Hi Everyone,
Happy New Year! Here’s to a happy, healthy, and safe 2022! Welcome back to Astronomer in Beijing. As always, thank you so much for coming to my blog and sharing in my exploration of Beijing. I hope that this blog finds you all safe, well, happy, and healthy! Obviously December is a month of holidays and wrapping up the year, so I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season (and for those of you that celebrate Christmas, a very Merry Christmas) and that you were able to celebrate with friends and family (even if it was just over zoom). Here in Beijing, December has been a pretty different month than my typical December. Although I did go to a Holiday party (more on that below), the academic calendar is set to the Lunar New Year, so the semester hasn’t ended yet (we had a group meeting on Christmas day, which despite me not celebrating Christmas was just a bit odd – though I did go to a mall afterward to get some new base layer shirts and they were playing some familiar holiday music) and the Department of Astronomy is having a series of job talks for a potential new faculty member this week. Hopefully your New Year’s celebrations were a bit more eventful than mine. I did enjoy watching a movie and staying up until Midnight to welcome in the New Year, but it just wasn’t the same to watch the ball drop in NYC at 1pm on January 1.
I do want to say that given the recent spike in COVID cases and the Omicron variant, it definitely makes me more nervous, so I hope you’re all getting boosters if you’re able and continue to wear masks. While there are currently no identified COVID cases in Beijing, the government and Tsinghua are asking everyone to refrain from travel during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday to prevent any increase spread (and having the Olympics start in about a month isn’t making anyone want to lessen precautions). Although it isn’t a definitive travel ban, I’m following that guideline and refraining from visiting Jesse until after the Olympics. If you’ve been following, China’s currently dealing with it’s largest outbreak in quite some time and have closed off the city of Xi’an to prevent further spread (there are currently hundreds of active cases there). Despite all of that, I think I was able to do some pretty exciting things this month!
The Forbidden City
One of the landmarks in Beijing that I’d been wanting to visit since I arrived here was the Forbidden City. Although the Great Wall of China is probably the most iconic landmark in China, I’d argue that the Forbidden City is the most iconic Beijing landmark (yes, the Great Wall is in Beijing, but only on the outskirts – the entire city of Beijing is centered on the Forbidden City). Thankfully, Richard was also very excited to visit the Forbidden City. After a few failed attempts at getting tickets (ultimately, with the help of one of our Chinese colleagues, we were able to successfully get tickets when he pointed out that the online form required us to write our names without spaces, so EmmetGabrielGoldenMarx instead of the usual spelling), Richard and I decided to spend a very chilly Boxing Day afternoon at the Forbidden City. This was definitely worth the price of admission! Although entering the Forbidden City today is much like any other large palace, it’s quite impactful to walk through a gate that traditionally was closed to commoners and basically separated the city between the Imperial and everything else.
The Forbidden City is a massive walled palace that was the seat of the Qing Dynasty and all Chinese government for over 500 years (1420 to 1924) and has since become a world heritage site and for my money is truly a wonder. Amazingly it was all constructed in only 14 years and is immaculate. One of the things that was most impressive to me was the clean line aesthetic of the large red tower walls in the inner city and yellow roofing. When you’re inside the palace, they act to transport you out of the modern Beijing and bring you to a much different era. Given the intense level of detail and symmetry of the entire palace, it’s not hard to realize why Beijing is such a uniquely gridded city. For scale, the walls are approximately 26ft tall and the moat (see the last few pictures) is about 50ft wide. While the entire scale of the Palace is similar to that of Versailles, unlike European estates, here much of the grounds show a triumph over nature. Instead of well manicured gardens and a large main house, instead we have large smooth stones courtyards, where it’s easy to imagine large military and bureaucratic assemblies, followed by a number of temples and other palaces used for the emperor.
