Hi Everyone,
Thank you so much for returning to my Astronomer in Beijing blog. I hope that your summer is progressing nicely and that you’re all able to enjoy a little bit of down time, not dealing with too much of this crazy heat wave that seems to be engulfing the world, and that you remain safe, happy and healthy. Here in Beijing it’s been quite hot! As I mentioned last month, nearly every day has had high temperatures in the 90s and this past week, with the humidity, the temperatures felt closer to 115 degrees. As someone who grew up in Upstate NY, this weather has been really tough for me. I definitely am glad that my AC unit works quite well and that the AC in my office is good (and I have a mini desk fan to help me cool down more). In terms of the COVID situation in Beijing, things have generally remained quite good here in Beijing. There have been a few cases (approximately 1 every 5 days), but for the most part, life is back to normal (other than near constant testing – at least every three days). They even stopped the mandatory QR code scanning to enter my hutong neighborhood! Given that the people who do the COVID tests all wear full body plastic hazmat suits, I don’t know how they do it. There have been articles about how dangerous it is for the workers and how many of them are suffering from heat exhaustion. In my neighborhood, they did set up a new testing site, and given that it has walls (see above photo), I hope it has some kind of cooling system. Beyond COVID, Beijing has certainly been in the news quite a bit given the reactions to Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan. While I don’t want this to become a political soapbox, I will say that a lot of the westerners I know here are definitely a bit on edge and hoping things don’t escalate.
Before I dive into my month, I thought it was worth noting that as I write this post, I’ve officially been in China for over a year (I arrived in Shanghai on August 4th, 2021 – Ironically, I defended my dissertation on August 4th, 2020, so I guess August 4th is a big day, though it was relatively uneventful this year). Before I dive into my life in Beijing in July, I did want to reflect a bit on the past year (as signified by my 365+ day streak on DuoLingo). It’s really hard to believe that it’s been over a year since I left my parents in Saratoga (and then my cousins in Ann Arbor) and spent 18+ hours on a plane coming to China. At times it feels like it was just yesterday that I was living in Saratoga and helping my Mom pick fruit or going running with my Dad, but at other times it feels so much longer. Obviously, through the wonders of Facetime, Zoom, and Skype, I’m able to see my parents and talk to them regularly (as well as other family and friends not in China), but it’s not the same. I think it would be easier to be so far away if I had any idea when I might get to go back to the US for a visit, but given the quarantine restrictions and prices of a flight (of the order of $5,000 one way), it’s a bit tough to say when that will happen (likely not before the end of my contract). So in celebrating my one year China-versary, it’s definitely a bit bittersweet. This is definitely not to say that I’m not enjoying my time here in Beijing. Obviously, I’ve gotten to do a ton of sightseeing and experience an entirely foreign culture to what I grew up in. I’ve enjoyed exploring the different areas of Beijing, trying lots of amazing vegan Chinese foods, making new friends (most of whom are my fellow international postdocs), and getting involved in a wonderful Jewish community through Kehillat Beijing! I’ve also really enjoyed being in the same time zone as Jesse, too (although it is quite frustrating that I haven’t been able to see him since last August – if you’re wondering, now, the concern of visiting is that if there was a positive case in Xuhui where Jesse lives, I wouldn’t be able to return to Beijing until 7 days after, so even a short weekend trip could become an extended stay – I’m hoping as the case numbers stay low that maybe towards the end of the month, or early in fall, I’ll head down for a visit). I’ve also quite enjoyed trying so many exotic fruits (pomelo, lychee), vegetables (so many types of mushrooms), and tofus! While there are a lot of things that I think China does well that the US could learn from (the ease of digital pay, lack of gun violence, speed of online deliveries for all things), there are definitely a lot of things that I miss from the US (other than my friends and family). Most of these are things that I took for granted in the US (like having proper western toilets – I won’t go into the details, but Chinese squat toilets are NOT their Japanese counterparts in terms of luxury, pedestrian right of way – especially when there is a walk sign, one way streets applying to ALL vehicles, and the ability to get ice cold water at a restaurant), although some are a bit more obvious (though I’m learning Mandarin, I do miss random impromptu conversations and being able to travel without getting permission from my work). Additionally, and this might seem odd, I miss the anonymity of my existence in the US. Obviously the number of foreigners here in Beijing is pretty small compared to the total population and most aren’t 6ft2in white guys with a man bun and a beard, so I stand out, but it’s weird to have people randomly try to take selfies with me on the subway, little kids stare at me, and people just generally noticing my existence. I’m used to standing out when I’m with Jesse, but since we weren’t together all the time in Boston, it does feel a bit weird to be occasionally treated as a spectacle when I’m just walking to the subway as opposed to the anonymity I had when walking down Commonwealth Ave every day when I was in Boston. All in all, this year has been quite a journey. I’m happy to say that I’m making progress on my science (more on that below), so hopefully the rest of the summer will lead to a productive fall semester!
