CHINA
Country Overview:
“Love the food, hate the government”
I arrived in China in May 2013 and left August 2020. I taught English for awhile, did my master’s of politics & foreign policy at Tsinghua University, worked for a year at China Today, and then two years at Xinhua News Agency. I spent most of my time in Beijing, but also traveled to Shanghai, Wuhan, Inner Mongolia, Shenzhen, Panjin, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, Xi’an, Sanya, Macau, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann)
The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann) is an opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story.
I’m pretty sure this was my first opera and probably my last. I was really confused the entire time and had a hard time understanding the translated subtitles. I was impressed that the actors/singers were able to memorize 3.5 hours of dialogue/songs and the set design was incredible. However, pretty sure opera isn’t my thing.
However, I was pretty excited to go inside the National Centre for the Performing Arts, which is super cool looking building surrounded by water.
Went to see a friend who lives up north and passed the Crow’s Nest
Weather is getting warmer and there hasn’t been smog for a couple of days, which I can only hope lasts for more than a week.
Headed back to Mongolia next week for the oh so fun Visa run. It’ll be the last one until I take off for Brazil in June.
I have no idea what this building is, but I saw it, took a picture, and put it here for your viewing pleasure
On the way to the Russian district I passed the embassies of Finland, Albania, Colombia, Vietnam, and England
Funny how the buildings resembled their countries. Unfortunately, the security guards said no pictures, so here are a couple of other buildings along Embassy Row.
Qianmen. Pretty sure it’s a government building because it’s HUGE and wider than it is tall. Seems to be a recurring theme for Chinese government architecture.