Beijing

BEIJING: Chairman Mao, smog, the forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, smog, the Bird;'s Nest Stadium, Starbucks, McDonald's, KFC, smog, Dairy Queen........

We went to a huge 17century Catholic Church just to the east of the Forbidden City today. During the Cultural Revolution a giant wall was built around it and guards were posted outside. The Priest's were sent away for 're-education'. It is fully operational these days and holds mass in Laitn Chinese and English. There is a Catholic minority of about 100,000 in the city. A very helpful official with excellent English started to talk to us and offered to take us downstairs to where he holds a Sunday School to teach the catechism. There are no Catholic Schools in the city and so any religious education has to be extra curricular. Outside the Church there was a bride and groom being photographed, it was not the wedding as there were no guests but just an opportunity for some lovely photographs in their wedding clothes. When we went downstairs in the Church we came across a room with a girl in attendance. It was astonishing: rails and rails of wedding dresses, tuxedos, traditional Chinese outfits, veils, shoes, plastic bouquets, the whole shebang, One wall was all mirrored. I LOVED this place. It was a giant dressing up box for a bride and groom in order for them to have a lovely memory of their wedding. When we went back out I went over to take some pics of the bride myself, approaching her from behind. As I got closer I could see that 'her' wedding dress did not fit at the back. There was a gap of about three inches with her bra strap on display and a few pins holding it together. Of course, from the front all was perfect. I was greatly moved by this and found it very touching. The big stuff in a country is all very well and is undoubtedly very impressive here but, sometimes, it is just the little things that stand out. Today, for me, Beijing, interesting though it is, took second place to a new bride who wanted to be a princess for posterity.