Layers

So thinking about the Temple Fair made me realize I haven't blogged about one of my favorite things about China--layering.  Nothing in China is neatly categorized.  Well, okay, SOME things are, but one thing that's not is history.  For instance. 

When you make the trek to the Great Wall, you can climb up the thousands of steps, and revel in the ancientness of it all, and stare in awe and wonder at the massive ancient construction towering over your head as you climb laboriously up the ancient stone steps for several hours.  And then you can stand at the top of the tallest guard tower in sight, and marvel at the incredible, mind-boggling panorama of history all around you, and gaze at the wall disappearing into the misty distance as far as you can see, and daydream of Hua Mulan and Mongol invaders, and ancient emperors and the romance and tragedy of the distant past . . . and then you can ride the Alpine Slide back down to the parking lot.  Of COURSE you can.  What, didn't you expect there to be an alpine slide at the Great Wall?  But it goes so well with the amusement park. 

And of COURSE there's a merry go round and mouse mazes and jewelry markets and candy apples and bb gun shooting and penny throws and ring toss games inside the ancient, solemn and (usually) silent Taoist temple on Chinese New Year.  Why wouldn't there be? 
This kind of stuff, the "intrusion" of the modern, or tacky, or just downright crazy onto the sacred spaces of history would drive me crazy in America.  I can't even stand having a souvenir stand in the museum, for goodness sake. 

But somehow, here, it all seems right, and good, and completely reasonable.  It's just life, building on the past, sometimes literally.  There's no sense of division between the "grand old tradition" of history and the continuing story of the present.  Besides, it has always been this way.  If the temple is where people want to congregate during the big celebration, then that's where the party should be.  If people are tired and need some way to get down from the Wall, why shouldn't it be a fun way?  Who wouldn't want to take in one of the Wonders of the World and ride a roller coaster on the same day? 

Someone once said (and if they didn't, I claim the credit) that the less history a country has, the more they tend to cling to it.  And it certainly seems true here.  "The Temple of Heaven?  Yeah, it's cool, but it's only about 700 years old.  Nothing to get worked up about.  But it DOES have a really great toy market next door . . . "