With all that said, here’s what I was up to in July!
The Temple of Heaven
A few weeks ago, Richard and I visited the Temple of Heaven. For those of you with eagle eyes (and who watched the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics like a hawk), you might remember the Temple of Heaven, since the grounds were part of the marathon route. Like many of the palaces and temples that I’ve visited, the grounds of the Temple are enormous. However, unlike many of the other gardens and palaces that I’ve visited, the grounds include both more park-like areas and traditional architecture (where large tile plazas abound). For those of you wondering, the Temple gets its name because it was originally built as a site for sacrifices to the Gods of Heaven in the 16th Century. Because Heaven in Chinese culture is represented by a circle and Earth is represented by a square, all of the various temples here were circular, but surrounded by square plazas to denote the place of Earth within the cosmos. Like the Forbidden City (which was built around the same time as the Temple of Heaven, and thus shares many architectural similarities), the Temple of Heaven was originally reserved for the royal family and wasn’t opened to the public until the early 20th Century. Since then, it was officially made a Unesco heritage site.
Before I show you the three main temples, one of the aspects of the Temple of Heaven that I was most fascinated by was the gardens. Unlike the the Old and New summer palaces, where the gardens felt more in tune with nature, here the gardens, especially the placement of the trees had a unique, almost geometric rigidity. At times, these designs felt more European than what I’ve seen here in China (far more similar to the highly styled gardens of Versailles). Beyond the trees, the grounds are also home to the Hundred Flower Pavilion. Despite the insane heat (it was nearly 100 degrees when we visited), the shock of color from the flower beds is still marvelous and makes for a great photo. Given the heat, part of me wonders what the pavilion must be like in the middle of April as this seems to be peak flower blooming time here in Beijing.
The three main sites that are part of the Temple of Heaven are (from South to North), The Circular Mound Altar, the Imperial Vault of Heaven, and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. Each of these is connected via a long tile road. When you see pictures of the road, you should see a narrow middle lane that was previously designated only for the royal family to walk in. When you’re walking between the three, it’s easy to see the symbolic nature of the grounds. Though much of the symbolism is in the geometric shape, the surrounding gardens also show the Earth’s place and connection with the Heavens (at least as seen by 16th Century Chinese people). The Circular Mound Altar is all white marble divided into three landings and surrounded by magnificent stone dragon carvings (see below). It is here where the Emperor prayed for favorable weather. Standing in the middle of the altar with the sun beating down on you, it’s hard not to imagine the symbolic nature of the grounds.
The second of the three main sites is the Imperial Vault of Heaven, which is designed to look like a miniature version of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. Inside the Imperial Vault, you can see the incredibly ornate tile work in the ceiling, along with the traditional dragon motifs that signify the Emperor.
