A Walk in the Park
Having nothing to do last Sunday, I decided it was a good time to walk through the People’s Park in Dongguan. I had heard that it was a big park, but had never been through it and had no idea of what to expect. As usual, it was a lot different than any expectation. Who would have expected bumper boats and croquet? And a Tea House? Pretty neat stuff.
The entrance and several locations throughout the park had big displays for the Chinese New Year. As usual, they were large gaudy looking balloon-type displays incorporating pigs or boars for “The Year of the Pig.” And red balls and other decorations were prominent in all the trees throughout the park. Hawkers were even promoting additional balloons and other New Year toys
and treats. It was a typical USA-style commercial event. Two big lakes had separate sections for bumper boats and paddle boats. Only there wasn’t much bumping. The patrons seemed more intent on a pleasant ride instead of any exhilaration from impact. The paddle boats had ornament hoods of birds and ducks. And I am sure everyone had a lot of water to bale from those boats before they traveled very far. They did not look “sea-worthy.” But at least this wasn’t a sea. Koi were, of course, plentiful, and patrons were lined up to buy packets to feed the gold and white fish. They were causing quite a frenzy all along the dock, but by the number of people feeding on this day, you would never think they would lack for food.
The Tea House was a beautiful structure along a waterfall and lily pond. It was probably the prettiest structure I have observed in all of China (although my tours have been somewhat limited). I was told they were not serving tea at the time, but that ladies dressed in special attire from different regions of China served and danced for a minimal fee to patrons reserving the rooms along the waterfront. I definitely have to do that sometime.
A real surprise was a cage like structure. I had heard there were monkeys in the park, so that was my expectation in this big space. Wrong! It was an indoor
croquet court. In fact, there were two courts and 30-40 Chinese were happily engaged in games. They were arguing and whacking balls all around the rooms. I never expected this. There were more elderly than I have ever seen in one day in China. Most were here playing croquet. Amazingly, you seldom see the elderly. They must spend most of their time in the park.There was a monkey in a display area designed to keep the animals inside and not able to escape. Only there were three cats in sharing its space!??! This wasn’t the most impressive area of the park. It looked slightly run down and maybe some of the monkeys did figure out how to get out. The one inside was a little fat from all the junk food thrown down to it by the park guests. It will not be escaping anytime soon. The park meandered up and down hills through bamboo forests and along many additional lakes.
One very interesting yellow building of an almost classical architecture was said to house some kind of bookstore or library. Translation is always a little challenging for me. Another more modern facility catered to tennis and other indoor sports.
And there in the middle of the park were many soccer fields. In fact, unbeknownst to me beforehand, many of my friends were there from the Pub having a “friendly” against some other organized club. As usual the team was loosing, but they were getting primed for the post game ritual of beer. People were everywhere.
As always in China, there were many people. I was told it was probably a “light crowd” on this day! Wow! I hate to see it when it’s busy.
People’s Park of Dongguan! Impressive!
Photos available from link in Right Column.
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 6:18 PM
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