The West Commences: The National Museum of China

Jay and I spent Tuesday time-traveling through China in the National Museum of China on Tian’anmen Square, and all for free. You just have to show your passport and have your bags and body scanned every time you enter. Jay did lose his lighter and quite a few others as a result of security scans on our trip. We could understand them fearing fire in the forest around the Great Wall or in the Forbidden City, which burned frequently, but the museum was built entirely of stone and marble. It took us until we were starving for lunch just to tour the basement, which is the part I most wanted to see because it has artifacts dating from before Peking Man to the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. After reading Peter Hessler’s book, Oracle Bones, I wanted to see examples of the first known writing in China, which was found on flat bone and turtle plastrons (the bottom shell) dating from the Shang Dynasty (16^th to 11^th centuries BC). We saw those and many more wonderful things. Then we had to leave the museum to get something to eat because a guard had told us that the cafeteria was closed because of a conference. We later discovered that a little lunchroom was open but by then it was too late. We walked a few blocks into a shopping area, turned onto a side street and sat down to a beer and dumplings. It was good to eat and rest our legs. We returned to the museum to visit the area Jay wanted to see, the history of China from 1911 to the present, the fall of the Qing Dynasty to Hu Jintao. Much of it was not translated into English, but there were many pictures and artifacts, and from the parts that were translated you could get a pretty good idea of the Chinese perspective, most of which was understandable but not exactly what we in the west have been told. Socialism with Chinese characteristics, which is the way the Chinese refer to their present state is interesting to ponder because we hear mostly about bribes, corruption, lack of freedom and human rights abuses, which undeniably exist, but it’s a vast and heavily populated country and some things seem to be working. Jay kept commenting on the fact that the people we saw in the street and in our hostel looked more relaxed and happy and were more helpful to foreigners than most Koreans are. Also they don’t seem to be as obsessed with their appearance and with wearing American brand name clothes as Koreans and most Westerners are. Jay noticed right away that the Chinese are not as obviously addicted to their mobile devices as the Koreans are. As soon as he mentioned it I realized it was true; I thought of it again today as I rode the subway into Seoul to go biking. In a full car, I could count on the fingers of two hands the number of people who were not on their devices and they were mostly sitting in the 6 seats at the back of the car reserved for people over 60.

This felt hat made me think of Micheline. It shows how ancient her craft is (Western Han Dynasty 202BC-8AD), and it might inspire her to include some feathers and a few hat pins in her next design.