The last of the three main sites is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, which is, in my opinion, the most stunning and definitely one of the defining landmarks in Beijing. It’s marked by a set of three circular rims that tower above everything. Because you first see the Hall through large red gates, it’s almost as if you enter a hidden world by visiting the Hall. In visiting the Temple and walking from one site to the next along the long tile road, it’s easy to see the religious significance of the Temple, especially when you climb the steep flights of steps (see my selfie with Richard for perspective) to get to the actual Hall, as if one is ascending toward heaven. The symbolism of the elevated Hall, symbolizing heaven, overlooking the surrounding earth is certainly not lost on me either. In getting to view the hall up close (like most of the historic sites here, you aren’t allowed inside, you are only to look through the doors), you can see more of the grandeur of the design as well as the scale. Much like the Forbidden City, everything involving the emperor appears larger than life, with the towering ceilings and doors of the Hall, as well as the large ornate pillars. Interestingly, this is actually the second Hall of the Prayer for Good Harvests, as the original burned down in a lightning storm in 1889.
Beyond the main three sites, there are also a number of smaller halls on the grounds that we were able to visit (interestingly, some of them required an additional free ticket, which neither Richard nor I could really figure out the purpose of). As you can see, though the scale of these buildings is more normal, the ornate design continues throughout the entire grounds. Interestingly, we were also able to peak in on one of the halls that is in the process of being restored (or doing some kind of excavation). If you look at some of the lower photos, you can see some of the original brick work!
One of my favorite things about visiting so many of these temples and palaces in Beijing is that they all have fun, cute mascots (see below), as well as frozen treats in the shape of the buildings. I got a Strawberry Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests frozen treat, which was a great way to cool off in the heat. While I was eating it, Richard and I noticed that a little kid could not stop staring at me. I don’t know if it was because I was one of the few white people there, or if he just liked my beard, but that’s just part of my life here in China.
A Return to 798 (and a Meet up with my Friend Lu!)
Last month, a visit to the Temple of Heaven wasn’t the only fun thing I did. Last Friday, I met up with my colleague and collaborator on all things radio AGN, Lu Shen, and we visited 798! In case you don’t remember, Lu and I both work on early universe galaxy clusters hosting AGNs and are collaborating with our other friend, Emily Moravec, on some cool cluster/radio AGN science. Lu had previously been a postdoc at the University of Science and Technology in Hefei, but before she starts her next postdoc at Texas A&M was spending the summer with her family here in Beijing. I last saw Lu back in October when Lu visited Tsinghua and since a planned visit to USTC got scrapped because of the spring COVID outbreak and all of the travel restrictions, it was really great to see her in person before she heads back to the US. Lu and I met up Friday morning and she drove us to 798 (I think this is only the 3rd time that I’ve driven in someone who is not a taxi driver’s car here in Beijing, which seems really bizarre when I write that). For those of you who don’t remember, 798 is the large artist zone that exists in Beijing (interestingly it’s quite near where Roberta & Ted live) and I visited it last November. 798 started out as abandoned factories and warehouses that were taken over by artists in the 90s. Although much of the space has since been turned into gallery space instead of artist studios (as 798 real estate became more expensive, the artists were forced to move elsewhere), the charm of the area is that it is quite unlike everything else in Beijing. Rather than towering shining skyscrapers, here you see walls and walls full of graffiti and fun sculptures. This was my second visit to 798 and it certainly will not be my last!
Although you can easily spend an afternoon just looking at all of the amazing graffiti and other murals, Lu and I also noticed the recently opened Mickey The True Original & Ever-Curious Exhibition. As you’ve probably noticed in my blogs, the House of Mouse is pretty popular here in China, so it wasn’t too surprising to see an art exhibit devoted to him. However, what made this exhibit cool, at least to me is that it wasn’t just classic name brand Disney. Rather, the show featured hundreds of different interpretations of Mickey Mouse and his classical visage. Theoretically this is a traveling show (I believe it was in NYC a few years ago, so if any of you happen to stumble upon it, I’d definitely recommend it). One of the things that I loved is the pop art nature of the show, with the vibrant colors, shapes, and lights! One of my favorite pieces shows Mickey and Minnie drawn in leaves as a representation of Adam and Eve. The three eyed Mickey was also super trippy! I also really liked seeing some Asian influences. If you look at the below photos closely, you’ll see some manga panels from Kingdom Hearts (the Disney-Final Fantasy mashup that was huge in the early 2000s), other manga inspired panels, as well as some classical screen paintings featuring Mickey.
