The first day and first time in Beijing

My first time in Beijing, my first intercontinental flight and my first time travelling as part of a delegation. Also my first blog entry for this trip.

The VU delegation for the theme Religion in Society consists of three people: André van der Braak, Professor in Buddhist Philosophy in dialogue with other Worldviews, Eddy van der Borght, vice-dean of the faculty of Theology and me, Master’s student Theology and Religious Studies. We travelled to Beijing together with Peter Peverelli, Academic Director China of the VU International Office. We arrived at 9 AM local time at Beijing airport, which was 3 AM in the Netherlands.

Luckily for our part of the delegation the first day would be a quiet one, which gave us the opportunity to do a little sightseeing in the afternoon. Eddy van der Borght and I went to visit Tian'anmen Square. Even before we got out of the subway an art student started talking to us and led us to a small exhibition by him and a few of his fellow students. There were mainly classic paintings in Asian style, but also a few in classic European style. The student was even so kind as to make a calligraphy for me on rice paper, which he signed with his very own stamp.

Afterwards we walked on the square itself, which was enormous. Not only the sheer amount of open space was impressive, the massive buildings around it were too. It's really blown out of proportions. To enter the square, but also to enter the subway, you have to put your bag through a security scan. There were also a few policemen and a lot of security cameras. In the middle of the square was a grand decoration of a bouquet with fruit. This is supposedly there for the national holiday on October 1st. In the square were a few students who came up to us and started asking us all sorts of questions. For the most part this was because they wanted to practice their English speaking skills. One of them told me she was actually majoring in English. After these nice encounters we returned to the hotel.

In the evening we met up with the rest of the VU delegation and had dinner with a few representatives of Tsinghua University. This was connected to the themes of ICT and law. The time difference with Holland meant that we’d had a short night on the plane, which caught up with us in the evening. An early night was therefore no luxury, so everyone went straight to their rooms upon returning to the hotel. We won't have too much leisure time tomorrow, because then the expert meeting on Religion and Social Cohesion will take place at Renmin University. But first I will enjoy my first night of sleep in China or maybe experience my first ever jetlag.