INFLIGHT DIARY 2001
The soon-to-finish year of 2001 has
brought us some of the most interesting
front of a line of tanks, making them
resulting
stop?
Revolution and his subsequent expulsion
moments.
There is, still in the same square, a
In March, we traveled to China via
South
Korea, a
journey which lasted
approximately 26 hours. Being this our
After
arriving
absolutely
in
the
1911
Republican
from the Palace in 1924, his exile in
huge Mausoleum where Mao Zedong’s
“Tianjin“
embalmed body lies for free-of-charge
“Manchukuo
Emperor”
public visitation. We passed on this one.
incarceration
from
first incursion into Asia, we stayed in
Beijing for 15 days.
from
and
his
ascension
in
as
1932,
1945 to
his
1956 in
In front of Tiananmen Square lies
Sino-soviet prisons, the coming and going
the “Forbidden City”, which Bernardo
of the Cultural Revolution and finally his
Asia,
we
felt
Bertolucci showed the world through his
death on November 17, 1967, as an
We
left
Los
movie
anonymous
disoriented.
“The
Last
Emperor”.
Besides
employee
Beijing’s
having been the home of 24 Ming and
Botanical
after flying for 13 hours, we landed in
Qing Dynasty Chinese Emperors between
Zedong. And, at the end of all this, I
Seoul at 06:00am on March 24: we
1420 and 1911, the “Forbidden City is
ponder: did P’u-Yi deserve to experience
never lived March 23, 2001.
Beijing’s central mark. It is a complex of
so many highs and lows throughout his
palaces, halls and diverse rooms where,
life?
Beijing is an immense city, full of
enchantments
whose
spectrum
comprehends both old and modern.
About 440 yards from our hotel
lied one of the city’s must-see touristic
sites:
“The
Temple
of
Daoist
complex
of
Heaven”,
the
parks,
to
the
Mao
one
we
Emperor resided with his concubines and
explored the most extensively was called
servants, all of whom were compulsorily
“Beihai Park”. Structured about 1000
eunuchs.
years
a
Daoism
preaches
that
divinity
is
ago,
complex
it
is
where
another
immense
landscaping
utilizes
however
rather
concepts
between 1406 and 1428, in a 1697-
who
of
uncommon in the west, are aesthetically
square-miles
Heavens”,
10000
fascinating. Among many examples, there
where
the
built,
Among
subaltern
invested in the person of the Emperor,
park,
Temples
in an area of 447,386 square miles, the
Garden,
at
Angeles at 11:55pm on March 22 and,
fusion
is,
on
his
where
turn,
the
there
are
“Son
which,
between the ethereal and the terrestrial
rooms. Therefore, with 9999.5 rooms,
are
is manifested in fantastic, yet subtle
the Forbidden City is, under the Daoist
whose focal point are goldfish in the
symbolisms.
perspective,
water. Also,
According to Daoism, the ethereal,
for being infinite, is “circular” and the
terrestrial,
for
“quadratic”.
Thus,
extreme,
being
the
representing
finite,
Park’s
the
the closest approximation
ethereal
the
terrestrial
can
provide.
by
man-made
grass
ponds
is not extensively
used, yielding preference to rocks, which
appear to be volcanic in origin.
is
Being very extensive, the Forbidden
Nonetheless, it was the relationship
south
City complex, today a Museum, is under
of the Chinese society towards the park
is
constant restoration and visitors never
which impressed us the most. There is
quadratic in shape while its northern
has access to 100% of its area. Maureen
an
one,
semi-
and I, however, visited the Forbidden
Pavilion”, where the Chinese congregate
circular. Furthermore, the northern edge
City for two consecutive days and went
at
is 4.5 yards higher than the southern,
to 100% of the area open to public
traditional songs, using an accordion as
making the walk between both points
visitation, which comprehended over 50%
accompaniment.
symbolize the “Ascension into Heavens”.
of the Museum’s total area.
crazy.
representing
the
to
edifications
Heaven,
Earth,
is
area,
the
called
end
At
“The
of
the
They
first,
Five
day
also
hearing
Dragon
to
sing
dance
like
them
sing
Further ahead, about 2.5 miles from
Walking through the rooms and halls
the hotel, lied the “Tiananmen Square”,
of the many palaces, I often caught
in
the world’s largest square where the
myself thinking about what Bertolucci
However,
Chinese students’ political manifestations
exposed through the movie on P’u-Yi’s
hearing gets used those sounds and one
for
1989.
life: a little boy enthroned as a child
can perceive that there is indeed the
Remember that Chinese man standing in
and raised as an omnipotent being, the
presence of musical harmony.