One of my favorite pieces that I couldn’t photograph was a side-by-side viewing of Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey Mouse short, where on the left hand side they showed the original and on the right hand side they showed new interpretations of the same scenes. I have many fond memories of visiting my Uncle Grant in Buffalo and watching those old Disney shorts on his film projector, so that really took me back. There was also a really cool display where you looked through telescopes so that you could zoom in on what appeared to be static, but was actually a digital sea of Mickey Mouse. The Astronomer in me thought it was really cool to see telescopes used like that in art! I also really liked the series of statues that I dubbed “The Vitruvian Mickey” after their resemblance to the Leonard Da Vinci drawing (they’re actually called Snow Angle Mickey). All of the different designs reminded me of the various horse statues and ballet shoe statues that have populated Saratoga Springs over the years.
Although the Mickey Mouse exhibit was the largest display that we saw (it took up 3 floors!), Lu and I also visited the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, which sponsored the Mickey Mouse exhibit, and is at the heart of 798. Below, you can see some of the pieces from the main exhibit there, as well as from a smaller gallery featuring fun rabbit characters. One of the pieces that I liked most at the UCCA were giant (and I mean giant ~ 30 ft) wall scrolls highlighting the geo-political history of China. There’s a manga-like quality to the art style and the shear size of the pieces is amazing (especially that Dragon)! I also really liked the gallery space since you can clearly still see that it is a converted factory and that brings life to the show (as opposed to standard white walls).
While there is a lot of art on display, there’s also tons of pop art statues all throughout 798 (some of them are for sale, others are just on display). All in all, it helps to create an insane sensory overload! You can see some of my favorite ones below (and there’ll be more in the Comics & Anime section)!
Since 798 is the Artist Zone, it’s also a great place to do some window shopping for some really cool sculptures and other art pieces. Here’s just a taste of some of the funky and fun pieces that I saw. Although I’m still planning on being in China for two more years, I am already planning a trip to 798 to get some fun little gifts for friends and family (especially as this would be authentically Beijing as opposed to just a magnet from the Great Wall of China).
Vegan Events: A Market & A Cooking Class!
The same weekend that I visited the Temple of Heaven, there was a wonderful Vegan Market and Rock for Rescues event sponsored by the Vegans of Beijing. This isn’t my first time posting about these events, but I do love how much fun they are! It’s great to get to try so much new yummy vegan food here in Beijing, get to hear some really great music, and support a good cause (some of the profits go to various animal shelters)! You can see a taste of the different vendors and performers at the market below.
And here’s my full haul of foods that I got (excluding the watermelon). As you can see, it’s all Western-style food right now (I know the Vegans of Beijing are actively trying to get more native Chinese participation – although not all of the vendors selling western food are foreigners). Some of my favorites were the vegan Mac n’ Cheese, the delicious crepe, the samosa calzone, the vegan ice cream, and the focaccia! I don’t know when the next market will be, but I’m already looking forward to it!
