Tuesday, September 29, 2009

黄昏

初秋是北京一年中最美的季节,而黄昏又是一天中我最喜欢的时刻。

初秋的黄昏,空气中还残留着夏日的余温,萧瑟的秋风和枯黄的落叶仿佛还很遥远。

天色渐暗,华灯初上,路上行人的步履也不像清晨般匆匆忙忙。

国庆将至,昨天下班回家的时候发现马路上每隔几十米就站着警察,加上九月份以来隔三差五的交通管制,给平淡的城市平添了紧张气氛。

九月这最美好的时光如同黄昏般昙花一现,在不知不觉中被湮没了。

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Cloudy with a chance of mooncakes

The other day I was taking a box of mooncakes back home. The concierge saw me and said: “Why is everyone carrying mooncakes today?” Of course, it’s Mid-Autumn!

Every August, our team would brainstorm a non-mooncake yet presentable gift to our clients. Still, the majority would yield to convention. Just like dumplings for the lantern festival, chocolates for Valentine, mooncake is a deeply ingrained part of the Mid-Autumn festival. That is the strong power of tradition.

For a whole week, I’ve been eating the high-sugar, high-protein and high-cholesterol food for breakfast. But I wasn’t so lucky to discover a bottle of wine, a crab, or a Buddha bead in it, which are sometimes incorporated in the elaborately packed box.

Every time when a festival approaches, the streets become more crowded than usual. Maybe people are busy exchanging gifts. Actually the festival itself doesn’t really matter; all I expect is a long holiday.

Friday, September 18, 2009

City Rouge

The national day celebration rehearsal is held on this cloudy Friday. Traffic on main roads is blocked. People whose offices are near the Changan avenue don't need to go to work today. Our office is closed at 3pm. I went to the 7-11 at 4pm, only to find the door locked. Last year when the opening ceremony of the Olympics was held, we also had one day off. Special “holidays” – it's one of the priorities of living in the capital.

As the 60th anniversary approaches, cinema schedules are full of historical/political mainland Chinese films. They should be categorized as film rouge. We’d seen a lot of them at elementary school as part of our education. Two decades is gone. Are they still preachy? Are they more attractive with a cast of big stars?

The national day and the mid-autumn festival overlap this year. Moon cakes, red banners, red lanterns… the holiday is coming.

Oh…one more thing. Sally, my elder sister, a couple of months older than me, is engaged in Italy. Since she left for the UK, I haven’t seen her for how-many-years-i-don’t-remember. We just choose differently and grow so different. Congrats~

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Where have all the DVDs gone?

The DVD store used to hide in the backroom of an obscure clothing boutique beside the north 3rd ring road. From the hottest Hollywood blockbusters to the hard-to-find European art films and documentaries, it’s a treasure trove of movies. And the price is probably the lowest in Beijing. As the saying goes, “Good wine needs no bush”. The small store always gathers movie buffs.

One day last spring, the store had moved and became my downstairs neighbor. Good news, isn’t it? But two months ago, I was surprised to find the store had disappeared overnight. The door was tightly locked and the shelves empty as if it had been raided. Or it was.

The pleasure of enjoying a movie isn’t just in the movie itself. It’s not like going to the cinema and see what is allowed to be shown, which is likely to be a deleted version. To me, half the fun lies in accidentally spotting the DVD I’ve been looking for, even if it might be a disappointment.

Look what we have in the cinema this summer: Terminator, Transformers, Harry Potter, Ice Age... Maybe the film studios purposely scheduled to release them at a time when people’s minds are sticky as the summer air. It's autumn. No more fluffs. Hope the DVD store will reopen soon.