Public Spaces

One of my favorite parts of my life in Beijing has been being able to spend more leisurely time in public spaces -- local parks, squares, markets and streets -- rather than rushing to and from tourist sights. I love how vibrant many of these places are and marvel at the wide variety of activities I've seen in these spaces. I think I have listed several of these in previous posts, but I also wanted to share a couple more in detail.

Impromptu Singing / Music at Tiantan Park (Temple of Heaven)
Signing and music in U.S. parks, in my experience, is generally limited to 1) the BBQ variety (familial renditions of "Happy Birthday" or music blasting from car windows/boomboxes) or 2) the musician trying to make a few extra bucks. However, on my visit to Tiantan Park a few weekends ago, there were people gathering together all over the park to sign, play music and dance together -- apparently just for fun. I took a few videos, but the one below is by far my favorite. There were easily 40+ people gathered and signing songs together. Later, my friend He Wei Dong said they were famous old patriotic songs about China. Link to YouTube video here:



Park Equipment
Nearly all the small neighborhood parks that I have run across have these ingenious exercise equipment which requires only your own weight or movement to operate. The pieces are brightly colored and seem to double as exercise equipment for adults and seniors as well as play equipment for young children. (Just a few photos below of Guillermo modeling some of the equipment)



I totally love these pieces, and was thinking that these would be great in the States as a way to combat our growing obesity crisis -- and it looks like there is a least one park in Los Angeles that just installed similar equipment -- yay!

And, one last note on equipment. Ping pong is huge here, and therefore in addition to basketball hoops and soccer goals, it is also quite common to see ping pong tables installed in parks (see photo at the top of the post -- apparently these tables can also double as a small climbing toy for children too).