Qingdao: What to wear at the beach

I'm returning to the beach today in celebration of the fact that in two weeks I will be back (hopefully) visiting my own stony, seaweed bedecked seaside.

 

The dress code on the beach seems to be a cross between Islamic and semi-nudist. Chinese women prize pale skin, a symbol of not-having-to-work –in-the-fields-wealth, so wear tend to wear covering garb, and sit under an umbrella. As further protection from the sun, many people had pitched small tents, which would be crowded with people who were enjoying their time at the beach by sitting in a undersized opaque box. We saw only one Chinese woman sporting a bikini. As a side note, I suspect that the good they do their skin by not exposing it to the sun is rendered void by the skin bleaching creams that are so popular.

 

A lot of the men looked as if they had stopped off at the beach en route to the office, whilst others wore alarmingly skimpy and clingy trunks. The poseurs in the last photo – who would interrupt their sunbathing to do press ups – had trunks (or were they just underpants?) that went semi transparent when wet.

 

Little girls frolicked modestly in T-shirts and knickers, but their brothers went pant-less, wearing clothes only on their top half. I seriously hoped that they had applied sunscreen to the crown jewels that were happily waving in the sea breeze!

 

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Summer Rain

I was off to the gym, and took a quick look outside to decide what to wear. The yellow pre-storm light told me I would be going nowhere, and sure enough a few minutes later I heard a crashing sound - the rain starting. I'm not sure if China has a monsoon or not, but the summer rains here are certainly impressive. Ten minutes later, there was over a foot of water in the yard, and my friend had to cycle back from the gym knee deep in water.

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Qingdao: Shooting the Bride

It's customary in China to have a wedding album made featuring shots of the bride and groom in a variety of settings. Whereas in industrial Shijiazhuang this is done inside in front of a variety of backdrops, Qingdao provides its lucky couples with a series of picture perfect backgrounds. The most popular location was German concession era church of St Emil, and the square in front was teeming with probably 40 bridal couples plus attendant photographers and assistants. Watching the shoots in progress was far more interesting than looking at the church!
 
A little historical snippet to finish with: during the Cultural Revolution, it was ordered that the crosses atop the spires be destroyed. However, plucky/suicidal local Christians removed them first and hid them in the ground until it was again politically safe for them to be unearthed.

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Qingdao: Beer Town

Qingdao is known for its famous Tsingtao brewery and beer. If you walk along streets and alleys in the late afternoon and early evening, you will come across many 'beer bars', where you can either have your beverage in a glass to drink in, or take it away in a plastic bag, which you pierce with a straw and then drink as you wander.

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Qingdao: Shop fronts

Qingdao manages to pull off being charmingly shabby instead of depressingly ugly in a manner that reminds me of Italy and Greece. We didn't do any of the touristy things, as, honestly, I've seen enough temples and mountains to keep me going for the next few years at least, and instead spent many enjoyable hours just wandering around random streets in the city centre.

 

I actually found the old style two storey Chinese buildings more fascinating and photogenic that the famed German concession architecture, mainly because I wonder how long it will be until they are razed to make way for posh apartments and shopping malls.

 

And obviously, at no point did I stand in the road, dodging taxis, to take any photographs. Sorry mum and dad!

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Thank You!

Thank you to everyone whose books have arrived in the past week: T in China, Fuzzy Logic and, of course, my mama. I now have a good sized stock that I am excited to distribute to my classes.

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China's net nanny has surpassed itself....

They have actually blocked hotmail, along with flickr and twitter. Because heaven forbid that Chinese people share their holiday snaps or chat with their friends! (And yes, I know it's all to do with the Tiananmen hysteria, but let's be realistic about what the majority of people use these now banned services for.) Really, I am just so cross right now that, instead of writing about how delightful Qingdao was or about the interesting conversation I had with my students about Elizabeth I, all I can think about is how much this patronising, controlling attitude pisses me off.  Although sometimes living here has had it's incredibly frustrating points, I've actually been thinking, depending on what happens when I go home, about coming back and teaching in another city. But I think this is the whole camel-straw incident. I am never going to live in this country again.

Well done net nanny, because that's such a fantabulous thought for me to share with the world.

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