Huge ads in the Wangfujing shopping district
People watching the opening ceremony on big screen in Wangfujing
The flowers in Tiananmen square
Visitors carry national flags in Tiananmen square
The timer goes to zero at the National Musmum
The new CCTV building
I have watched CNN report and learned that there were local people demonstrated in Tiananmen Square about the dissatisfaction of the government compensations on tearing down their old houses and move them into new ones. The CNN reports says: left them homeless” which really implies that the government forced them out of their home without any compensation (more like a robbery). Homeless, perhaps. But no compensation, unbelievable and too greedy? More than likely!
I am confident that most of the viewers who watched this news will point their fingers directly to the Chinese government. I am also confident that most of the viewers have never lived in any of the so called “old homes”. Old homes in Beijing have two meanings. 1: Those build in the Qing dynasty: the hutong style. 2: Those build in 60s, the soviet style. While the Qing dynasty hutong style houses offer some historical value, the soviet style apartment has virtually no value to preserve.
I have visited a few hutong houses. While some of my former Microsoft expatriates like the exotic feelings and the bragging rights of living in the hutong houses, I would not want to live there. These hutong houses usually have no private bath room, no heating and no insulation. The temperature of Beijing can drop to as low as -10 C in the winter. It is like living in Minnesota without out heating in winter. Why on earth would any body want to live there?
I lived in the soviet style apartment for many years as those were provided to my parents by their work unit. Most of those buildings are poorly designed and constructed. The floor layouts are not desirable. If I had a choice of living in the newly build apartment buildings (those build in the 90s or even 00s), I would abandon the old soviet style apartment and move in a heart beat.
Does the government or the real estate developers provide enough compensation for their old houses? I have no way to know for sure. But I am very confident that compensations are provided. Will the compensation satisfy everyone’s desire? That is another question.
I have recently met a bus driver who lived in Beijing for generations. He was proudly telling me of his new apartment provided by the real estate developers. He got three times the size of his old “run-down” apartment in a very desirable location. He has another “shelter” close to the newly developed CBD area. He has not lived their for many years because of its terrible condition. He told me that he would easily get 15000RMB (over 2000USD) per square meter from the developers for compensation. He will have a meeting with the other owners in the same building to determine a fair amount of compensation. “15000 RMB per square meter is fair to me but may not be enough for every one. Some people will always want more and they think that by sticking around, they can make more money. I am not that greedy” He said.
There was a light rain this afternoon. The haze that has covered the city for the past week was cleared a bit. The following picture was taken at the ChaoYang (Sun) Park this afternoon. The blue sky came out. According to the weather report, it is going to be fine by Saturday. I just hope that there will be wind by then. The wind will surely clear the haze. A sunny day with blue sky will be even better. Beijing with little or no popultion will be the best for the long run.
Taken on July 29, 2008 in Chaoyang (Sun) park, Beijing, China.
The weather is hot and humid for the past few days. There is a dense haze covers the city with visibility no more than a few hundred meters. According to the official reports, the haze is a mix with humidity and air pollutant. There is no wind and so the pollutant stays in the haze.
China Daily says that officials are considering emergency plans to reduce the pollution. The plan may include measures such as cutting off 90% of the private vehicles on the street and temporarily shutting down some factories surround Beijing. This actually means a near complete shutdown of the Beijing transportation and limit most of the local resident’s lives, a dramatic and very alarming measure. The effectiveness of such measure remains to be seen and the internet BBS is already filled with the negative concerns with such a unpresedented measure.
I took the following pictures while I was hiking up the fragrance hill today. Comparing this picture with the picture that I took about two weeks ago (on July 12), one can easily see the haze that covers the city. Beijing living in Beijing for the past 4 years, I personally feel (without stringent statistics to backup), the clear air day (defines a day with no visible haze) has increased over the years. But with the haze like this, there is a lot to be down during and after the Olympics.
July 28, 2008 taken from the Frangrance Hill (Beijing, China)
July 12, 2008 taken from the Frangrance Hill (Beijing, China). I wish the Beijing sky is always like this.
I went to the Tang Concubines Action Musical Show last night and took some pictures. When I looked at the pictures, I found that the D300 had problem dealt with red color. The red was totally over blown to a point that the pictures lost all the details.
The red stage lighting makes the image lost all the details. But notice the white and blue potion which are all ok. Only the red is off.
This is another picture. The background is now loud red and loses all the details.
My camera is set to Auto White Balance. Program Auto. The color is set as Vivid. Other than these, the rest settings are factory settings.
I actually noticed this problem when I was using my previous NikonD70s. My conclusion is Nikon D70s and D300 have problem with the indoor red color. It over blows the red color which makes the images lose all the details under red color (lights).
