Week 2: Monday, 6 March to Friday, 10 March. I barely had time to recover from my Great Hall experience on Saturday, when I was re-entering Beijing Asia Hotel, going back into the ‘closed loop’ arrangement ahead of participating in Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s press conference at the Media Centre the next morning. My report of that conference is at Now Grenada.
Closed-loop management sounds like what it is. Our group left our residential compound on Monday evening to overnight at the hotel, where we dined, were PCR tested and quarantined until we left the next morning for the press conference. Mind you, the quarantine hotel and our compound are about a 20-minute drive apart. After the conference, we were shuttled back to the hotel, had a buffet lunch and packed up for the return to our compound. I would not want to write that cheque, but I understand the reasoning behind the arrangements to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission in closed [government] spaces, even though we all were masked. While I am not complaining about overnighting in a nicely appointed hotel room, with buffet meals, at the end of the day, my bones ache, and my bed is the only excitement I can manage.
On Wednesday morning, we left for a day in the field to visit Pinggu District, a largely agricultural part of Beijing municipality, an hour’s drive from the capital. We began with violins and ended with freshly grown strawberries from Nanying Doctor Farm, so it was a good day.
Fresh strawberries from Nanying Doctor Farm
On Thursday, we had a session on Chinese Culture Experience: Chinese painting, with artist Yu Dan Qing. I am a fan of Disney’s Mulan, and Kung Fu Panda, however, while my painting of a tree in spring is worthy of Mulan, my panda is very, very sad. Perhaps I needed to paint her more bamboo. The painting session is one of several Chinese cultural classes, including language, tea and martial arts, that I am looking forward to.
My attempt at Chinese ink painting… a happy tree and a very sad panda
Today is Friday, and I have a free day to catch up on non-China projects. Next week’s schedule will probably be as packed. I can’t wait.