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Beijing -- Peter on Tienamen Square with his friend Will.  Below is Will's account:
 

World Juggling Day is an "up" thing. It's a "people" thing. I spent it in Beijing, visiting my friend Peter Ralph. We held our World
Jugging Day event in Tienanmen Square, where it nearly became a getting-arrested thing!

Peter, who's from the Berkeley Juggling Club, is living there and I was in town seeing the sights.

Picture two young Americans juggling by the Monument to the People's Heroes in the middle of Tienanmen Square. I was
bounce juggling while Peter did funky creative Peter stuff. In the background you can see the gateway to the Forbidden City
and the big portrait of Chairman Mao.

In the People's Republic of Berkeley it would take much more than two hicks juggling to attract attention. People in Berkeley
don't blink at anything short of a major earthquake or a Republican. But I guess this kind of thing is rare in Beijing. The
acrobats are a little pricey for the common folk and for reasons we were about to learn, there aren't many buskers. People
started to gather around us and take pictures, and that's when the trouble started.

A busload of cops drove up, right across the square, and started to question us. Peter's Chinese is good , so he explained
about the harmony and joy that is World Juggling Day while our onlookers, ummmm, looked on. The cops were not amused,
and ordered us to disperse immediately. We had a quick conference and decided that when the authorities tell you to disperse
from Tienanmen Square, it's healthier (albeit less heroic) to obey.

After some further negotiations, the cops said they could not allow any assembly in the square itself, but we could juggle just
across the street in front of the People's Revolutionary History Musuem. This worked out pretty well, because it was still a very
public place right next to the monument.

We started passing clubs. We only had five, so Peter improvised a sixth one out of an old dowel. In the background was the
Maosoleum where the Chairman himself lies in waxy state.

At this point, our photographer, Mary Crabb, decided it was safe to be seen with us, so she joined us juggling while Peter and I
did a three club walkaround. We started to gather a new crowd of supporters, but the soldiers marching around refused to turn
their heads to look. I did my little Vegas-style 5-club finish for the crowd, but sadly, no women threw their underwear at me.
Guess I need more rhinestones. Or maybe I need to get that Qian fellow to teach me to juggle.

Then we got down to business teaching people how to juggle. Several people began to get the hang of the cascade and we
were able to "Siamese juggle" with them. (I hope that term is still p.c. It means that you stand side-by-side and one person acts
as the right hand while the other person acts as the left.)

But apparently this level of interaction was again too much for the police. Another officer came over and ordered us very
brusquely to leave. We tried to explain that the other busload of cops given us permission, but I guess he thought we were
pulling rank on him, and got even angrier. On the suggestion of our new Chinese friends, we moved off behind some trees and
out of sight of the cop.

There we continued our lessons, and several people actually learned to juggle. Our greatest success was a guy who said he'd
always been interested in juggling but had never learned how. He learned a three ball cascade in ten minutes, and in another five
he was doing a three ball walkaround with Peter!

So that was World Juggling Day in Beijing.

(From Will Murray, photos by Mary Crabb and Pam Stello)

from: http://wjd.juggle.org/01reports.html