The Summer Palace
III: Shopping at the Emperor Mall

As we reached the bottom of the hill, we were surprised to find the emperor's old shopping mall, built around a little body of water. What could we but do? We climbed down the stairs and shopped. We knew we weren't about to find another mall like this one for a long time.

We were not the only ones who couldn't resist Emperor Mall (my name for it).

Ground level of Emperor Mall. In typical Chinese style, there were no guard rails. But don't worry; the water wasn't deep enough to drown anyone. We could not help but notice, though, that since the people all knew that their government would not protect them from falling in, they took a great deal of individual initiative and were very careful about how and where they walked.

The rest of our pictures from the Summer Palace should be entitled "Kelly goes shopping." And she was wise to take advantage of this great opportunity. First she looked for a pair of scrolls. The proprietor of this little shop, who is wearing the little hat, had assembled a good selection of outstanding merchandise. Here is he explaining the fine points of the scrolls to Jinghua and Guoshun, while Kelly simply stares in wonder at the beautiful items. After some bargaining, she eventually bought this pair of scrolls.

After walking around one end of Emperor Mall, we came upon this old gentleman lettering individual sayings, good-luck charms, etc. It was just what Kelly was looking for, because she needed to get "Catch a kiss and a hug" written in Chinese for one of her aunts. That proved easier said than done, however. Kelly was eager, the old man was willing, but our Chinese friends could not agree on how to translate this expression properly into Chinese. Everybody got into the act, opinions ran rampant, feelings ran high, and it must have taken 10 to 15 minutes before the crowd could agree on which three characters were to be written. Even outsiders were drawn into the debate. Here Guoshun is demonstrating either catching or hugging to the guy on the left, a passerby who until a few minutes before had been going about his own business. The guy behind the painter was also a passer-by. Kelly, showing a certain frustration, stands with hand resolutely on hips. I don't think that any of the Chinese understood how tough Kelly could be until they got into this discussion. The painter looks bemused at it all.

Now it's Kelly's turn to act. She addresses the painter directly, not mincing words as to what she wants. You can see his reaction. You can also see Jinghua's jaw dropping with surprise.

Now it's Guoshun's turn—he must mediate. See him explaining to the others. But Kelly still hasn't gotten what she wants—note the body language of the hands thrust deep into the jacket pockets.

Now Kelly makes a point forcefully to Jinghua, perhaps justifying her insistence on a certain way of writing the American saying. Jinghua has an understanding look about her. Guoshun looks tired. Another bystander watches the elderly painter at work.

The work of art progresses. Guoshun is happy again, Kelly seems relieved, too, Jinghua is watching carefully, and two bystanders are following along, too. Note the tilted head on the guy at the far left. Once the old man started, it went very rapidly, and seemed to be done in a flash.

The penultimate photo, with everybody happy. Kelly is smiling because she is getting just what she wanted, Guoshun is visibly relieved because it's OVER, and the old man sees another job done to his high standards.

Presenting....."Catch a kiss and a hug" in Chinese! I don't know whose expression I like better, Kelly's of sheer happiness or the old man's of pride and warmth. Who knows, maybe he also realized that this would make him a star on the Internet! Anyway, he dried it, rolled it up into something smaller than a cigar, and presented it to Kelly. She left, looking like the cat who had just swallowed the mouse. End of "Event at Emperor Mall."

As we left the Summer Palace, we got a glimpse of this beautiful pond full of goldfish and lotus plants. What Sunday could have been better?

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