What is in a Name?

It was a spark of inspiration to try my hand at literal translation in Beijing in April 2009.

We were trying to get from Point A to Point B by foot, seeing as it was the most direct route compared to taking the underground. So there's this short straight section of road (multiplied by a few times for a few turns) which should bring us happily to dinner at a modern shopping mall. However, as with most things in China, don't forget the scale of things! 2 centimeters on a map work out to a lot more steps and sweat in a sprawling metropolis like Beijing. Not that we didn't know, having trod through the Temple of Heaven grounds the day before, but here we are, too far gone to turn back to Point A, but still a long and hungry distance from Point B. But I digress...

In the turn of a corner, we were at 正义道. All at once, we were greeted by a pretty promenade under an intricate canopy of almost bare branches. After all, spring has yet time to coax the life and colours out of these graceful trees. We were informed that this was a park. That's nice, and hey, isn't that a modern toilet smack in the centre? Solar powered, no less, and in spiffy silver. Strangely enough, without the space age looking toilet, the park would have reminded me of a similar promenade in Boston, MA, reclaimed from marshland.

That hunch was a hint to the history of the area. The guidebook tells us that this was formerly an embassy strip. Looking at this building, you'd probably expect it to be in some Western country, well, not China in any case. But here it is, next to a futuristic looking public toilet, on 正义道 in Beijing. I realise what an accurate snapshot that was of Beijing now in all its transition and transformation, but that's not the point of this blog today :-)

正义道 literally means path of righteousness. Besides sounding a happy resonance of Psalm 23:3, it evoked some irony for an area that housed diplomats of a bygone era, all jostling for a foothold in the Middle Kingdom. Today, the place is a quiet park, a convenient connector between two main roads. Quaint statues dot the promenade. Here a sweeper girl, there a musician. Quite a different flavour from earlier times, but still, no less, 正义道.

I haven't told you about 望京, the City of Hope yet! The usual tourist wouldn't detour here, but this is a pleasant northeastern suburb with a sizeable Korean community and modern amenities. My Korean friends have no problems getting ingredients from home here, the City of Hope.

Beijing Cherry Blossom Festival 2009

A little heart wish was fulfilled recently at YuYuanTan Park in Beijing.

To set eyes on transient beauty, lay hold of fleeting spring, feel time brush langorously past as lithe willows sway, enjoy the translucent canopy of paper thin blooms overhead... flitting, flying, falling so perfectly, none out of place.

This is the Cherry Blossom Festival 2009 in Beijing. Weeks of anticipation turned into overwhelmed sight and a gentle heart's sigh.

It was on the first Saturday of April 2009 that I became a privileged partaker of these beauteous blooms, a guest ushered into the magical alcove of millions of flowerheads, all singing the same springsong in the breeze.

No matter that hundreds of local denizens were there; on the contrary they added to the authenticity of the experience. No notion of genteel Japanese hanami here either; it was crowds of all ages, families and friends out in full force, children running, tumbling, crying. It was a private and public enjoyment all at once.

An outsider like me finds it most strange and a little amusing that ladies donning contemporary garb would wear wreaths of plastic cherry blossoms in their hair, not just in the park but onto the public bus outside. A singular sighting I dismissed as a lone, high-spirited young lass but wandering deeper and deeper into the garden, more and more such lasses appeared before me, as in a vision!

The girls were real all right. They were in the flush of exuberance, chatting happily with their friends or special someones, colourful crowns bobbing in the sea of heads. Here are some of them

• 
• 
• 

Then, there are the stars of the show, the gracious hosts who forebear the multitude of feet on their turf.

We are told that there are 2000 cherry blossom trees of 20 varieties, so this is only
the slightest sampling of the show...

• 
• 
• 
• 

This is the handmaiden to the cherry blossoms, called YingChunHua (literally translated as "welcome-spring flower"):

It was a hive of activity in the park: Tiny tots admiring each other all decked out... Enterprising Chinese selling all sorts of artificial flowers to the spring-inebriated crowds... In child-centric China, sweet sellers never go out of business. Simple pleasures in life... bubbles and bunnies. More simple pleasures in life... the humble shuttlecock! That's the outdoor spirit... spot the 'gung ho' baby.

As the sun began to set and activity dropped a notch, it wasn't clear whether the multitudes were there to gaze at cherry blossoms with single-hearted devotion or to exult in the presence of spring with soaring spirits. But surely the beauteous blossoms would have no quarrel with the latter. Cherry blossoms and spring, why, they're the most natural bedfellows!