I went to watch the Tang Concubines Show. It is an action musical show which means the show combines Chinese Gongfu, martial art, acrobats, singing, musical, costumes and scenic design into a sound, light and action show.
The show is a full 2 hour none stop stimuli to the eyes and ears. The story line is rather simple. It portraits the lives of the two famous women in the Tang Dynasty (618-906AD). I have seen many of these similar shows around China. This show has one of the top choreography design, only matched by the Impression.Yunnan show in Kunming. This means that the show will need to use real dancers. All the other shows emphasis on the stage effects such as the sound and lighting. The Impression.Lijiang show in Lijiang, Guangxi actually uses local farmers as performers. I particularly like the action sequence of the battle between the Tang soldiers and the Rebellion An Lu Shan’s forces. Other than that, the erotic scene between the Empower Xuan Zong and the Yang Gui Fei was well thought through. The costume design and the chorography were both outstanding. No wonder the show won two Canadian Dora Awards for musical theater in 2006 in the categories of Best Choreography and Best Costume Design.
The show is on every night from 7:30-10:00pm in the 21st century Theater until July 26th,2008. When I watched the show in July 22, 70% or more of the seats were empty. So most of the people moved to the front VIP seats after the show started.
Acrobats
Erotic scene
Gongfu scene (beijing opera style)
Dance scene
Beijing Wangjing Park is not located in Wangjing area. It is located in Dashanzi area, very close to the world renowned 798 art district and the airport expressway. It is rather a small park. Outside the park is the Maple Villa.
The park has very few visitors. The entrance fee is 50cents RMB. There is a pond and some Chinese corridors and pavilions inside the park. However, the park is not well maintained. The paints from the pavilions are pilling off. The grass is growing wildly in the pond. The park is rather clean which is positive.
According to a bulletin board at the park entrance, the park was a result of 30 million RMB investment in 1997 by the Chaoyang municipal government. However, the lack of funding for maintenance and improvement is evidence everywhere inside the park.
Wangjing park from Google map
The entrance
The sign says no swimming, no fishing
The Beijing Sun Palace Park is located at inside the east 4th ring (opposite of the IKEA building). The Chinese name for it is: Beijing Tai Yang Gong Park. I searched online and could not find a proper English name for the park. So I translated the Chinese directly into English as the Beijign Sun Palace Park.
The park is free and properly maintained. It is a popolar place for the locals. There is a playground with a few basketball hoops and table tenis stands. There is also a large square and are now covered with the flowers specially perpared for the Beijing 2008 Olympics game.
The Beijing Sun Palace Park from Google Map. The Blue square building on the top rignt is the IKEA building
The park sign
With the 2008 Summer Olympcs coming up in less than 20 days, Beijing is making the final preparation. The Beijing Botanical Garden is no exception. Lying in the foot of the West Hill of Beijing, Beijing Botanical Gardenhas by tradition been engaged in the conservation of the native flora, especially plants from northern, northeastern and northwestern China. The Garden is putting on an impressive display of flowers and plants with Olympics theme.
The Lying Buddha Temple inside the Beijing Botanical Garden
Laughing Ghost Stone
Beijing City from the Frangrance Hill
It was a very fine day today. I just came back from Shenzhen yesterday. I really missed hiking events in the weekend. I decided to go to the Fragrance Hill today. The traffic condition on the east 5th ring was pleasantly good. It was a smooth sailing. Leaving WangJing, I arrived at the Laughing Ghost Trail in less than 30 minutes.
The temperature reached 35 degrees. There was a light breeze. Because of this, it actually did not feel that hot. I spend 30 minutes hiked to the Laughing Ghost Stone (500meters above the sea level or 400 meters above the starting point). The visibility is exceptionally good. I could see as far as the International Trade Center (GuoMao), almost 30 km away. The touch shaped tower close to the “Bird’s Nest” is visible. I could even count the holes of the 18 hole bridge in the Summer Palace.
Every time I climbed up the Fragrance Hill and over looked the Beijing city, I am impressed by its immerse size. Nearly 15 million people live in this city. As late as 2004, the 4th ring road (65km) is considered the edge of the city. Today, many district were build outside the 5th ring which is 99 km in length. The 6th ring which is 192 km in length is under construction.
With the 2008 Summer Olympic game fast approaching, I just hope that the weather will be good during the game specially as the opening and closing ceremony. If the weather during the game is as good as today, I see no complains from any visitors from the world.
Yuyuantan park at the west 3rd ring road
The tallest building in the distance is the International Trade Center
Beijing Blue Sky