Beijing, Vorplatz Hauptbahnhof / central station forecourt

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There is no standstill on the forecourt of Beijing Central Station. Travelers are constantly running and hurrying into the monumental halls or out of them into the city. There I could see a woman either sitting or lying on her 2 cardboards. That was all she had with her. No food, no drink, no belongings, just her clothes and the cardboard. Her suit and colorful sports shoes gave her an expression that did not immediately suggest homelessness or poverty. Her behavior was free of gestures of neediness. No glances at what was happening around her. A meditation? With the sunny, crowded square, she had chosen (or just found) a prominent place that was the exact opposite of what is traditionally considered a space for contemplation in China. A protest? A religious demonstration? Her hands were slightly swollen, her hair swaying in the wind. A theater, a performance, a political action? None of that. Purity? Penance? A performed form of worldlessness? Nothing of that either. Simply nothing. Only her physical presence, which remained limited to the slightest expression of the body. She was there. But no message came from her.
I thank her.