There is not much that I am squeamish about, but when it comes meat I have to confess I am faint of heart. Therefore, on Monday morning when we drove to Fengtai to pick up Peng’s parents for a shopping trip to Xinfadi, Beijing’s largest wholesale food market, to purchase food for the Chinese New Year, I was somewhat nervous.

I have had a fascination with Xinfadi since I was in China in 2020. We drove past its austere gates many times and at the time it was notorious as the first cases of Covid in Beijing emerged there. I was intrigued by its size and what it was like inside the market place and the opportunity of experiencing and seeing the layout of the land was too tempting to miss and I was prepared to put my squeamish thoughts aside.

It opened on May 16, 1988 and in 2020 was the largest wholesale food market in Asia. I found its history of interest as it got its name from being built on farmland that was originally the site of a graveyard, levelled for farming in 1958, and the area became known as Xinfendi (new grave land). The farming settlement that developed there over time called itself Xinfadi (newly developed land) and the nearby farmers, after they had handed over the required quantity of vegetables to the government, began to set up roadside stands to sell the remainder. These stands gradually turned into a street market. Because of the relaxing of control of the prices of seven key agricultural products in 1985, the buying and selling of food from other parts of the country was allowed in Beijing. Many farmers from outside began to join the street market, which caused chaos and traffic jams. Local officials repeatedly tried to drive them away but without success. Eventually, to solve the problem it was agreed that a wholesale market could be established there and one hectare of land was fenced off and thus the ‘farmers market’ was formed. It now covers more than 112 hectares of land.

As a vegetarian I was appalled by the immense scale of the first market hall we went into which was entirely devoted to the sale of pork and pig products. The huge amount of animal carcass’s that filled the halls was astonishing and it was hard to get my head around the fact that this would be sold and how that equated to the many animals that had to be slaughtered on a daily basis. As we entered the hall I was unable to take in the overwhelming stench of dead meat though thankfully Wang Quihui had thought to bring face masks for us. After they had purchased the pork we moved to a second building where there was beef and lamb then fish in a surreal and terrifying amount. I was grateful in that building to find some refuge in a corridor devoted to soy products with every type of tofu you could imagine and I was finally able to make some purchases for myself. I was particularly delighted to note that the block of Tofu had a rather magnificent Fu imprinted in it. A further indication of the markets size was that we had to drive to the wholesale fruit stalls; a living memory of the market’s origins, with the farmers selling their products directly to the public and restaurants from stalls and the backs of their lorries. We bought 4 kilos of Strawberries and 4 kilos of grapes. for a ridiculous 2 GBP a kilo.

Seeing produce being sold on this industrial scale really bought home to me the demands of a population. The food here was being sold to restaurants, hotels, local markets. The millions of consumers needing to be fed was a reality that the mind rarely acknowledges and in response to this recognition my own needs diminished to a grain of salt. The afternoon was spent in a less controversial manner dwelling in images of the past by walking through our neighbouring Hutong and enjoying a coffee in an ancient courtyard cafe.

Tuesday marked the advent of Chinese New year and the spring festival, an event now recognised by UNESCO as an intangible world heritage. The date, 8thof December in the lunar calandar is celebrated as The Laba Festival ( 臘八節) and influenced by Buddhism, the enlightenment day of the the Buddha, it became a fixed celebration in the 10th century and many of the customs associated with the religion are still practised today. Originaly the festival was celebrated by making sacrifices to gods and ancestors to wish for good fortune, health, safety, and a good harvest in the new year. An old custom of beating drums to drive away diseases is still observed in some places but it is mostly customary on this day to eat Laba congee.

Laba congee or Laba porridge (臘八粥; Làbāzhōu) is also known as “eight-treasure congee” (八宝粥; Bā bǎo zhōu) and is usually made with eight or more ingredients, representing good luck. Eight is a lucky number in China, and the ba in Laba also means eight. Different kinds of rice, beans, nuts and dried fruits make up main ingredients. It is believed to be good for health in the winter.

Traditionally, the consumption originated in the Song dynasty with Buddhist monasteries giving congee to people in honor of the story that Sakyamuni (Gautama Buddha) reached enlightenment on the eighth day of the twelfth month after eating congee. This is still practiced in the temples now and it was my plan, on this bright sunny day to go to a nearby temple and have a bowl which represents blessings of health, prosperity, fortune and happiness for the coming year.

My nearest temple, a history lesson in itself was the Tianningzi which is home to a 12th-century 8 sided pagoda built during the Liao Dynasty. It has thirteen stories,  is made of brick and stone and is entirely solid with no hollow inside or staircase. The structure and ornamentation have remained the same since the pagoda was built, It is lauded as a pristine architectural design of antiquity.

