A tour of Peking (Beijing) China in the 1930s

[Bob]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2icgWT4 ... re=channel



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIJYEaBH ... re=channel

A film about China and the Chinese from the 1920s. Footage from this subject is available for licensing from www.travelfilmarchive.com



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZUyTv_A ... re=channel

A tour of Peking, China in the late 1940s.Footage from this film is available for licensing from www.globalimageworks.com

[Hakkesho]

Nice find Bob!

I always like to watch old documentaries about Beijing! I had the chance to live for 2 1/2 years in a traditional siheyuan (courtyard) that was located in Xidan (the west part of Beijing) we were literally neighbours with Zhongnanhai, one of the political centers of the CCP. Great memories... I am heading back to Beijing in November to visit my teacher and friends and also practice some Chen style. And have some yangrou chuanrrrr with beers!

[Bob]

Hakkesho:

That sounds fantastic---if you have a chance, go to the north part of Bai Hai Park--they have redone it---a lot of bars but also a lot of redone homes open for visitors---they also have a teahouse or two. We visited them this summer with our nephew and I enjoyed the feeling.

I like to look at the old clips and try to imagine what the world of the martial artist was like at that time---especially in my trips to the Summer Palace.

Two great books to read while visiting the old:

My Journey in Mystic China: Old Pu's Travel Diary by John Blofeld,

City of Lingering Splendour: A Frank Account of Old Peking's Exotic Pleasures by John Blofeld

BTW--I've found these two clips helpful in working through the frames of Chen I know:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13hutNmD ... re=channel



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3OOUbo ... re=channel

[Adam S]

Yes a great find, thank you Bob

Hakkesho can I ask who you plan to train with??

Came back from Beijing about 6 weeks ago after an absolutely amazing trip

[Hakkesho]

Bob,

I'll check out these two books by Blofeld and yes, Chen Zhonghua (joseph) is a very skilled man. I met him back in January 2001 in Tiantan park, it was freezing, something like -5°C and we spent the whole morning in the park. That day he introduced me to his teacher, Feng Zhiqiang

Adam,

I'll train with Ma Chuan Xu, baguazhang and Zhou Jige, Chen Yu's student for the Chen style.

Really looking forward to go back to Beijing!

[Bob]

Hakkesho:

Zhou Jige--I also think, if I was back into Chen's taiji, Chen Yu and Chen Zhonghua would be areas well worth exploring. Great choices!

[SPJ]

my college mate's grand father was working for the city government of peiping in the 30s.

In the first clip, it is nice to see how common folks do to make a living. for the most part, it is a very dusty and humid city. life was very hard for everyone.

most foreigners lived in tian jin. where the living conditions are more pleasant and modern.

and of course, shanghai in the 30's would be the place to be. there are areas would be just as nice as in new york or paris or tokyo. you may see shelly temple movies and gone with the wind the same day premier as in ny.

---

[Hakkesho]

Bob: I have to say that I'm not a great fan of what they did in Houhai (the northern part of Beihai), too commercial and all these bars kind of all look alike but then, I might prejudiced because I was a "Beijinger" for 6-7 years and got to love the city a lot, even if it is not easy to cope every day with the astronomical number of cars, the pollution and the legendary "roughness" of the beijingren hahaha.

SPG: I guess the climate change (and the phenomenal pollution) in and around of Beijing has done its job... Beijing is still quite dusty of course, but it's one of the driest place I've ever been (not in the summer though), many people get skin problems, especially during winter time. As for the dust, the best is when the sandstorms coming from the Gobi desert in Inner Mongolia hit Beijing! What you get is a lunar landscape, with a kind of brownish or orange color and sometimes you cannot see the buildings just 50 meters in front of you... Back in 2000-01, I saw a lot of people riding their bikes wearing swiming gogles to protect themselves from the dust, hahahah

[Bob]

Hakkesho:

Yeah, I can understand that but there were some neat like Qin Wang and I wanted to go into them but it was too late--we went to restaurant with typical Beijing food--getting through the chou dou fu area was tough--my wife is a Beijing Babe--most of the time I like to head out to the Summer Palace--Beijing is my second home so to speak--Rui Fu Xiang was kinda of neat---I bought a nice short sleeve raw silk martial arts top--

I don't know what Houhai looked like before---I am not a bar person.

[Fubo]

Nice find bob. I lived in Beijing from '83 - '89. It was a very different place back then. I visited BJ in '99 and was blown away by the changes from when I lived there. I can't even imagine how different it is now.