Today the Aiyi (that's what a maid is called in Chinese) came. She did amazing things. I have a desk now. And it turns out the floors here in my bedroom are not supposed to be grey carpet. Rather, they are reddish hardwood. Who knew?

I think it's time for a picture upload.


These little creatures are the guards of buildings against evil spirits. Without going into it too deeply, the more tiny beasties on the roof, the better. They scare away the bad guys. And the slant of the eaves, of course, makes the bad guys slip right off. Evil spirits aren't very smart in China, you see. Also, each creature is a specific thing, and he protects the building in a specific way. I don't know enough about them to give examples, but you see smaller sets of these things on almost every old building here. There are so many of the little statues on this building because it is part of the Forbidden City complex. The Emperor needs more protection and harmonious...ness than anyone else. And he was supposedly afforded it by more guardians.

Court eunuchs only got one beast. Some guys just can't get a break.

T