This morning, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Clear and cool, not a cloud in the sky. We had been waiting for a day just like this to visit the Kaifu Temple.
While I was getting ready, though, I heard the sounds of cheering and chanting from outside. Unfortunately there is another building in front of ours, so I couldn’t see anything, only hear it. So we got on our motorbike with our cameras and headed out to see what was going on. We didn’t have to go far as the traffic just outside our building on Wuyi Dadao was completely stopped. It looked like people were gathering around the PingHeTang department store, but it was so crowded, we knew we wouldn’t get close. So we decided to head to the Crown Plaza Hotel just next to our building and try to find a window facing that direction. On the 6th floor, we were in luck as the windows in the hotel gym faced just the right way. By that time (about 10:30) there were several thousand people gathered in the area waving banners and Chinese flags. We got some pics and decided to head on our merry way, not wanting to be in the area should things go badly. There were reports of people trashing the department store and burning things, but when we came back about 3:30 the police were calmly moving the crowds off the bridge and trying to get them to disperse.
Hopefully the rally will continue to clear out and things will be calm by tonight. But there are also reports of rallies being held around the city last night as well. No doubt these impromptu small rallies and planned larger ones are something we might be seeing for a while. Similar rallies have also been held throughout the country.
You can see all the pics from today’s rally here on my Facebook page.