Dancing with the Chinese

Okay, okay, okay, so not everything is meant to be made fun of.

The first time I was in China years ago I was walking through a park in Xian at about 5am and was first introduced to the Chinese experience of massive community involvement. With tiny apartments, Chinese are forced outside to participate in group activities, often in parks. Tia chi, hacky sack and my favorite, ballroom dancing. I found it really charming to see Chinese of all ages dressed to kill, enjoying themselves at sunrise, dancing to both Western and Eastern music blaring from a portable sound system. It does not seem to matter how wonderful of a dancer one is, it is the enjoyment of the moment and being with others that makes it fun. I wrote a postcard then to Lucy describing how for the first time in my life, I really needed video to truly describe the scene.

Now on my third trip to China I finally have a video camera with me and hopefully can give a sense of the sights and sounds dancing in the park. This is about 11am on a really really cold day in Beijing.