Because the Palace is enormous and both Richard and I realized that there was no way we were going to see the entire palace, so we decided to follow the main thoroughfare (acknowledging that we’ll be back multiple times). Thus, what you’ve seen above are primarily pictures of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and Palace of Heavenly Purity and the associated stone courtyards. It’s still unclear to me just how much of the surrounding side buildings are open to the public and what portions have been transformed into a museum. For the most part, we spent much of the visit in awe of the architectural marvel. One of the most amazing qualities of the Palace is the scale of everything. Nothing is small. Every gateway felt like it was at least 20ft tall and could hold thousands of people. It’s entirely overwhelming. All of the buildings are large and ornate, with golden inlay and trims. One of the thing that caught my attention is the unique stone carvings of dragons descending from mountains that surrounded most of the palaces and gates that we walked through. As the dragon is the symbol of the Emperor in Ancient China, this shouldn’t have been surprising, but it was the intricacy of details like this that caught my eye. As many of these stone carvings followed the steps down from various temples and palaces, perhaps they are meant to symbolize the descent of the Emperor from his throne to the people?
Beyond the architectural marvels, there were a number of statues of lions and other animals that I really liked. Unlike the dragon, the lion a symbolic protector, so the golden lions here are meant to serve as protectors of the palace, much like a gargoyle. Additionally, although the animal statues were usually purely aesthetic, the Palace does include multiple sundials used to keep time, as well as other ornate vases used to measure grain and rainfall.
Although much of the palace is an architectural marvel, the last portion (or at least our last portion) is a manicured stone and tree garden. Unlike the manicured gardens of Versailles, the trees seemed to be pruned to emulate the rock formations that are included within the garden and highlight a beauty in the imperfect rather than the perfect. These seemed to dramatically contrast the immaculate symmetry and perfection of the Forbidden City itself. Given the enclosed nature of the city itself, it is easy to imagine a contemplative emperor or philosopher pondering some grand philosophy in these sorts of gardens surrounded by stone depicting the strength of the earth.
During my visit, I kept thinking of how movies like Hero and the music video for From Yesterday by 30 Seconds to Mars that were shot at the Forbidden City just can’t do it justice (and really, neither can my photos). While I hope you all got a sense of the Forbidden City, I’m left with a desire to return and once again be surrounded by the splendor and hopefully continue to learn about the history of the palace, as well. The next time I visit, I plan to try one of the guided tours as I think some of the nuance of the different temples representing different religions and philosophies (including Daoism and Buddhism) was probably lost on me as I didn’t notice any obvious religious iconography (although it’s possible they were in another portion of the Palace), as well as gain a better understanding of what each palace was used for to fully appreciate the grandeur. For now, it was an amazing afternoon to get a taste of the grandeur of Beijing.
One Last Channukkah Celebration
As I wrote in my last entry, despite some initial difficulties finding candles, I had a lovely time celebrating Channukkah here in Beijing. Although you saw the first seven nights, I did want to share the celebration at the Chabad in Beijing that I went to on the 8th night. This was my first time at Chabad and although I really like the Kehillat Beijing and the style of Judaism that we practice there, it was very nice to come together with the other Jewish community here in Beijing. The celebration was filled with loads of latkes and sufganiyot (see the multitude of donuts with fun toppings), as well as a giant menorah lighting. It was a fantastic way to cap the Festival of Lights.
Life at Tsinghua: An Astronomy Update + Orienteering & a Holiday Party
In terms of my academic life, this was a relatively normal month. In terms of research, most of the month was spent making headway on Project morphology. I’ve now measured the morphology of all of the early universe star-forming galaxies in my sample and am working to interpret our results. I’m hoping to add some additional observations to this analysis in the coming month. I’ve also got a solid plan for Project Radio (thanks to some very useful conversations with my collaborators Emily and Lu) and am aiming to prioritize this project a bit more over the break. Additionally, I did have the opportunity to give a lunch talk in the Department. It was great to see lots of familiar faces from my research group as well as introduce myself and my research to the department at large. I focused primarily on my dissertation research at BU and got lots of very interesting questions in regards to galaxy evolution, AGN morphology, and the evolution of the bent radio sources I study (all of which I plan work on while I’m here). I also had some great conversations with one of the other new postdocs who also worked on radio AGNs as well as one of our new faculty members (who happens to collaborate with my brother, Jesse).
