Time：10:37AM, August 26th, 2012

Place：East Garden Alley

Character：Grandfather Yang，83yo，former electrician

Each day lines of Beijing’s old-style pedicabs hurry groups of tourists through the bustling alleyways. East Garden Alley is one of tourist-filled hutong in Drum Tower District.

“There’s too many people. Too messy!” Grandfather Yang exclaims.  Having lived in the hutong since China’s founding, Grandfather Yang observes, “This hutong hasn’t change at change, it’s just a mess.”

Each morning Grandfather Yang would take a chair outside and sit in the hutong watching people pass by. Yet, a few days ago a mahogany bench suddenly appeared in the spot he usually sits. “I don’t know where it came from, but anyone can sit here.”  Since the bench appeared, Grandfather Yang spends more than two hours each morning sitting and watching before going home for lunch. He lives with his daughter and granddaughter but during the day they busy with work and school, so it’s often only him at home.

Who knows if this bench will disappear as suddenly as it appeared, but when you ask Grandfather Yang what he would do if it did he responds, “[It’d] be natural.” Even if the bench wasn’t there, he would still bring a small stool and sit there each day for two hours.