The heritage conservation area surrounding Beijing’s Drum and Bell Tower is another place that I try to make a repeated visit whenever I am in Beijing. The first time I was here was back in 2002 when Shishahai was at its very early stage of becoming an entertainment zone. It was still tranquil back then. […]
Mainland China has been conducting the national population census every 10 years since 1990, and there will be another this year, starting on the 1st November. It is said that census-takers will visit each household (see China’s 6th national census to start on Nov. 1). While walking around in Beijing, it was interesting to see how important […]
Nanluoguxiang in Dongcheng District of Beijing is now known as a culture district, promoted by the district government as a showcase for heritage conservation and tourist attraction. While many hutongs in Beijing’s inner city areas have disappeared due to demolition and reconstruction-oriented urban renewal strategies, some hutongs have been selectively experiencing revalorisation through upgrading (if […]
Every time I come to Beijing, I try to make a repeated visit to some selected places in order to see what’s been changed. In a way, it is a semi-academic exercise, almost a ritual, in order for me to grasp the speed of Beijing’s socio-spatial changes. After all, Beijing is a city that condenses […]
An interesting plae that I happened to find by chance. It is located on Sanlitun South Street, diagonally opposite the new Sanlitun Village complex. It is fairly spacious and has a large collection of China-related ‘English’ books, and apparently hosts book talks, which is something that I also find quite new in Beijing. It seems […]
Beijing has changed again. This time in Beijing, the new development on Sanlitun North Street (known as ‘Sanlitun Bar Street’) came to me as a surprise. Sanlitun Village is something completely new to me, and it is apparently very bustling, full of luxury shops, bars, restaurants and cafe that aim at the new ‘middle-class’ in […]