Although my own Astronomy research dominated my time, I do want to highlight that this month also saw the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope by NASA. JWST is an IR telescope that will be the successor to Hubble. For those of your who are unaware, JWST was originally planned to launch in 2007 with a budget of $500 million, which in the 14 years since the initial date has ballooned to over $8 billion. Getting to see JWST actually launch was pretty cool and I’m even more excited for all of the potential science. I won’t go into too many details, but for my research, the IR nature of JWST and it’s high precision and sensitivity should be a game changer for the study of galaxies in the early universe. While I don’t currently have any direct JWST projects, Zheng and I are working on a few different possible projects that could be done with the data that becomes publicly available in the coming years.
Outside of Astronomy, I partook in two very different and very fun activities sponsored by the International Students & Scholars Office here at Tsinghua. The first was an Orienteering Event designed to get students to run around campus and do various little games. While my team wasn’t that fast, it was very fun to get a better sense of the campus and do the activities, which including using chopsticks to transfer ping pong balls from plates in under a minute (I was pretty impressed with my 25 as I’m by far no expert with chop sticks), a mini curling game, memory games, a puzzle, and building mini snowmen. It was fun to meet some new people on campus (the two other members of my team were both Masters students, one from Cuba and one from Ukraine). I also got a cool t-shirt featuring the Olympics panda mascot out of it, too!
Additionally, as I mentioned in the top of my blog, Richard, Paulo, and I went to the New Year’s Celebration sponsored by the International Scholars Office. The party was an interesting mix of Western New Years and Chinese New Years as much of the decorations featured Tigers for the Year of the Tiger (though we did end with a rousing rendition of Aud Lang Syne). There were probably about 50 or 60 people there and it involved some yummy desserts, musical performances, and a few games. Although some of musical performances were planned, they also had karaoke (called KTV here) at the end, which was a ton of fun! Given my musical background, it should probably come as no surprise to you that I was the first (and actually only) person to volunteer to perform. I sang Hey Jude (complete with the endless Na Nas) and Fix You. I got a lot of praise from the audience and a stuffed Tiger as a thank you! I hope this won’t be the last time I do some singing here.
I will say, one interesting thing was the head of the International Scholars Office’s definition of an International Scholar. While in the US, this would be anyone not from the US (be it a faculty member, postdoc, or student – at least depending on how it was classified by position), at Tsinghua, they also include Chinese Nationals who’ve studied abroad and returned to China. Although this probably inflates the numbers of international scholars on campus, it made for quite an eclectic mix of people at the party.
Exploring Beijing
Beyond visiting the Forbidden City, I also did some exploring with Richard. This included to a trip to the Sanyuanli market here in Beijing. Although I’ve mostly been going to grocery stores that are more in the Western model, this is more akin to the Shuk in Israel with vendors piled on one another, selling all manor of fresh fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, as well as imported products (and meats and seafoods, but I avoided those for a multitude of reasons). Although it’s pretty far from my apartment, I’ll definitely be back because the selection here is amazing! If you’re eagle eyed, you might notice that strawberries are available here in December. These are not imported from South America, like in the US, but rather grown in Southern China (making Strawberry season NOW). The difference in fruit seasons is definitely going to take some getting used to (corn is also now in season, which seems equally bizarre). .
One of the winter festivities that I’m most excited for is the freezing of the Shichahai lakes (these are the lakes that I run around every week). Since they’re pretty shallow, the water will freeze over allowing for people to stand, sit, or skate on the ice. As December has gotten progressively chillier, I’e been able to document the slow freezing of the lakes, which ultimately culminated in the photos below of people getting all of the sleds and chairs ready so that people can play on the ice (Personally, I’m a bit terrified to do this – maybe I’ve seen one too many after school special where someone falls into a frozen lake). One thing to note is that the freezing of Houhai has NOT prevented people from swimming. Every time I’ve gone running, I’ve seen a handful of speedo-clad men jumping out of the lake and drying off. I guess the Polar Plunge exists here, too!
