This book "The Ordinary Acrobat", took me to a wondrous world of circus acrobats. It uncovers the realities of everyday life at the circus with both it's ups and downs. After reading this book I am convinced however that the life of many such acrobats is just as wild and exiting as it seems from the distance. It reminded me of my childhood and the famous Chaoyang Theatre in China which hosts such performances that I always loved. Dwelling deep into their professional lives was a refreshing and interesting look into a profession that is almost forgotten.

As for the author Duncan Wall, I think his writing is very captivating and well done. I have not heard of his other books but this one certainly aroused my interest towards his works of literature.

It was finally time to get our little intellectual circle together to experience something that so far we have only been reading about..  to experience Opera in Beijing we headed out to the Chinese capital.

In books, the art form is depicted as a graceful and wondrous art form. What we saw was very similar to dreamy storytelling.. but to our surprise there was much joy and laughter in the air. People came here to truly enjoy Chinese culture, in an entertaining way.

If you compare it with other deeply culture rooted art forms, such as the Spanish flamenco. It lacks the tightness of elitism that usually originates from a long history of obsession to perfect the art.

Truly wonderful.

The Wangfujing Book Store is one of the biggest in Beijing. Just don't expect to find any books about important political figures.. neither western guide books about China!

Despite the occasional lack of inventory, this book store is huge with five big floors full of mostly Chinese literature. There are plenty of English books as well.