Strange lights in the night sky

Since the excitement of the arrival of the new subway line 2, I have been trying out a few new routes to and from the office. My old No. 27 bus route all the way to and from the centre is getting a bit boring and so yesterday I thought I’d try the No. 17 to the end of Yudao Jie and then the new Metro line to the centre. Leaving the office lateish I got the Metro to MingGuGong stop and came up the escalator into the warm evening air. Looking across to the “Imperial Palace of the Ming Dynasty” where I was to catch the bus, I could see lights in the night sky. What were these strange bright flying objects high above?

Hypnotised as if I was a shepherd following a bright star above Bethlehem, I followed the lights and with my head lifted skywards I walk crossed Yudao Jie and into the park. The whole park was alive with people enjoying the relative cool of the evening air; some sitting around chatting, children paying on skateboards and rollerblades, some young children with illuminated shoes which squeak and flash with every step, groups of middle-aged people doing an intriguing kind of face slapping aerobics, and another group of people chanting while chapping rhythmically 1,2,3…. 2,2,3…. 3,2,3.… 4,2,3….5,2,3…. 6,2,3 then all leaping up into the air and cheering when they got to …7,2,3.

Bypassing these distractions I was still drawn by the lights in the sky and eventually came across, not a stable with a heavily pregnant virgin but something much more likely – 6 men flying huge illuminated kites. I stood in wonder at how far up these men had managed to get the kites and when one of them invited me to hold the controls I experienced for myself the immense strain on the line. I could imagine that it you got someone less bulky than me to hold the rope they would easily be lifted up never to be seen again. Like nowhere else, Chinese parks are communal spaces packed full of activity, packed full of excitement and packed full of surprises.

For me, they are the best bits of Nanjing and unlike what we are used to in our corner of “The West” where pigeons foul the paths and benches, used needles and condoms litter the undergrowth and flashers in raincoats wait for young girls to walk by, Chinese parks are clean and safe and a great place to hang out when the sun has made being outside an air-conditioned building, a joy.