City schools
(A school group in the Forbidden City: Beijing, China)
I just wanted to mention a couple of things about this image; firstly, how awesome it would be to be exposed to an attraction of such grandeur at such an age. Aside from castles and air shows, I’m not sure I was ever exposed to anything on the scale of Beijing’s Forbidden City or the Xi’An Terracotta warriors as a very young child. In fact, no doubt it is difficult to appreciate the scale of the Forbidden City at the age of four or five. These children definitely saw the open spaces and low walls as cause for exploration, but geared more towards play than interest of historical and cultural significance. There was one point that day when a group was huddling around two policemen in a courtyard; the two gentlemen were knee deep in children and were evidently having difficulty a) keeping straight faces and b) asserting their authority.
How neatly the little people are turned out in complete matching sports style uniforms, even down to the yellow caps (I suppose for recognition). I would like to add at this juncture that all Chinese tour groups of fifteen or more people seem to favour the reversible cap. If you’re ever in Asia, or even passing a Chinese tour group in Europe, I guarantee that they will all have a matching neck scarf, cap or t shirt, declaring who they belong to. My favourite item is the reversible cap; usually one side is patterned in a Burberry style tartan and the other is block colour. I suppose this is done so that one cap can be used for two groups, or that each person has a choice of cap exterior.
You might be able to see a second school group in the right hand side of this image – there was much huddling and counting being done all over the city as school groups were herded together again, mid day trip. The children were amusing in their apparent indifference to their surroundings and I got the distinct impression that they were all ready for lunch, or perhaps it was my own growling stomach clouding my vision.
– Today Rosie is drawing in Glasgow, Scotland –
