A Greater City

Beijing is enormous. It doesn’t have the intensity, excitement, or concentration of buildings in any one part like Manhattan, but is instead a sprawl of apartment buildings and concrete. In one way it has felt like watching “Bladerunner.” One has to wonder if this is a scary view of the future. Twenty to thirty floor apartment buildings and offices as far as the eye can see. Actually much further, because the pollution is so bad one can’t really see very far. There are a few sections that still have two story traditional Chinese courtyard homes, but they are quickly being overrun by development. I have never seen so many construction cranes. They are everywhere. It seems that most of the construction has happened in the past 20 years. Our young guide, Candy, said that when she was a child her family moved to the very outskirts of the city—at that time if was the third ring road. There are a network of highways in concentric circles around the center of the city. They are like the beltway in Washington DC. Each is 2-3 miles from the next. There are now six ring roads around Beijing—and the entire area is urban.
Driving around the city feels a lot like Long Island. Huge highways, big cars, and congestion on most of the side streets. I had expected a lot of bicycles and motorbikes, but cars have obviously taken over. It is a cosmopolatin, sophisticated city. The city is quite clean, except for the air, and everyone has been very nice. Our tour guide is particularly good and helpful. So far we have stayed together as a group and had all of our meals at Chinese restraurants, though there are plenty of other options. There seems to be a KFC or McDonalds on every corner. I even spotted a Dunkin’ Donuts