Eric's Beijing Diary

Songzhuang. The village. Actually, it's a village inside a city, because Songzhuang is situated within Beijing Shi (city). But you'd never know it. This is the countryside of China a stone's throw from the Forbidden City. It's rural nature means that prices of real estate are quite a bit less than they would be in the city. But it's proximity to Beijing proper has made it a drawing card for folks who would ordinarily be drawn to a much more urban locale. Specifically, Songzhuang is becoming a gathering place for artists and musicians.

This afternoon we went to a Christian Rock concert, which featured a group from Pittsburgh called, "Re:generation." Loud, but friendly. The young people liked it. Wonder how much hearing I lost. Hate to be a party pooper, but I left a little early. Is that alright? This is when I should say something like, "I must be getting old." But the truth is that I never have liked excessively loud music, even when I was younger. I must have very sensitive ears, or something, but for me, the loud music at rock concerts is physically painful.

The name of the place is interesting. "Song" is a family name and Zhuang means village. So Songzhuang means "Song Family Village." I guess villages are often named like that in China. I don't know if the Song family is still around, but apparently they were influential in getting the place started. This place is so China, you'd never guess that it is becoming a center for modern art. Not sure how all that happened, but apparently it is just close enough to the city center to be attractive to artsy types who want to be "far from the madding crowd" without being to far from the conveniences of modern life. After all, if you have a car, it isn't more than about 30 minutes from the World Trade Center in Guomao.