Blue sky day at last

After nearly three weeks of dark, grey-black, polluted skies and steamy 35C+ temperatures we awoke on Sunday to a beautiful, blue sky, day. Determined to make the most of it, we went to Jingshan Park - a lovely park just north of the Forbidden City. In the centre of the park is a hill built with the earth that was excavated when the Forbidden City moat was dug.

The walk up the hill is well worth it and on a clear day the views across Beijing from the top are spectacular.
View south over the rooftops of the Forbidden City with the eerie bubble of the new National Concert Hall in the distance

Behai Park & lake to the west

Beijingers love their parks and open spaces and everyone was making the most of the weather. They picnic, exercise, play mah-jong and practise their ballroom dancing. But on weekends Jingshan attracts hundreds of people who gather in small groups to sing traditional Chinese ballads to the accompaniment of varied instruments. I have no idea what era the songs come from or what they represent but the pleasure the singers clearly get is contagious and we left with smiles on our faces.