28 december- today is a holiday so set out on a beijing journey with dan and anna - in our local street we run into the beijing rabbit which is local adaptation of the more universal chine rabbit story over here - as it goes the beautiful girl loved by the the rich king is accidentally sent up to the moon after accidentally swallowing some immortality pills that were close by - she finds herself trapped with the king/prince pining for her return - the king/lord sends up a pharmaceutical rabbit who as a chemist is commissioned to experiment until he discovers a pill that will bring the princes back to earth - meanwhile the princess looks down on beijing and sees the general population dying of a dreadful plague - in her compassionate manner she sends the rabbit down to dispense medicine , with his mortar and pestle, to the beijing population and cure them - which the rabbit does - the princess however is forever trapped on the moon but Beijing id forever grateful through their giving of offerings to the rabbit - that is dan in the photo with that rabbit - this deity of the rabbit was very quickly stopped with the communist revolution but has survived into the new revolution of socialist consumerism - we all then catch a taxi back over to the 798 art precinct in the dashanzi area - and view cui guo tai's amazing massive social realist expressionist grunge paintings as truth in beijing can no longer be bright and beautiful - the paintings of boeing jets, a huge submarine breaking water with its propellers threshing dirty grey water across the painting are wondrously awesome - at night we go to the 'little sheep' hotpot restaurant where we are offered 8 types of lamb, numerous varieties of mushrooms and noodles handmade in front of you - have have never eating so much without being full - we all get steamed as an extra bonus - i would love a gelato which is freely available here in the street but cold is bad - hot water is good - we end up at a bar and drink hot rice wine.
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