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This summer our band is going on a field trip to Beijing, China.We´ll be performing two concerts down there, the exact whereabouts of which are unknown to me at this time.

- anyone know any sights usually not mentioned in travel-guide-pamphletes but worth seeing anyways?
- anyone want to share some Dos and Don´ts?
- anyone being in same city between July 7th and 14th interested in Austrian symphonic band ?

Happy Easter, BTW.

It is almost 20 years since I was there (to see the last remaining steam trains), so I expect it is very much changed. Don't miss the Forbidden City - it really is worth seeing.

If you get the chance to hear traditional Chinese music, then do - I found it enchanting and still have the couple of LP's I brought back.

My brother visited China as a sports coach. They had a party for visiting teachers and when they ran short of beer, my brother gave a hotel employee $10 to run out and buy a six pack. The beer cost $5 and Mike told the runner to keep the change.
A communist party official walked up and told Mike that the $5 tip was equal to a weeks pay for that employee. He asked Mike to not tip so excessively in the future because it was not a good thing.
Heard that showing people the bottoms of your shoes is considered bad form in China. Keep you feets on the floor.

I'm told that when the Philadelphia Orchestra first visited
China under the Nixon administration, a couple of musicians started to throw a frisbee around in a park in front of their hotel. They attracted such a large crowd that they retreated to their hotel, leaving the frisbee behind. Kids started to play with the frisbee. Two hours later, the frisbee was returned by the kids to their hotel front desk!

I had a similar experience during a college concert tour in Yugoslavia in 1971. We were playing frisbee football on a beach on the Black Sea at a communist youth camp and stopped 2 soccer games with spectators. The more people who watched us play, the more complicated our game became! I don't know if frisbees are still an oddity in that neck of the world, but they are sure easy to pack and a great way to work off steam in your spare time.

Yep. I´m sure going to enjoy myself and am planning not to appear too interested in "uncomfortable subjects" while I´m there. Especially because the worst they can do is kick me out as an "unwanted person", which is far less than would happen to the unfortunate native I was trying to explain the values of our free world.

As far as the more or less safe places in this world are concerned - I guess it´s of no real importance to me exactly WHO is going to make me disappear, for what reasons, and where to. It´s the result that counts, and that may be the same in MANY places considered "safe" otherwise. In some places at least you have the chance to survive if you follow officials´ rules.

Hey, don't take Bibles for gifts. A friend of mine took 5 Bibles with her as gifts and was detained for 24 hours and then denied admittance to China.

Don't be shocked by the noisiness in eating. Smacking and belching are considered compliments to whoever cooked the food. In Vietnam belching is considered rude but not smacking. My mother spent 18 years teaching me to eat quietly. 32 years later, I can't stand eating around all the noisy eaters here!

I would--but I don't know how to Beij.

I've read that free-blowing of the nose, and also hawking/spitting are very common. Be careful where you rest your elbows as all available surfaces may be, ah, not clean.

When the IHS had its conference in Beijing just a few years ago, even those with strong digestive tracts eventually had trouble. So take along anything you might need for that problem, and make sure it is in original package, or with prescription if it is not OTC.

It used to be that Chinese were so un-accustomed to seeing anyone who was hairy, or blonde, that you could count on being "felt up" by a surrounding crowd. Probably those times are past except in the boonies.

MA

Thanks, people.
I already figured from what was written in tourist-guides that I was in for a lot of attention during my visit, due to my size.
I´m also prepared to leave some food on the plate as a sign of being completely fed (rather than the typical "finish your plate, and clean it with a piece of bread, too" that´s being taught here as a sign of appreciation for the great cooking skills of your host.

Just keep it coming, though. I´d really like to know what to expect.

MaryAnn wrote:It used to be that Chinese were so un-accustomed to seeing anyone who was hairy, or blonde, that you could count on being "felt up" by a surrounding crowd. Probably those times are past except in the boonies.

This is still true in EVERY part of Vietnam--including Ho Chi Minh City. You'd think it wouldn't be so. My father-in-law, a police chief in the neighboring province of Dongnai, has said I'm clearly within my rights to slug anyone who does it to me. I usually resort to yelling and screaming.