Guowang Hutong is being torn down. I am not sure what will be built in its place. Since it’s located in a very popular tourist part of Beijing, Nanluogouxian and Houhai, I highly doubt they will build highrises.

Beijing’s hutongs are disappearing very quickly. The ones that remain are located in tourist parts of Beijing and most owners have sold//rented their hutong to a cafe, restaurant or shop.

For example, Fangjia Hutong, across from Yonghegong Temple has been turned into a hotel, restaurant, and architecture and artist studios.

I really should talk to Melissa Rock - a Fulbright scholar from U. Penn who is living in Beijing and documenting the relocation process of residents of hutongs located within the  2nd ring.

Goodbye Guowang hutong - I wonder what you will look like when I come back next year!

This is a drawing that I saw hung up inside the women’s bathroom of a veggie restaurant/buffet across from Yongehe Gong temple in Beijing, China.

translation of the poster:

keep your intestines clean. you still have secular things to do in the real world. so leave the heavens temporarily

The best part is that she’s a got a cigarette in her hand while she’s pooping AND it looks likes she’s massaging her tummy.

It’s 1 month into my life in Beijing, China and I am on the quest to become healthier. One of things that I have done this past week is the Stomach Fireburning. I have never done this before so it was so exciting to try!

Every Chinese Doctor I have been to says that I have cold energy in my stomach. So I am always willing to try anything to get rid of this cold energy. Rather than living a healthy life of constant physical activity, restricted computer use, and all the other modern things that we do to make us unbalanced creatures - I chose to put myself through ancient practices - like STOMACH FIREBURNING or MOXA (mugwart) steaming!!!!

Now contrary to what may appear as a stunt to prove my fearlessness, I am actually undergoing the fire stomach process for the purposes of rebalancing my energy.

So the philosophy behind fireburning is that the fire’s heat will warm up your stomach - it will start moving the cold energy out and help you restore your yin energy. After 5 times of lighting a fire and putting the fire out on my stomach - I felt so wonderful. Here’s a rough explanation of the process.

The doctor first wraps my stomach in saran wrap. Then he lays down cloth soaked in medicinal herbs and alcohol.

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Then I am doused with a oil. The doctor strikes the match and lights the oil on fire. The oil is glazed on me in various patterns. The first pattern is the “heart-to-stomach” pattern, as seen in this photo to the left.

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In between each fireburning, the doctor massaged my stomach - it’s the best feeling in the world. It felt as if he was caressing every part of my large and small intestinal track and giving it lots of love and care.

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And then after the massage, the next fire is lit!

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And the best part is that in the end- when the fire burning is done correctly - he takes off the saran wrap, medicine cloth, and starts Doggy Paddling down from the top of my stomach to the very bottom of my intestines - you can HEAR A RIVER of activity going on inside! it’s totalllly FREAKY - I could hear a river gurgling - as if he was totally giving me a full plumbing system overhaul!
he said that when performed with the right type of fire shapes, the doggy paddling takes all the released coldness and moves it out.

the whole entire time I focused on using qi gong breathing techniques - because I am super sensitive to energy I could feel the cold air flowing out of the bottom of my feet.

okI lied, I was TOTALLY FREAKED OUT about being burned alive! This was my first when the fire was lit the first time.

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But here’s my face post-treatment - see I’m alive!  The rest of my fire stomach photos are here.

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While I was being lit on fire, I kept thinking that I was inadequate as a human being for even go to the Chinese doctor for this. It just reminds me of how out of touch I am with my body, the earth, and the stars.  So going to the Chinese doctor  for me is like a form of rebirth and a bit of self-punishment (for not being healthy when I am living in the states).

But then I think - is it only when I travel - when I’m farthest away from everything and everyone that I intimately know - is that the only time I feel that I can take care of myself without feeling guilty? Is it only when I am unreachable that I recover from everyday life in the states - when my family stuff is so far away that it is absolutely out of my control?

Then I start thinking that’s stupid tricia - peace is where you are - but sometimes I feel that the only way to really extract myself out of my own life is to leave the country and cross an ocean away.  I wonder if this is a pattern of modern life now - middle class people overworking and then leaving for a few months every year or few years to prevent burn out and just to re-balance. It certainly has become a pattern in my life - is the amount of traveling we do equivalent to the amount of stress we have at home?  sometimes I think so…

well anyways this is seriously the best form of self-punishment - when the doctor tells me that my yin-yang isn’t balanced - it actually makes me really excited to become more balanced again. I am always excited for them to say:

ok here your energy is blocked, so that’s why your hair is turning white or that’s why your bowel movements aren’t regular.

When they tell me how unbalanced I am, I start thinking about how I can take better care of myself.

AFter fireburning, the doctor told me of all the herbs and foods that I should eat to heal my body. for example, I need to eat more lemon peels.  This time the doctor told me that my health was pretty good, but my back and neck is messed up from years of sitting in front of a computer. Plus I haven’t been meditating or dancing as much lately :(

So I love this herbal/ancient practice - only in china…only in china. In India I tried going to the medicinal doctor - I actually went to 3 of them because I really wanted to give it a chance - well each on told me that I was too much of a “pita” and they threw my naked body on a slap of hard wood and started dumping herbal oil on me and then the woman rubbed the oil on me forcing my bones into the wood table and I slid around like a dead fish - I tried to grab onto the wood but it was impossible! - may  sound wonderful-(hmm hands + oil) BUT NOT!!!!!!  it was painful and the worst part was that  I didn’t feel more balanced afterwards.  SO I’ve decided China is the place for me to go for medicinal care.

oh and here’s another fire-like treatment called Moxa - I did this the week before. It’s much less scarier than fire stomach treatment.

