All that is solid melts into air
“To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world–and, at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are.” –Marshall Berman
China is a construction site. It’s not just Beijing; all cities are full of cranes, blanketed in scaffolding, and everywhere is the smell of fresh paint. I’ve been hostel hopping around Beijing the past few weeks to get a feel for the different areas of town. I spent five days an hour outside the city with my buddy Thommo, his folks, and new bride. They live in a huge set of apartment blocks that will soon be surrounded by the next generation of high-rises. Everyday I walked down a narrow dirt alley to the shiny new train station past old brick shanties that will probably be gone before year’s end. The cranes are moving in fast.
I moved to Leo Hostel next, a nice little place on one of the larger, more touristy hutongs south of Tiananmen. This area is seeing a massive transformation also. Until recently this street, Qianmen Dajie, was one of Beijing’s main shopping areas known as Dazhalan, but is now completely under wraps.
My next hostel destination is the Red Lantern House, a new place nestled in a beautifully restored Chinese courtyard. It’s located in the north part of central Beijing in the Xicheng district, an area with a markedly different feel to it. The hutongs and shops here have recently undergone renovation or are currently being remodeled, but the work is being done by the residents themselves. Not long after daybreak the saws and hammers start and until sundown they don’t stop. Hutongs are littered with stacks of bricks and piles of rubble. On the main street Xinjiekou Nandajie literally 50% of the businesses have scaffolding out front. “Scott” is a long-haired 19-year-old who works at the Red Lantern but tends to spend most of his time hanging out with in the strip of guitar and music shops outside the hostel. I ask him who is paying for all of these improvements. He turns to the shop owner and shoots back the answer I was expecting.
“The government! We will make Beijing so beautiful for the Olympic Games. China is very rich!”
I like this area’s feel and the fact that money is being put in the hands of the people for them to choose how improvements will unfold. The newly remodeled hutongs still bustle with butchers, fruit stands, and bakeries. The lifestyle of Beijing has been retained without the demolition ball. Every day I go to a huge market I stumbled upon wandering the hutongs and stock up on fruit, baked goods and a soy drink I’ve taken a liking to.
Tags: Beijing, Eurasia: Marco Polo-in' it
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