"Nihao, Beijing!" a Beijing Travel Page by Saagar

By political decision some years back, Beijing is being totally rebuilt to accommodate all its people and to serve as a political and economic centre and showcase of the nation. The measures are drastic: Highways are widened, the old hutong districts are being levelled, and gleaming skyscrapers are moving in. 20 % of the world's cranes are located to Beijing. The joke is that the crane is the most common bird in China...

Despite its seemingly mindless strive for modernisation and accommodation of capitalist infrastructure, samples of the old Beijing are being kept nicely, and steadily improved as accessible pieces of history and memorials to the past and current moral reminders. Even the new Beijing is made according to a plan worthy the big minds of the past: functional space is being created to organise a living city where people can find health and recreation in the urban setting. Greenspace is being added like in no other city, and public transportation expanded. However, pollution is heavy, and despite hard-handed measures ther is a long way to go before Beijing is a healthy visit to live in.
Things change so fast - I bought my first road map in 2002, this time I had to get a new one as the firt was already outdated.