This month, I also was able to take part in a really fun and interesting vegan Chinese cooking class sponsored by the Vegans of Beijing. It was a small group (there were 9 of us including the instructor, who is a private chef here in Beijing). While I’m pretty good in the kitchen, I don’t have a lot of experience with Chinese cooking techniques, so it was really cool to gain some insights there. We learned how to make 4 dishes (you can see the finished products below). The class focused on cold dishes (given the intense summer heat, but future classes will included more hot dishes). The chef’s knife skills were amazing and I’ve definitely tried to embrace his tips for cutting ginger, since he showed how easy it is to mince it with a single knife. Although some the cooking processes are similar to how you’d cook them in the west (i.e., boiling the green beans and slightly wilting the spinach in boiling water), it was really cool to learn how some of the different potato dishes are made here. While western potatoes are usually either fried, roasted, or mashed, the potatoes in this dish were grated into thin strips and then boiled for a short amount of time so that they became translucent. I’ve had these potato dishes before, but never really knew how they were made, so that was really cool! We also got to make our own fried peanuts and infuse chili in our oil for the sauce! I also definitely gained a better understanding of the different types of Chinese vinegars. I’m definitely planning on making some of these recipes in the near future (and hopefully will be able to cook up a Chinese feast for my parents whenever I’m next in the US).
And here are the finished products! In order, it’s Ginger Juice Green Bean Salad, Potato & Coriander Salad, Peanut & Spinach Salad, and Shredded Tofu with Xiangchun Seedlings. All of them were delicious, but I think the green beans and the tofu were my favorite (though the peanuts were also delicious!).
Life at Tsinghua
This was more of return to normalcy in terms of my work. As I mentioned last month, I was finally able to return to Tsinghua’s campus after the last wave of COVID in June. Thankfully, since the situation has remained stable and the number of cases is still quite low, the campus remains open. While I’m still working from home a bit (given the extreme heat, I’m trying to go in two or three times a week instead of four or five), it’s been nice to get back into the grove of things in the office. On the research front, this was a rather productive month. For the most part, my emphasis has been on Project Radio, my study of bent radio AGNs in (and not in) galaxy clusters in the early universe using LOFAR. I’ve finished my preliminary analysis looking for similarities and differences in the shape, size, and spectral index (a way to measure the energetics of radio sources) based on being or not being in a cluster environment. I’m happy to say that we see some differences and I’ll begin writing that project up this week! I’m also excited because in working on Project Radio and Project Low-Z, I’ve started to develop what I hope to be one of my main projects for the next year, which will be looking at the energetics of radio AGN as a function of environment and morphology using LOFAR. I’ve already discussed this project briefly with my supervisor, Zheng, and he seems quite interested, so I just need to fine-tune what data I actually need to make the project! Unfortunately, Project Morphology remains on hold. Thankfully the Astronomy Department finally decided to buy IDL, so I will be able to run Galapagos, but I’m still waiting on all of the paperwork to clear and IDL to be installed on the department’s servers. I’m hoping to have a bit more of an update on that project next month. I’m also still working away on Project Low-Z, my project with Jesse. Right now, my focus has been to double check that all of the previously identified host galaxies appear correct so that we can better estimate what fraction of the bent radio AGNs are actually in galaxy clusters. I’m hoping that this time next month, we can have some more results on that front as the preliminary analysis we’ve done looks quite intriguing.
