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Portrait of China

Updated: Dec 15, 2020


The gentleman plays a sanxian in a pavilion atop Jingshin Park. After spending all day walking around Tian an men Square, and the whole of the Forbidden City, we walked through Jingshin Park.


It was hilly! We had been walking all day with only a short lunch refueling. It was bitterly cold. Colder than I had ever been ( I later moved to Chicago which surpassed Beijing’s chill factor). My memory tells me that Jingshin Park was an ever-increasing incline up to that top pavilion. We were so tired upon reaching the top, we sat for quite some time resting. The haze was not too bad, or Beijing and we could see all of the Forbidden City and beyond from this height. The lovely melodies from the sanxian were pleasant as we rested. The man watched me take his photo and continued to play. I wonder how long he had been playing there. I recall he had a collection hat, or donation box.