Beijing Temple of Heaven, People meeting people

May 2, Sunday, Beijing - Continued

We finally make it to the actual Temple. Beautiful. Colorful. Interesting in its architecture since it is ultimately held up solely by 8 massive pillars. Set in a medium-sized raised platform overlooking Beijing. We wander around and peek inside the temple and the surrounding area, but there's actually not much to see: we can't go in and there's not really anything *in* the Temple anyway.

But it *is* nice to stroll around the square. Looking out over Beijing. It *does* again highlight the poor air quality, but we're not *feeling* any ill effects. The visibility isn't helped by the substantial *pollen* which is constantly floating around. Literally, it looks like it is constantly *snowing* - white, fluffy pollen drifting down and actually "piling up" on the street - the entire time we're in Beijing. Pretty, actually.

The associated carvings and filigrees show a lot of detail and work but eventually the "star of the show" again becomes the *people* - here on their "Labor Day Weekend" - visiting the Temple with their families. We stroll around and see a young couple taking "fashion" photos - the woman jumping up into the air and doing "catwalk" poses - with the Temple as background. And actually, I'm struck by how young Chinese women just *do* seem to automatically fall into "high fashion" poses whenever a camera is pointed at them.

I find a pair of grandparents - PROUDLY taking a photo of their son who is holding their grandson (all of this is assumed, but it sure seemed likely): I offer to take a photo of *all* of them - with their camera - and they pose and seem delighted with the offer. And I'm delighted to have made a contact - with no common words between us. But everybody understands a smile.

Ultimately, we wind up compulsively taking photos of Chinese people: the old ones have such *character* in their faces. The little ones are just SOOoo cute! We just can't help ourselves, and the Chinese people are always SO proud of and happy for their "Little Princesses / Emperors". We had been warned that some older people would NOT want us to photograph them - superstitious hold-overs, but we find *very* few who object - and most of *those* object only because they want to be *paid* to be photographed. West meets East. Capitalism meets Socialism.

But mostly, people meet people.