nearby ring road and arrived to see a loaded lorry driving on the wrong side of the road and against the traffic. The driver had either taken the wrong turning or was taking an unofficial short cut. We boarded a bus already packed tight with passengers, and arrived at the railway station, about three minutes before departure time, just as Hong, who had given up hope of seeing us, was about to get off the train. The crisis was over !
 Chengde, in the days of the Emperors was the, "Escaping The Heat Resort", but when we arrived, to be met by Hong's friend, the only heat to be found was in our air conditioned hotel. For our lunch on that day, Chang took us to a small restaurant in one of the back streets. There were no tourists' coaches here, just bicycles and mopeds, a good sign that the Chinese restaurant was well regarded by the local people, and having enjoyed a wonderful but inexpensive lunch, we shared that opinion. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", is good advice in whatever country you happen to be visiting, unless you can't live without a McDonalds or a KFC lunch.
 Lunch time was over when we were walking past a school yard to hear a teacher or headmaster speaking from a first floor window to the children below, who quickly went into lines facing the school doors, until they were told to enter. There may have been some special punishment for disobedient school children, but at this school the pupils were well disciplined. School teachers in China are not highly paid, so for many of them it is a vocation rather than a means to earn a living. The educational system in China is somewhat different to many of the Western countries, as I have learned from a Chinese friend teaching English in a far from prosperous China town in the countryside.
 The people must earn a living in whatever way they can. The street hawker selling apples could well have been a farmer selling some of his crop, or just a small retailer taking his business to the streets. I wondered whether his balance scales were accurate. A man or woman sitting on the pavement with a few apples on a bamboo skip, or even a piece of cardboard to act as their stall, can often be seen in small towns and indeed, even in some of the cities. If all their stock was sold during the course of the day, they would have earned only a few yuan.
 But fruit is not the only thing sold on the streets. Hanging up in front of an hotel were several Chinese paintings so Zhong went to inspect them and talk to the seller, who was clad in a much needed long thick overcoat. As much thought is given to the inscription or title of a Chinese painting as to the detailed subject it portrays. "Cat And Dog On Chair", might be a Western inscription, but a Chinese artist might inscribe it as,
"It Is Better To Be Friends Than To Be Enemies", and of course the painting would have the red seal of the artist.
 There was some protection from the winds in one of the markets we visited and one stall had a fine selection of nuts, peanuts in their husks, peanuts in their skins and skinned, and cashew nuts amongst them. After every sale, the stall holder reshaped the pile of nuts or stack of oranges, which had been disturbed, to make the display look attractive again.
If you are interested in other Chengde topics, such as...
Walk To Chengde Palace Of Dahongtai...
..then just click them !
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