Democracy
happened
in
confinement caused by the Abdication
sounds somewhat like the choir practice
“Sister
Act”,
after
a
some
total
cacophony.
minutes,
one’s
“The Great Wall of China”, whose
little ones follow saying “hello, hello,
which is to say we covered exactly half
erection dates back to 221 BC, was
hello”. And that law of only one child
of the planet.
another great moment of our sojourn in
per family does not seem to be very
The international transit does not
Beijing.
rigid given the manager of our hotel had
stop there, though: my grandmother will
four brothers and two sisters. We also
be arriving in Twin Falls on December 10
ambit was to inhibit Barbarian invasions,
saw
and will stay with us until January 13,
“the Great Wall of China” measures
debunks the myth that they are killed
approximately
its
at birth. Are the Chinese perfect? I
conceptual
don’t think so, but I do think they are
function was to defend several feudal
much better than the reputation which
reigns
precedes them.
Being a military construction whose
entirety
2362
and
its
from
miles
main
in
barbarian
invaders.
Currently, however, “The Great Wall of
China”
is
totally
within
the
Chinese
mentally-retarded
children,
which
as a bordering landmark between China
via South Korea on April 6 and, once
and any other foreign nation.
again, there was another mental tumult:
In Beijing, the Great Wall may be
we left Seoul at 8:00pm on April 6,
visited at five distinct points. Maureen
flew 11 hours and landed in Los Angeles
and I went to “Mutianyu”, a visitation
at 3:00pm on April 6. Besides arriving
point about 50 miles away from the
“before” leaving, we “parked” for 37
center
hours on the same day!
There,
we
walked
approximately 4.5 miles on the Great
Wall.
Once
back
home
in
the
United
States, I acquired US Citizenship, in a
In addition, we visited the Zoo, the
Aquarium,
the
Botanical
Naturalization
Ceremony
before
US
Tight Hug,
Márcio & Maureen
Padilha
P.S.: Petit Chat also says “meow” to
everybody
P
the
Federal Court, in Nampa, Idaho on May
P.S.S: My email address, which follows
Temple where Confucius used to teach,
2. The best of all was that, upon
below, has changed. Maureen’s hasn’t
several
acquiring US Citizenship, I was able to
and it’s still:
parks
and
Garden,
We wish you a Merry Christmas and
a Happy New Year.
Big Kiss,
We returned to the United States
Beijing.
That’s about it for this year.
Our only complaint about China was
not being able to stay longer.
national territory, not functioning, thus,
of
2002.
some
Buddhist
Temples.
We
retain my original Brazilian Status.
visited
Temples
and
some
I
active
thought
Buddhist
We left the Ceremony straight to
seeing
the Post Office so I could apply for my
Buddhism, whose philosophy has always
US passport right away because Maureen
fascinated
and I were going to Brazil on May 13.
me,
“in
that
action”
was
absolutely genial.
Nevertheless,
the right to two courtesy tickets to
people who really left an outstanding
Brazil on Continental Airlines. We stayed
impression on us. We expected to find
in Porto Alegre, my native city in the
all the stereotypes, but we ended up
south of Brazil, for 15 days and visited
finding
and
18
care
relatives,
an
about
the
it
was
extremely
people
o.com
I found out, by chance, that we had
Chinese
courteous
maureen_padilha@yaho
who
foreign
the
polite
seem
visitors,
to
individuals,
excluding
some
more
my
than
close
once.
thanking
Unfortunately, I was not able to see all
them for having chosen to visit their
the people I wished because I got sick,
country in every chance they get.
with a bad sinus infection, which annoys
Some parents teach their children
how to tell the foreigners “hello”. So,
you go out on a weekend and all the
me even today.
In about 40 days, Maureen and I
went
from
Beijing
to
Porto
Alegre,
From now on, use this for Márcio:
mpadilha@msn.com