It is amazing how winding the paths of our lives may be. Not everything turns out be exactly as we would like it to be, and we don’t always end up where we thought we would be. Me, a farmer’s daughter from Poland, since my childhood, has always loved plants, animals, and running with my dog through green pastures. Somehow, I ended up living in Beijing. You hardly ever see the sun here…
But let’s not be so depressing; positive thinking causes miracles. The spirit of a place is not just determined by the actual place, but by the people who live in it, and more importantly, the people we choose to surround ourselves with. In such a spirit of smog and positive emotions the BeijingBoulders project burst through the smog and come to life.
Please listen to a story first:
“A long, long time ago when the Chinese didn’t know how to measure time, the Earth was ruled by the powerful and wise Yellow Emperor. His rule was fair and just, and his country strong and prosperous. On one day an evil monster, called Chiyou, arrived from heavenly clouds. The Emperor having heard of Chiyou’s cruelty, challenged him to a duel. In a fierce battle, every time when the Emperor was close to the victory, Chiyou was making a thick fog to surround the Emperor, so that he could escape the final cut of the Emperor’s sword. The battle was witnessed by the King of Heaven, who finally decided to help the Yellow Emperor by sending him a magic compass. The compass was always pointing in the direction of Chiyou, so it was not long until a human defeated a supernatural monster for the first time. Dealt a final deadly hit, Chiyou turned into a huge stone, which since then has been called Shigangdang (he who chased away the evil). Since the day of that battle people have been placing Shigandang stones at village gates and the evil monsters have never threatened them again.
It is not easy to find a proper stone that would have magic properties. It has to placed one day after the Spring Festival in the Year of the Dragon or the Tiger and an offering of three pieces of raw meat from freshly a killed animal has to be made on the stone. Only after that, the stone will have special protective properties”.
Legends and beliefs make a lot of places unusual. Because of the important role of Fengshui in Chinese history and even contemporary reality, Beijing is full of stones of various origins and different shapes. They protect buildings from evil forces and me from a bad mood because of limited contact with the rock. BeijingBoulders is nothing but an idea, a suggestion on how to rethink the use of these stones and turn Beijing city into our own climbing playground. As every respected climbing region BeijingBoulders has its own topo, gradings, and projects. Only in Beijing you can climb granite, limestone, and sandstone in one day. Clicking on a icon will bring you to a page with photos, topos and access information.
Enjoy!
BeijingBoulders 