| Page Views: 394 Last Visit to Beijing: May, 2006 | BEIJING (Peking) by KevinMichael - last update: Jan 4, 2007 |
China's robust go-bust capital | Beijing rising, on the up & up, but at what cost? |
Beijing has a large population of almost 11 million permanent residences and an uncounted number of others from rural areas and other countries. The city itself is growing rapidly with government subsidized construction contracts beyond what seems to be useful for the general population.
From a visitors perspective and from a distance, Beijing's new edifices give the impression that a lot is going on here. But, closer examination reveals that many of these new structures are simply empty (I've seen this before on a smaller scale in previously over funded ventures in Thailand). |
|  | The Rise of China's middle class Clearly, the influx of new wealth is fueling significant change for many families in China. China's new middle class and it's nouveau riche find the splender of this new life style to be more than enticing. |
| Still living the old way and endorsing the new |
| | Some things change and some don't People continue to live in the kind of places they were living before the changes.
But, we can also see that new found wealth is making it possible for them to by cars. Which in itself is another new thing about Beijing. Just a few years ago, there were much fewer cars in Beijing. People got around using various forms of public transportation. But, SARS ended up changing the mind set of people to avoiding public means to get around and so, people have been buying cars from Korea, used cars from Japan, and other places. |
> Add to your Custom Travel Guide [What's This?]
| Pros: | "prosperity is growing, poverty is being reversed" | | Cons: | "polution is up and so is consumption" |
KevinMichael's Beijing Travel Tips
 Comments for KevinMichael about Beijing | | | | |
|
email me
add as friend
