Nancy’s Big Adventure

“May I take a photo, please?”  Most tourists (myself included) feel almost compelled to put a camera between themselves and what is remarkable that they see.  I have learned to be quite careful when taking photographs in China, as they may be quite particular about what you can and cannot take pictures of.  I did have a slight brush with the law when I was trying to take a picture of the ornate gateway entrance of Zhong Nan Hai, the political headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party, which happens to be within walking distance from Tiananmen Square.  It is best not to take a photo of anything related to the sensitive political and military machineries of China!

Once in a while I encounter a person who vehemently objects to having their picture taken – someone told me that they fear that I am “stealing their soul”.   Some people simply dislike having their photos taken. Yesterday I noticed a a different approach – the guy who would walk slowly past groups of foreigners and then (not-so) casually sling his arm over his shoulder to take a picture with his cell phone.  Odd.  It seems like it would be a lot easier to just ask – every once in a while, someone asks me to pose with their group for a picture – no big deal.

Today I ventured off to visit the hutongs.  My own definition of a hutong is a small street or a lane between two courtyards – there are thousands of hutongs in Beijing City, some which have been selected as protected areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural history.  I was very careful not to take photographs in many of the hutong areas, even though many people do – it just seems like an such intrusion of  privacy.  Anyway, it is amazing just passing through a hutong and watching the daily life going on.

南希  (Nancy)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.