ZhongShan Park

The last few weeks we have had beautiful, clear, blue skies with cool, crisp winds and moderate temperatures so Mark & I took advantage of the good weather to explore some Beijing parks.

One week we visited ZhongShan Park that, according to Top 10 Beijing "was once part of the grounds of a temple and the square Altar of Earth and Harvest remains."

The more temples and parks we visit, the more we see the same things over and over again - temples of Buddha worship, altars to unknown gods, long histories of dynasties, attention to beautiful details, and the friendliness of Chinese people.

A little noodle shop in which we ate lunch before entering the park.  We spent the afternoon with our friend Jana and her daughter Lili. This is the left side of the restaurant.

Other customers sitting in the front corner.

One of the shop workers, maybe owner. As we ate, Mark talked with everyone in the noodle shop, impressing them with his Chinese. He also impressed Jana with his boldness in just standing up and talking with everyone. No shyness in him!

As we have visited many of these types of altars, I remembered the apostle Paul experienced something similar.

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. (Acts 17:22-23) The ancient Chinese worshiped a God they didn't know.

 

Walking through a bamboo forest.

The texture on this iced-over pond intrigued us.