#latergram – National Museum

Our Beijing hosts Mr. and Mrs. G spent part of May walking the Camino Santiago de Compastela. Once they returned home to China, Mrs. G commented that she wished she could post photos of her pilgrimage via her Instagram account, but that it was “too late,” because it wasn’t “instant.” I told her that it was totally fine, that there was even a hashtag for when you post photos after-the-fact, but she didn’t–she doesn’t–believe me. She has always been a bit of skeptic when it comes to technology and social media.

I, on the other hand, totally believe in #latergram. We returned from Beijing about a week ago and jumped back into work and life, but China was such an amazing, rich experience, I’m going to avail myself of a few more #latergram posts.

When I heard that the National Museum collection included artifacts from ancient Chinese dynasties that were thousands of years old, I expected spearheads, bowls, and maybe a phallic fertility god or two. I did not expect to find…whimsy. I found these works absolutely delightful.

After strolling through — you know — 5000 years of Chinese history, we ended up in the “Road to Rejuvenation” exhibit, which covers 1911-the present.

[By this point in the trip, my brother and his wife had joined us. My sister-in-law grew up in Taiwan, and her fluent Mandarin was oh-so-helpful. For example, she could give a cab driver turn-by-turn directions to the Bell and Drum Tower, whereas Mr. and Mrs. G (with their more limited language skills) once had to act it out for their taxi driver. Also, we could now order specific dumpling fillings instead of just “dumplings.”]

My SIL was very interested in how China’s version of modern history differed from what she had been taught growing up in Taiwan.

There was no mention of The Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution. To be fair, every culture rewrites history in its own image, but it was unsettling to have those huge events ignored outright.

By the way, we were in Beijing for June 4, the anniversary of the student-led protests in Tiananmen Square. No acknowledgment of that anywhere, either.