Beyond my own research, this was a big month for Astronomy. As many of you are probably aware, NASA released some of the first imaged from JWST, the new and premiere infrared space-based telescope that has been in the planning stages at NASA since the 1990s and cost over 8 billion dollars to build. As many have said, it’s the next generation’s Hubble Space Telescope (though HST is an optical telescope, while JWST is an IR telescope). Above, I’ve shown one example of just how much better the resolution and sensitivity of JWST (left) is in comparison to HST (right). Now not all of the differences are due to the improved instrumentation, rather, some of the differences/improvements comes from the fact that the light is in the IR and because these galaxies are so far away, that light will be redshifted into longer wavelengths, but that also means that you’re more sensitive to detected either cooler objects (redder) or extremely dusty objects (because the dust, like in the case of the large populations of extremely dusty star-forming galaxies at high-z, will absorb the light from the stars and reradiate it at longer wavelengths). In the image above, you can also see the shear number of gravitationally lensed arcs (the streaks of yellow light) caused by the light from these distant galaxies being distorted and bent due to the mass of the galaxy cluster (Some of Jesse’s friends from Michigan actually worked on one of the first results based on this work!). If you haven’t had a chance to check out the images yourself, here’s a link to NASA’s website highlighting the first images. Of these images, Stephen’s Quintet (a majestic group of galaxies) and SMACS0723 (which is the same as the one above) are my favorites because they highlight just how cool galaxies and galaxy clusters are! If you follow the Astronomy Arxiv, the open access repository for submitted and accepted papers, the number of papers that have already been released with JWST is insane! While I haven’t begun any JWST projects just yet, I’m already planning at least one. The ultimate goal of Project Morphology is Project Morphology-2, which will focus on a similar analysis, but using JWST images! As our current sample only features galaxies that were detected by active star formation tracers, this would create a potentially less-biased sample as well as focus on the enhanced power of JWST to better understand the importance of the cluster/protocluster environment on galaxy evolution. If anyone has any questions in regards to the JWST images or any other Astronomy related stuff that’s been in the news, definitely feel free to ask!
Although most days, I don’t get to wander around Tsinghua’s campus, I must say that when I do, the campus is really beautiful! You can see just a taste of the park-like landscapes above. Beyond the day-to-day of my life on campus, I was also part of two informal hangouts/meetings with postdocs and faculty. The first was our Laowai (foreigner) dinner with me, Richard, Paulo, Tom, and Prof. Chris Ormel. It’s always a fun time to just chat and gripe about what’s going on at Tsinghua or in China and get to hangout together. It’s also been nice for me that we’ve found a restaurant with a Tofu burger (see below), so I don’t have to just get fries and a green salad. We also had another lunch (I got a delicious salad and something which translates as Flame Pear Juice – it’s pear and dragon fruit) with Prof. Sharon Wang to discuss future postdoc applications, faculty applications, and all manner of professional development. Sharon had previously organized a seminar on postdoc applications held in Mandarin, but wanted to answer any questions those of us whose Mandarin isn’t great had(I am taking lessons and definitely getting better, but still a ways off). It was really great to hear her perspective on choosing letter writers, writing research and teaching statements, and what things other than research are worth pursuing to improve the overall strength of one’s CV.
Exploring Beijing
Since I haven’t been locked down, I’ve been able to see a lot more of Beijing. Although the flowers aren’t quite as pervasive as they were in the spring, it’s still nice to see all of the lovely flowers around the city!
Beyond flowers, I’ve seen many cool buildings, malls, and hutongs on my adventures. Here you can see the iconic CTV building (also known as the pants building), a gothic Christian church (very near the Temple of Heaven), a random neighborhood basketball hoop, the hutong where I took my cooking class, and the Joy City Mall!
As always, in my travels, I spotted lots of fun statues, signs, motorcycle blankets, and other cool things. Some of my favorite this month were spotting a Toyota Prius (at one point or another, everyone in my family has owned a Prius and I definitely feel a closeness to home whenever I see one), an amazing eco-friendly t-shirt (Love Our Earth, Low Carbon Living), some cool dragons, stuffed animals, and other animal art. I also popped into a store with Lu at 798 with more stuffed animals (like wall-to-wall) than I’ve ever seen before. It was insane! Though the rest of the city isn’t quite 798, if you look hard enough, you can find some cool nuggets hidden everywhere!
Jewish Life
With Roberta and Ted still in the US for July (normal Kehillat Beijing Shabbat dinners should return later this month), we had Shabbat dinners at a variety of different people’s homes (many of whom have pets!). While it’s not quite the production of Ted’s elaborate themed meals, the sentiment and the spirit of the community is alive and well. It’s been really nice to be able to enjoy a relaxing Shabbat dinner with friends. I’ve included photos from one meal at community member’s Raz and Lexy’s home. I must say, since I usually eat dinner pretty informally, it was really nice to eat as a group around a table in someone’s home! I’m really glad that despite the smaller crowds, that we’re able to have events during the summer. The Kehillat Beijing community is one of my favorite parts of Beijing and I miss it when it isn’t happening.
