Cloudy in Beijing Blogging about my time in China

Modern China

I have to say, I do not feel like I'm in China anymore.

Today me and my Aunt's family drove around Beijing. But to me it was more like going through New York or Los Angeles. Had I really been here four years ago? I hardly recognized any of it.

In the summer of 2004, I was in Beijing studying Chinese. One of things I remember the most is the pollution. Back then Beijing was often covered in a depressing grey. Something in the air made my skin itch the longer I stayed in the open. Once I felt sick and exhausted after staying outside for more than three hours. Looking at that sky, and feeling its effects, it was easy to feel grimy, muffled and subdued wherever I walked.

I come back now and see something I can hardly believe. It seems like a fluke, but for three straight days now, the skies here have been a total blue. From one horizon of the city to the next, my vision is haze-free. Now I look up to the sky and feel clean, and even like I’m liberated somehow.

“The air is much better now,” says my Aunt's husband. “They closed down a lot of the factories because of the Olympics.”

We drove across the city, and I stared outside the car window. High-rise after high-rise, nothing different from any other major city where urban life is at its thickest. But I was struck by how modern all the buildings were. Like a legion of Western architects had their own field day, sprouting block apartments and glassy skyscrapers all across the city plane. “Development is moving very fast now,” said my Aunt during the car ride. “A lot of these buildings are new.”

Maybe it was the blue skies, but everything else also seemed clean; the streets, the cars, the sidewalks. It might have been the weather, but I saw very few bicycles and not one motor scooter on the ride.

We went to see the Bird's Nest, the Olympic stadium. It's vacant now, and slated for only one show this whole year from what I read. Tourists come and people offer to sell you souvenirs and or take your picture for a few.

We also drove by the CCTV building, another modern attraction that looks more like some sort of cubic design you would see in an Art museum. Later we found ourselves in a shopping mall that reminded me of the Chinese shopping malls in Los Angeles. The bathrooms in the Korean Barbeque restaurant had not only soap, but paper towels for you to dry your hands with. That's probably the first time I've encountered that in China.

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My memory of Beijing in 2004 is difficult to recall. I wrote some entries online, detailing how excited at was of all the leg space I had on my flight to Taiwan. I essentially blogged a bit of my experience, though apparently I slacked off as the weeks in Beijing went on. However when I first arrived I noted:

“For me, I don't find China very different. While my expectations were lower, coming from a Chinese background and just from a visit to Taiwan, Beijing’s atmosphere was no culture shock. It is modern here. Skyscrapers stack upon each other, reaching for the clouds. Globalism seeps into every Chinese diet, with Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds on the top of the menu. Pockets ring with the sound of cellphone ringtones. Even a delivery boy can take a break and lay on his wooden cart while playing Snake on his Samsung.”

I also added this, which doesn't surprise me.

“Everything is new here, but at the same time everything is the same. Riding on my bike, all I see are streets lined with block-like apartments and office buildings. Everything looks manufactured. Traditional Chinese homes with their gated doors and shingled roofs are scarce. Lama temples are here and there, but are overshadowed by the surrounding fast-food restaurants and that glowing M on the Mcdonald's sign. Beijing use to have three entrance gates facing east, west, and south ends. Now only the south stands.”

And then this:

“I sometimes ask myself where is the "Chineseness"? It seems like its not really there. With all this modernity, it feels like something is lost.”

I feel that again now as I'm here in Beijing again. At the end of the day we come back to my aunt's apartment. The streets are uneven, inconvenient and covered with scraps of trash and shredded firework remains. There is brick, pale concrete in the buildings, and hardly an ounce of artistic design. It's frankly a bit unattractive. But strangely, this small place, out-dated and down, feels more like China to me.