I had read that congee was served at midday and I cycled to the temple for that time. When I had arrived, despite many people milling about it was clear I had missed the handout. The pagoda was undergoing some renovation work so it was not possible to get close and I wandered around the grounds in a desultory fashion before deciding to ask in the sales office if there was any blessed congee being offered. At that moment a monk came into the shop and rewarded me with the gift of his own happiness porridge. Which I took back home and shared with Peng. It was only then that I learned how lucky I was as people queue for hours to get a congee and are often disappointed. The queues at the Lama temple were apparently very long. Having taken down the Christmas decorations the day before the Advent of Spring festival seemed an appropriate day to start putting up decorations for the new year.

I had hoped after the industry of the previous week to take things easier and when Peng suggested a subway trip to IKEA I felt doubtful but succumbed knowing it would involve some walking and thus, exercise. It was the first time in a couple oof years that we hadn’t driven to Livat Mall and it was interesting to retrace old steps on line 4 from Caishikou to Xihongmen and see how the landscape had altered over the past year. Our shopping was conducted swiftly, though we did spot a new food product of vegan tuna pizza. I have always had a dislike of tuna, the stomach turning smell had haunted me at school when classmate Helena Bright would eat her Tuna sandwiches and an imitation meal made me feel queasy but it was worth a try. In anticipation of gagging and handing it over to Peng I had also bought a mango sorbet to take away the taste however, disappointingly it was just like cheese and tomato and I was left having to eat it and the sorbet.

I noted on the journey home that since the last time I had taken subway in 2021 when there was only one route on line 4 but since then a new line 19 had opened which required a change but made the journey easier as the Niujie stop was closer to us. It may seem somewhat laborious to note this change of route but without a moment of serendipity would have been missed as we had to pass the Beijing Gognan Cultural Museum which reminded Peng that to celebrate the first Anniversary year of the reopening of the museum on the 18th of May 2024 they were issuing 60 special tickets a day. As I had been at the museum on its reopening it seems only right that I should have this collectable piece of merchandise. Peng looked at booking a ticket but all 60 had been taken all the way to March. Peng couldn’t believe that nothing was available and continued to refresh and magically one ticket suddenly became available for the day. I obtained it and that afternoon we went to collect it and look round the former temple and now testament to the history of the arts and education in the district. In the evening we put up the door gods and fu as decorations for the coming Chinese new year and completed a Lego new year display.

I should have had a day indoors on the 9th but I was enjoying a burst of energy that was supported buy the dazzling blue skies and temperate winter weather and I decided to go to the cinema at Qianmen to see ‘Octopus with Broken Arms’ and recce a two new exhibits in the area, one an ancient underground water way which was closed and could not be seen and a staggeringly large peony decorated sphere which squeezed between two buildings looked like it had dropped from the sky.

There was still no rest on Friday as I had made plans to meet ex colleague Stuart to go to the Alter of Agriculture which was the final location on the Beijing central Axis. It was a small museum which was the the home of the Ancient Architecture Museum bat they had had recently uncovered a 600 year old ceiling carving which its believed had not been seen by the public since it had been installed 500 years previously. There were some unexpected detours and obstructions to our visit but we did eventually get to see the museum and its relic. When I had visited in 2020 during covid, the museum had possessed a desultory charm and I was one of a handful of visitors. It was good to see that the fabric of the buildings and exhibits had been refurbished and were attracting a new audience and some that liked to dress up in the Qing style. We finished our tour 3 hours later with no encouragement needed to print our own Fu (New Year Blessing) and the afternoon culminated with a tea .

I would like to say that I dropped the pace on Saturday but I still went out, even if it was only to visit Peng’s parents for another delicious home cooked vegetarian meal. Food dominated the weekend Starting with Jian Bing from the market and culminating with an unexpectedly huge lunch at Bestease Vegan Noodles on Sunday. We walked around a reclaimed industrial site Beitou Aoyuan 1314 which though mostly restaurants and sports areas did have some fun murals and crazy sculptures. We ordered 3 small bowls of noodles for lunch with some side dishes, but the small bowls turned out to be huge. I had a mushroom based soup with a wide variety of mushrooms and fungus which was tasted incredibly umami. I couldn’t eat all the noodles but I drink very last bit of the soup. I was left feeling extremely full and a walk in the brilliant sunshine alongside the river of Yuandadu Chengyuan Ruins Park. Despite taking the subway we still managed to cycle 10 and walk over 10k. The evening was rounded off by watching the penultimate episode of Silo.

I may have begun the week feeling fainthearted, though I did manage to overcome my apprehension, but the pace I set myself and range of activity and celebration illustrated to me that I was most definitely not faint of spirit