By David Humphrey

For my 100 RMB a day I chose to go to a concert at the National?Center for the Performing Arts near Tiananmen Square. The ticket cost 80RMB, the subway there and back was 4 RMB (2 each way), and dinner was 10 RMB. This totaled 94 RMB. I spent an additional 4 RMB on an ice cream and 2 RMB on a can of coke after the performance.

I started the evening out with dinner near work. Just across from the China.org.cn office is a restaurant that serves a healthy portion of rice, beef, and green vegetables for 10 RMB. I then walked to my apartment and picked up my bike to ride to the subway station.

I rode to the Gongzhufen station and paid 2 RMB for a ticket and rode to the Tiananmen West station. It sits just in front of the center. The concert I attended featured a set of performances on the piano, cello, clarinet, flute, and violin. The facilities were as breathtaking as the music.

The center is truly a fantastic building. The polished floors are exotic stones from across China and the ceiling ten stories high is made of Brazilian Rosewood. There are escalators that pop up like vines that just soar upwards with no apparent destination.

During the performance, which lasted from 7:30-9:30, I was joined by a fourteen year old violin player from Sichuan Province and a couple from California in their ninth month of a three year business stay. I met these people during the concert.

After the concert finished I walked around the building and got a snack and enjoyed the buildings. A chocolate ice cream cone was 4 RMB and a coke was 2. At night the Great Hall of the People is lit up in outline and the shell of the performance center is dotted like stars.

I got on the subway at around 10:00. This finished the last of my 100 RMB. It was rainy and a lot of people were using it before the trams shut down at 11:00. I managed to find a corner and counted the stops in my head for the correct exit. I couldn't see anything but people on the ride.

I picked up my bike from the station and rode back and was back at my apartment by 10:45.

(china.org.cn July 8, 2008)