As you’re probably aware, the Olympics are right around the corner. Since I was in the area, I again ventured near the Olympic stadium. Unfortunately it’s still closed off to the public, but it is cool to see the Rings. I will say that I have seen surprisingly little direct advertisements for the Games. There’s been an influx of winter sports related advertising, as well as an increase in articles about them, but right now the Olympic Park area is the only place where I’ve been able to see an obvious sign of the impending games. We’ll see if that increases this month as the games approach and the athletes arrive.
In my wandering around Beijing and trips to Sanyuanli and the Forbidden City, I also saw lots of really cool art statues and buildings that I wanted to share with you all. Below you’ll see some of the less commercial ones.
While here are all of the more commercial ads and buildings (and some cool anime-inspired art and ads)! I want to highlight that the area with the Spalding, Nike, NBA (more on that below), and Apple Stores is about 15 minutes from the Forbidden City and it’s kind of amazing how transported I felt when I entered the Forbidden City. It really does feel apart from the rest of the hustle and bustle. I also want to add that this is the first time when I’ve thought Beijing felt like Shanghai. While I’ve seen lots of Western style malls and shops, the almost overflowing abundance of megastores and shops (as well as the wider streets) really reminded me of some of the areas I visited with Jesse.
Although I don’t celebrate Christmas, I did notice quite a few signs of the holiday here in Beijing. I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising since unlike Judaism, Christianity is a government approved religion (interestingly, it is counted as two of the five government approved religions here in China – Catholicism and Christianity (which is the blanket term for Protestantism) are counted separately). I will say that most of the signs of Christmas that I saw were in the form of marketing and at Western chains or stores. However, it has ingrained itself in the public zeitgeist as even in my research group, where I’m the only foreigner, one of the grad students was giving everyone candy from a sock, which she used in lieu of a stocking and I even got a box of candy as a Christmas gift from the import store I frequent. I will note that the most marvelous Christmas tree I saw was outside of what I later found out was Saint Joseph’s Church (it’s right in the middle of the shopping area by the Forbidden City). I pretty surprised to see such a Western style church here in China and even more surprised by all of the lights at night. For those wondering, it was built in 1655 when Catholic missionaries first came to China and according to the internet, is still open today.
Animals of Beijing
It wouldn’t be an Astronomer in Beijing blog without some fun animal photos. Obviously, I had to include some cute photos of Mimi & Honey (Roberta & Ted’s dogs), but I also spotted a “Cat on a [cold stone] roof” and some other photogenic animals in my neighborhood.
Jewish Life
While much of December was thoroughly post-Channukkah, we did have two more Shabbat dinners here in Beijing (due to renovations at Roberta & Ted’s house and New Year’s Eve, we didn’t have services the last two weeks). Although we had a bit smaller crowd, I liked the intimate Shabbat dinners (and Ted prepared wonderful meals as usual with a melange of themes). I had the pleasure of leading both services and got to do a bit of experimenting with some of the tunes that I’ve picked up over the years from Temple Sinai, Brown – RISD Hillel, and BU Hillel. Not having Shabbat dinner the last two weeks really has reminded me just how important this community is for me and how thankful I am to be a part of it!
Vegan Market & Other Vegan Food
Earlier in the same day as the Channukkah Party, I went to the Vegans of Beijing Holiday Vegan Market. As can be seen from the photos below, this was a delicious way to spend an afternoon. As I mentioned when I went to the Beijing Vegan Festival in October, I really missed these types of events from my time in Boston and one of the things that I especially missed was getting to try a smorgasbord of vegan desserts. Here, I was not disappointed! As you can see from the photos, I got some delicious cookies, brownies, cake pops, baklava, and fudge (definitely a bit of a sugar rush). There were also some really cool artists and other vendors, too! For those of you who were wondering, not all of the vendors were expats (though probably 60% were), so it’s exciting to see some grassroots Vegan efforts here in China. These types of events are some of the events that I missed the most during the pandemic, so it was very comforting and nostalgic to get to partake in this. There’s another one happening in January and I can’t wait!