More Vegan Food
Outside of the Vegans of Beijing events that I went to in July, Richard and I also visited the Gongdelin Vegetarian restaurant after our trip to the Temple of Heaven. Gongdelin has a sister restaurant of the same name in Shanghai, so Jesse and I were able to compare dishes. All of the food was excellent! We got Blueberry & Pear juice, vegetarian abalone (mushrooms), veggie beef skewers, veggie fish, mushrooms & spicy peppers, and vegetarian duck! I think my favorite dish was the vegetarian duck (it’s layers of fried tofu skins) and the mushrooms & peppers.
Given all of the recent Shabbats have been potlucks, I’ve done a lot of cooking myself. Below, you can see a few of dishes that I either made for myself or for the community. I will say, it’s great that people have really enjoyed the different tofus! On a non-cooking, but still vegan food note, I also found vegan oatly ice cream at the import store! I got the pink one, the berry flavor!
Animals of Beijing
Although I don’t have any cats like Jesse, I have gotten to see lots of cats and dogs this month. On one of the hot days when I was working from home, I noticed the beautiful white cat had returned to my back stairs to again enjoy a nap (it didn’t like it when it finally noticed me). I also found that the brown tabby likes to sleep on the low fence right outside of my door! And if you look at the first photo, my neighbors have a new kitten! I also walked by some really cute cat cafes at 798 (I need to visit one of them eventually) and even saw another white cat on Tsinghua’s campus. The rest of the cats and dogs I got to see at the various homes where we had Shabbats or at the Vegan Market (the giant white dog is from the Vegan market and was super friendly!)! Raz and Lexy’s cats were especially friendly (especially the brown and orange one)! Although I don’t have any pets right now, it’s always so fun to get to spend some time with some animals!
Lastly, I had to share this amazing cat that one of my neighbors has. I’ve seen him twice now, both times on his way to get a COVID test. His cat sits on his shoulders and does not jump off as he walks the ~ 2 blocks to and from the COVID test site. I’ve never seen such a diligent and calm cat. It’ll walk back and forth across his shoulders, but it never jumps down. I can’t imagine any of the cats I’ve ever had would be that calm.
Daily Drawings
As I mentioned last time, I decided to keep doing the daily drawings, because I really enjoy doing them as a way to both unwind at the end of the day and as a pick me up when I get too tired from staring at the computer screen all day. I’m now on my second notebook and will likely need to pick up some more small ones on TaoBao soon (the smaller size helps prevent me going overboard and spending more than 30 – 40 minutes on them at most). If you have any favorites, please let me know! I’d love to hear which resonate with you.
What Was I Reading/Watching?
Unlike previous month’s, I didn’t finish reading any books this month. I started reading Lady of Avalon, but it’s a bit slow and I’ve had trouble getting into the narrative, so I’m still making my way through it. In lieu of that, I will highlight a few of my favorite graphic novels/manga that I finished this month. I just (on Friday) finished reading all 30 volumes of Kuroko’s Basketball. It’s a really fun story of the progression of an underdog high school basketball team in Japan and their quest to win the national title. Like most sports manga, it’s heavily influenced by the typical special moves of battle manga, but it’s got a great lasting message of the importance of team unity and friendship. I also finished the much shorter 5 volumes of Black Torch, which was a really cool manga pitting mononoke, Japanese demons, against modern day ninjas. I also just read the first volume of Kazu Kibishi’s all ages graphic novel series Amulet. I randomly found an 8 volume box set at one of the small English language bookstores here and since I missed reading physical comics decided to get it since I’d heard great things. It’s a really exciting start to what promises to be a lot of fun. If you know any kids (probably ages 10+), I’d recommend it.