Yang Jie is from Guizhou - from a small ethnic minority group - she had to leave her home to make $ so she came to Beijing. I met Yang Jie while I was walking around in Wudaokou. We’ve been talking over the past few days and slowly we’ve become friends as I stop by each day to talk to her.

She sells textiles from her home village - where the women hand-weave beautiful cloth items. Here is a pic of some of the stuff that I have bought from Yang Jie.

Today I saw the local security guard trying to tell Yang Jie to leave the grounds - he said it was illegal for her to be selling in the parking lot. I watched him push one of the other girls down on the ground. As I watched this unfold, she said to the security guard

“you must have compassion for us migrants - for us ethnic minorities - we have no way to make money back home - just let us sell our stuff - we all have to eat - you have to eat - please just understand our plight.”

When I bought my stuff from her I told her that she was brave - she said that she wasn’t doing anything wrong - that she is also trying to make a living like the rest of us. When we talked more she told me about all the changes that were happening in the rural areas - the positive changes - like health care and improved schooling. But not all of these changes had reached her village yet so she has come to Beijing to make money. When i asked her how she deals with these local cops that just harass people like her - she essentially was saying that they are not reflective of the central’s government’s policies.

I am amazed by people like Yang Jie - who are very aware of the government’s process of improving the countryside. She knows how to place these bottom-tired local cops, like the one she dealt with today - and she can articulate that these local cops do not reflect upon the policies of the central government.

With all the migrants that I have spoken to - none have complained about the government’s policies in rural areas. All of them have been very happy with the recent changes. They will quickly list all of the changes that still need to be made - but they always say - we need more time - China is BIG. In many ways - they are more understanding than urban people of how government policies are implemented.

Yang Jie also has a son who is 3 years old now. She already has 20 years old daugher, and at 40 years old she gave birth to her son. When I took the photo he was going poop on the sidewalk so I didn’t want to disturb his process. I was amazed that the 3 year old child could just squat in the middle of the busiest sidewalk in Wudaokou and just go poop without any problems! People were walking past him and some almost stepped on him! He did it right in the middle of the sidewalk - he didn’t even step-off ot the side! Kids in America take forever to learn how to poop on their own - we take care of their pooping process with books and special toilet seats and raised steppers.

Children of street working migrant families in China cannot afford diapers or any of those excrement aiding materials. They just use the streets.

After I took the photo, the father scooped up in poop and put it in the garbage can. No one stepped on it.

it’s lovely tonight in beijing - just quiet - willow trees are lovely - I am happy to be away from the US

I am in Houhai in the Nanlougujie Hutong - with Graham Webster - he is an internets friends who i just met for the first time after 3 years of communicating online! We are in houhai - underneath a willow tree at a rooftop restaurant - enjoying our last day together before he starts his Mandarin classes and I start work.

WOOHOO I made it past the Beijing Intl Airport H1N1 Flu health checks!
These new checks involved 3 extra steps before you go through customs.
The first was when the health officials entered the plane with forehead temperature zappers. As seen in the picture, they held the zapper 1cm from forehead to test for temperature. When every single person was cleared of a temperature on the plane, we were allowed to exit the plane to Step 2.

Step 2 is when we handed over our health cards stating our self-reported health conditions, itinerary for the next 7 days, emergency contacts and all lodging addresses. After this card was stamped, we were alllowed to go through the 3rd step - which was a temperature check. After these 3 - then we stood in line at customs.

Now these extra 3 health checks may sound really intense, but it was not a long process. It was rather quiet efficient. China is not always known for being efficient, but i belief this could be reflective of a new China. . I can’t even imagine the levels of bureaucracy that would happen if all US airports had to health checks on all international flights ( which the US SHOULD be doing on all departing intl flights with the H1N1 flu being more of a problem in the US than any other country). My entire deplaning time from landing to luggage retrieval took 53 minutes - which is how much time it usually takes without the additional Health and Quarantine check system.
All the lines were short - no more than 7 people in front of me for the longest line. And the most pleasant part - all the health officials were really lovely! Some were even smiling! It felt more pleasant entering into China than crossing into the US from Mexico - sometimes the US immigration officials are rude. So keep up with the lovely presentation China - it’a a great image to keep up!

I am just so happy that not a single person was sick on my plane- because if one person EVEN tested for a high temperature, than we all would’ve been quarantined.

I don’t think I could’ve ever been more excited to see this happy sign RELAX - gonna get your luggage!

I’m flying into beijing in 3 hours. My grandma is making me bring this mouth-cover. these don’t help. She made me bring this to Canada during the height of the panic 3 weeks ago. Well wish me luck throught the health checks in Beijing! I definitely won’t be wearing this when I go through :)