Chinese retirement

Tuesday June 29
Today we went first to the Temple of Heaven, where the emperor used to yearly perform the ritual sacrifice of oxen, to ensure a good harvest for the people. Beautiful building. It’s a shame to say but we have seen so many beautiful buildings. What was fascinating to many of us was that that the temple grounds.
The temple grounds are essential a large park: covered with lush lawns, winding paths, cool covered walkways and shady mature trees. The grounds have become to gathering place for the retirees of Beijing. They bring their lunches. Sometimes they bring their grandchildren. They arrive early and stay much of the day. They participate in a number of free activities: dance lessons, singing lessons, cards and dominoes. Perhaps most impressive were the physical games which they played: hacky sack (seriously, grannies and grandpas playing hacky sack!), paddle ball in which the two ladies stood 50 yards apart from and just slammed the ball back and forth to each other, and tai chi
They performed tai chi with paddles and balls, swords and without any props at all. We took a short lesson with a 70 year old master. It was calming, but quickly it became clear that tai chi practice is more than just meditation, it will build leg and core strength! Many of us broke a sweat during the short 20-minute exercises she led us through.
One man brought a special long brush, which he dipped in water to write traditional Chinese poems in Chinese calligraphy on the walkway. His granddaughter stood at his side. What a life for retirees. I wish we had those kinds of opportunities for our retirees!