Temple of Heaven

	If happiness is doing your own thing, the arcade leading to the Temple of Heaven is full of happy people!

We arrived in Beijing around 7.00 am after an all-night flight from Britain - and I simply cannot sleep on planes - and because time was limited set off immediately for a sight-seeing tour of Beijing. We had a private guide, but I cannot remember a word he said about the wonders of the Forbidden City or the Temple of Heaven and though I have footage of both places, it would be hard to string the disconnected scenes together to make a coherent account of either place.

I was, however, impressed by these people who were performing, quite unself-consciously, in the covered walkway leading up to the Temple of Heaven. I don't think they were busking for money; rather, they were just doing what they did for the sheer pleasure of doing it - or for exercise or practice or something.

These are just a few of the nine or ten groups I saw - notice the couple doing the tango in the background of the ladies clacking - but they are the only ones I could snatch between keeping up with the guide - and if the steadiness of the camera is not up to my usual standard, I apologise and point out that the camera was hand-held and I was tired!