So much for this being a regularly updated blog. Josh and I are on week five in Beijing. I haven't written because I don't know where to start. So I decided to pick something random, small and manageable, and see where it takes me.
There are many things about Beijing and China that I find confusing, and my efforts to make sense of them have largely been foiled. One of them is why some Chinese people like to come up and take their picture with me (me and their whole mishpacha). I made the mistake (only once) of asking a family touring the Great Wall if they wanted me to take a picture of them. I wasn't sure if it was my pathetic Mandarin or simply their excitement, but I soon ended up in a slew of photographs with the family. I then tried again to ask if they wanted me to take a picture of them, and another round of photos began (again, I was not the photographer, much to my chagrin).
I think I find all the picture-taking a little strange because in many places I have traveled and lived, some people do not want their pictures taken, either because they find it intrusive or because they believe the photo will capture their soul (or some similar variation). This makes sense to me, and so I try to be respectful when taking pictures, especially outside of the US. But here something totally different is going on.
A couple weekends ago Josh and I went to the beach at Beidaihe, a few hours from Beijing. There was a whole section of the beach dedicated to wedding photos. Dozens of young Chinese couples, to be married in the coming months, had come to Beidaihe to be photographed at the beach (though the smog reaches Beidaihe, so this was without any beautiful blue skies in the background). They were photographed by professional photographers amid faux shipwrecked boats, grand pianos, and red sports cars who have permanent homes along this stretch of beach (at least on summer weekends). (See example below.) Based on my conversations with a Chinese friend, the young couples are trying to capture the happiness and prosperity they hope to have. (They send these pictures pre-wedding.) Perhaps if you can just create an image of it, it will be yours. Josh says this is why I am a picture magnet for Chinese tourists -- take a picture of me, and they have an American friend. Or something like that. So rather than a snapshot capturing some important part of you and making off with it, here that snapshot can create limitless possibilities.
I am not sure how different this is from our own modus operandi when it comes to picture-taking, but the enthusiasm with which these photographed moments are pursued is striking. In some ways it reminds me of the faux facades we've seen all over the place, after original structures have been torn down. That old mantra still rings true: If you build a storefront that from a distance looks like an old Chinese shop, the tourists will come (Chinese and foreign alike).