Beyond the Vegan Market, Richard and I got lunch as part of both of our adventures in Beijing. We went to a Tunisian restaurant, where we got an array of Mediterranean food (falafel, hummus, tabouleh!) and samosa. It was quite good and nice to get to try some non-Chinese food that also tasted very reminiscent of the flavors I had in Israel.
However, I think the most impressive meal (and probably the most elegant restaurant I’ve been to here in Beijing – see the pictures below) was when we went to Fuhui Ciyuan, a Vegetarian restaurant near the Forbidden City. We got a veritable feast of vegetarian food including fried red beans (they had a potato-like quality and were delicious), fried mushrooms (a delicious finger food), a spinach and mushroom stuffed dough (the waitress called it a pizza, but it was definitely not a pizza, although it was delicious), eggplant served in an eggplant, Beijing-style tofu, and dumplings, as well as a lovely tea that came with a fruit salad. Everything was delicious! This wonderful meal certainly put me in the mood to go explore the Forbidden City. I do want to highlight that in the Mandarin class that Richard and I are taking, one of the goals that week was to attempt to order food in Mandarin. Although we weren’t successful here (we tried, but the staff had sought out a waitress who spoke English and I think she didn’t want to wait for our slightly mangled Mandarin), Richard and I did later visit a cafe and were successfully able to order (though when they asked me if I wanted hot or cold tea, I had no idea what they were asking and a patron had to translate for me). So slowly, I’m learning a little Mandarin, although I’m still a ways away from being able to have even a basic conversation.
East Meets West
Beyond the typical giant western stores that I’ve already shared with you all, I also wandered past a few different outposts of the West/western culture (including, what I think is the Canadian Embassy) and two different bookstores with some English Language books (and some translated into Mandarin). The English language bookstores are especially exciting as the selection includes many popular works by writers like John Grisham, Stephen King, and others. It’s nice to know that when I run out of books to read, that I’ll be able to peruse a bookstore and pick up some new ones. I also saw lots of the influence of the ever pervasive Disney and Harry Potter, too!
As I mentioned before, having walked past the NBA store, I had to go in and see if there was any kind of Utah Jazz gear that I could get (Yes, although geographically it makes no sense, Jesse and I root for the Jazz). Although the only sign of the existence of the Jazz was a John Stockton and Donovan Mitchell jersey, it was still cool to see the NBA store here. It was half store, half museum and 100% an ode to superstars (particularly MJ, but also Lebron, Steph Curry, and Luka). It was a really cool reminder of just how popular basketball is here.
Anime & Comics
As with all Astronomer in Beijing posts, I have to conclude with my sightings of anime/manga and comics paraphernalia here in Beijing. On the US comics front, we had some new additions to the crew including Rick and Morty (ok, not really comics, but they’ve done comics), Transformers, and Garfield the Cat. I also saw a very cool goofy Batman scooter seat, that I had to take a picture of!
This month’s anime corner is dominated by Pokemon (Pikachu is everywhere!) and One Piece. I’m far more of a One Piece fan than Pokemon (I never got into it), but it’s still cool to turn the corner and see a familiar icon. I must say, as my shelves in my apartment can attest, I’m a sucker for buying the litter figurines, so I love seeing all of these and getting to express a bit of my own fandom. It’s also really cool to see all of the manga, although it’s always in Japanese (and thus I can’t read it). I’ll never get tired of snapping pictures of these!
Anyway, thank you all for staying with me until the end of another entry of Astronomer in Beijing! If you have any thoughts or questions about anything (from the Forbidden City to Vegan Food to anime figures), please reach out, either comment below or write me directly. I hope you enjoyed getting to see a bit of Beijing (and especially the Forbidden City) through my eyes! I hope that January 2022 is a good month for you all and the start of a happy, healthy, and safe new year!
In Peace,
Emmet
