Aquarium and 798 Art Zone

Our first free full day in China we ventured out to the Beijing Blue Aquarium - a magical aquarium with a massive tank of water filled with fish and mantas and sharks and eels. There was a moving walkway the snaked under and through the tank so that you were surrounded on both sides and overhead by swirling water and sea creatures. There were also lots of smaller exhibits of exotic jellies and lobsters and sea cucumbers and loads of fancy fish.

Our teaching days were pretty full of work and prep so we didn't venture far from our university digs. We found some good vegetarian food options (veggie sushi, pizza, fries, salads) including 7/11 and Subway (yup!) for snacks and such. Days were quite smoggy and hot the first week or so.

Between our teaching weeks, we had a three day weekend to explore further afield so we trekked out to the 798 Art Zone, and incredible art district northeast of central Beijing. It's a vast area filled with defunct military factories that was usurped by artists in the early 2000's. The government dressed it up and put some money into it for the '08 Olympics so now it's pretty much the art heart of the city. It's a winding warren with lots of large scale outdoor sculptures and installations as well as funky studios, shops, galleries and also some large scale airy, modern, minimal contemporary art museums. Our favorite was the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art where we happened upon a mammoth Robert Rauschenberg exhibit (one of our favorite artists). It was an ideal show for my students to see also since it covered a wide range of media and materials. His assemblages are full of drawings, paintings, prints, collage, sculptures with chairs and glass bottles and bent metal and cardboard boxes and tablecloths and various garments. I have a few of images of 798 here but will post more later.

Living Green wall at the entrance to the Hive Gallery.

Ted taking a picture of Elsa taking a picture at Rauschenberg

Ceramics: Second Street. I loved this sign! My Philly clay cooperative, The Clay Studio, was on a Second Street. Incidentally, my art co-operative in CVille, The McGuffey Art Center is also on a Second street... 

That's all for now. I have many more pictures on my phone that I need to download and post.

Today we braved the Forbidden City which was truly an adventure! What an extraordinary place. Tomorrow, we'll get up early and go out to the Great Wall. We decided this is not the trip to venture onto the 'wild wall' but rather we are staying closer to Beijing but have chosen a slightly less popular (less touristy) section. Still, there are chair lifts and toboggan rides down! We're hoping to explore a mile or two so on foot, then maybe hitch a fast ride down! Then Summer Palace after that, so a BIG day!