China has over 1.3 billion people (Yes that billion with a "B") and of that great population, over 13 million live in the capital city of Beijing where I just spent the last 8 days. Prior to our journey there my only real exposure to China was for the coverage for the recent Olympics. Prior to that I remember hearing my Aunt and Uncle talk about their trip there (when I tried to block out the fact that there is a culture that eats puppies) and of course I've eaten at P.F. Chang's enough that I thought for sure I was an expert on the local cuisine.
Let's just say all of my prior "knowledge" was quickly re-conformed upon arrival.
My first observation was that I was surprised at how spread out the city seemed to be. Everything I had heard and read about Chinese population I was expecting New York City with twice as many people all crowded into one small area pushing each other on the sidewalks. However, the geography was quite spread out and I think that it would take about an hour to drive from one end of the city to the other. With that said, you still noticed that there was a giant population increase from the 4million total people that live in New Zealand and with 13 million it made Denver seem like a small farm town--With Olympic fever still going on strong (we arrived a few days after the Para-Olympics ended) there is an additional influx of tourists. The papers estimated that the next few weeks with Chinese holidays and additional tourists that there would be an additional7-10 million visitors in the city. That means that we were snuggled up with about 20 million people in just one city!
With large cities come the problems and benefits that all large cities offer and I think that Beijing is in it's best form after the country has spent over $50 BILLION dollars prepping the town for the Olympic games. The roads are in great repair, there is security everywhere (and the city feels very safe) there are flowers and grass lining all of the streets and Olympic flags proclaiming "One World One Dream" on every street corner and tourist stop. It may be for the media attention (or not) but I was impressed with how many trees lined the major roads, at the lack of trash and I didn't see one homeless person on the sidewalk.
Overall, if I had to sum up the city in one word I would use "Paradox." Much like the Chinese Yin and Yang the city offers perspectives from very poor citizens that live in dirt floor homes just outside of town and across the street would be million dollar gated communities. One of the drivers that took us to the Great Wall said that a "so so" salary in Beijing is about $500 USD/month. Yet we also saw plenty of expensive hotels and stores including Rolex, Dior, Burberry....who can afford a Cartier watch on $500 a month? During rush hour you could witness Mercedes driving intertwined with bicycle couriers carrying 4 bags of trash) like the picture above but during rush hour there are 100s of bikes on the roads) businessmen in suits walking next to children peeing into a bush. There was something for everyone!
Let's just say all of my prior "knowledge" was quickly re-conformed upon arrival.
My first observation was that I was surprised at how spread out the city seemed to be. Everything I had heard and read about Chinese population I was expecting New York City with twice as many people all crowded into one small area pushing each other on the sidewalks. However, the geography was quite spread out and I think that it would take about an hour to drive from one end of the city to the other. With that said, you still noticed that there was a giant population increase from the 4million total people that live in New Zealand and with 13 million it made Denver seem like a small farm town--With Olympic fever still going on strong (we arrived a few days after the Para-Olympics ended) there is an additional influx of tourists. The papers estimated that the next few weeks with Chinese holidays and additional tourists that there would be an additional7-10 million visitors in the city. That means that we were snuggled up with about 20 million people in just one city!
With large cities come the problems and benefits that all large cities offer and I think that Beijing is in it's best form after the country has spent over $50 BILLION dollars prepping the town for the Olympic games. The roads are in great repair, there is security everywhere (and the city feels very safe) there are flowers and grass lining all of the streets and Olympic flags proclaiming "One World One Dream" on every street corner and tourist stop. It may be for the media attention (or not) but I was impressed with how many trees lined the major roads, at the lack of trash and I didn't see one homeless person on the sidewalk.
Overall, if I had to sum up the city in one word I would use "Paradox." Much like the Chinese Yin and Yang the city offers perspectives from very poor citizens that live in dirt floor homes just outside of town and across the street would be million dollar gated communities. One of the drivers that took us to the Great Wall said that a "so so" salary in Beijing is about $500 USD/month. Yet we also saw plenty of expensive hotels and stores including Rolex, Dior, Burberry....who can afford a Cartier watch on $500 a month? During rush hour you could witness Mercedes driving intertwined with bicycle couriers carrying 4 bags of trash) like the picture above but during rush hour there are 100s of bikes on the roads) businessmen in suits walking next to children peeing into a bush. There was something for everyone!
My overall conclusion of visiting Beijing is that of amazement and discomfort. I struggled with the food choices and contamination scares, being able to communicate with those who spoke a different language with a different alphabet and coping with what seemed like ancient toilets in a very modern community (next blog post offers more on the toilets). But I was also amazed at how Westernized a lot of the city is, how clean and well run the city is, how inexpensive some items are and how expensive others seemed. It is amazing to consider one of the largest cities in the world also has some of the largest historical dwellings....right downtown. We spent 7 full days in Beijing and you could easily spend 7 months and barely scratch the surface. Between the shopping, the cultural tours, museums, artifacts, food.....you could stay busy for months.
It's an experience I wholly recommend for those who appreciate history, new cultures and living outside of the box
No comments:
Post a Comment