In terms of TV, I finished a number of different shows this month. I finished all four seasons the Revolutionary War epic Turn: Washington’s Spies (I started it in the winter). It’s really interesting to revisit American history since I haven’t studied it since 11th grade and I thought the show did a really great job of showing the humanity and real world/every day life costs of a war in the 1770s. I also watched the first season of Reacher based on Lee Child’s book series of the same name. If you’ve seen the Tom Cruise movie, this is far superior, as Alan Richardson fully embodies both the physicality and the fun of the Jack Reacher character! I also watched the second season of Alex Rider, also based on the YA book series of the same name. I already mentioned that I really enjoyed the first season and the second season did not disappoint! They definitely upped the stakes in the second season and I’m super excited to see where they’ll take the next season (especially as, if they follow the books, that should open up a whole new can of worms and new secrets). I also watched the second season of Pennyworth, the Alfred Pennyworth prequel series. While season 2 was a bit more outlandish, it firmly establishes that this is set in a world of superheroes, and not just your typical 60s British spy drama. I also love the DC comics Easter Eggs (like the arrival of Lucius Fox!). Lastly, I watched the second season of the Israeli drama Tehran. I had watched the first season with my parents, so it was nice to see the second season! While the overarching story was a bit confusing at times, it’s still quite a good show and portrays the politics of the Middle East in an interesting light.
East Meets West
Since I’m always on the lookout for cool things when I’m walking around, it shouldn’t be surprising that I spotted more Disney influences around Beijing (as I said, the House of Mouse is everywhere). I think my favorite was the Snow White poster that I saw on Tsinghua’s campus and the random Mickey Mouse grapes at the grocery store.
When we were getting lunch with Sharon, we stopped in one of the cafes on Tsinghua’s campus that is full of western books, imagery, and posters, so I had to take some pictures. I also, found a few other fun things reminiscent of the US including Michael Jordan on Gatorade, Spongebob, and a WeWork office.
I think two of my favorites are right above. Specifically, the KFC where they advertise on the building that it is “Freshly Handmade by Real Cooks”, which is not a slogan anyone would use for KFC in the US, and a Corona waterpark display (though you can’t see it is has one of those angled mini surfing zones) that looks like it is out of a spring break beach town.
Anime & Comics
No post of Astronomer in Beijing would be complete without photos of all of the anime toys, posters, and other things that I saw this month. And I saw a lot this month! I’ll start with some of the smaller anime displays that I saw in 798, including this amazing Dragonball mural and some fun Batman, Iron Man, and Charlie brown statues!
When Lu and I were in 798, we passed this AMAZING toy store that I had to walk in, if only just to photograph. Unlike toy stores in the states, this was basically wall-to-wall giant displays of anime, Marvel, and DC statues. For a comic book and manga fan like me, it was total sensory overload! While I have a couple of smaller statues, most of these are far larger and a bit out of my price range. Still it’s really cool to see all of the displays. I love how they pile the characters together creating mini-scenes of overlapping characters. For those of you familiar with manga and comics, you should recognize a lot of DragonBall Z, One Piece, Marvel, Batman, DC, Naruto!
While not as dynamic, I also popped into an Animate store (it’s right above where the Vegan market is) and got to see some more cool anime stuff!
While all of those were displays at actual stores, I also saw a ton of Pokemon, Astro Boy (look at that bike full of Astro Boy stickers), Dragon Ball Z, and other comics and manga stuff all around the city (ok, mostly on people’s motorbikes). It’s one of my favorite things about Beijing! People are not afraid to show their fandom!
For everyone who made it to the end of this post, I hope you enjoyed hearing what I was up to the in July! Hopefully you liked seeing Beijing through my eyes! I hope you all have a wonderful August and for those of you dealing with crazy heat waves, stay cool! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about anything, please feel free to comment below or e-mail me directly. It’d be great to hear from you. I hope you all stay safe and healthy!
In Peace,
Emmet
