China National Art Museum

Here is a break from the New Zealand pictures.

It was a nice day in Beijing on Saturday so we took a walk down to the National Museum of Art. This is the main lobby.

This is the main entrance to the museum.

It is about a mile up the street from our apartment.

There is very little English description of the pieces. I'm not sure what this represents but I'm guessing in has something to do with the Japanese occupation of China before and during World War II.

This one was in a hall that seemed to be chronicling the rise of China industrial capability It was sort of an homage to the workers who made it possible.

You see the occasional nude sprinkled it.

Margot liked this one. It is a study in perspective, I guess. As one might view the scene when laying on your back looking up through the branches into the sky.

This is a large hall with a lot of classical Chinese painting.

Here Margot contemplates one of them while I rest on the bench.

The entire 3rd floor was devoted to calligraphy.

I'm sure there were themes in the various rooms but I have no idea what they were.

Couplets seem very popular.

I sort of liked the colors in this one.









There was a calligraphers desk on display.

Here are the tools of the trade.

Not sure what the significance of this one is but Margot liked it as well.

We walked back through some hutongs. This one continued down the narrow passageway but we turned right.

This looks like a hotpot restaurant. I assume that the stock is heated in these devices. That is a tub of coal bricks below the table.

click to enlarge.

There were a lot of people at the plaza in front of the Wangfujing Catholic Church. This guy was enjoying skating. Looked sort of like tai chi on skates. He was having a good time and was reasonably graceful. I'd love to know how old he is but whatever it is - more power to him.

I don't think I have seen one of these before. It is big wheel with small foot boards on either side. You push your self along like a skate board.

There were a group of young men sort of break dancing, also.

 

Here is a shot of the church. If a post back in October indicated that the church is not used, I stand corrected. There are both Chinese and English services on late Saturday afternoon and Sunday, I presume.

Not sure why I included this other that you don't see a bus jam very often. This is in front of the Apple store. There must have been 15 buses here and around the corner.

Spring festival decorations in the mall.

I doubt anyone other than me cares at all, but I did finally big up another state - Delaware. Only Wyoming and North Dakota are unrepresented among blog readers. See the flag counter boxes for details.