I have now returned from a week in the capital of the world's fastest growing economy. As one might imagine, I have stories aplenty - the amusing, the tragic, and the absurd. Overall, the week was wonderful. Admittedly, to a westerner, Beijing appears a bit nuts (even schizophrenic), but then that's what makes it so wonderful. Some reflections:
Why was I There? For the record, I attended START's Young Scientist Conference (fortunately I still qualify), which was followed by the Earth System Science Partnership's Open Science Conference on Global Environmental Change. Now, on to the more interesting stuff. . .
Scale. Beijing is big. Really big. 14+ million people, with 1 million construction workers in the city at any given time (and it shows). The city proper measures something like 100 km by 100 km, and I was struck at how the major streets were be lined with towering high rises which stretched off into the distance as far as the eye could see. If you drove 10 km down the road, you'd still see the same canyon of urban development. There's no where in the city were you can step back and take it all in. The impeding Olympics are also inspiring much frantic development, including a new airport terminal, two new subway lines, the redevelopment of who knows how many blocks, a new Olypmic stadium (the "birdsnest" - just a block from our conference site), and the list goes on. The one thing that is consistent in Beijing over the past 1000 years is scale - nothing is done small if it can possibly be done big.
Air Quality. At first, I was pleasantly surprised - sure, with 14 million people, you expect a bit of car exhaust here and there, but overall, it didn't seem much worse than any other major city. But turns out I just got lucky. The day I flew out, I got to see Beijing smog in all its glory (see below). It was brutal.
Traffic. Shocking! We found that the 10 km trip from central Beijing out to our hotel could take 1-1.5 hours during rush hour. Drivers appeared to steer with their horns, and cars, bicycles, and pedestrians all hurl themselves at each other with frightening disregard for anyone's personal safety. Miraculously we only saw one car accident the entire time (although we also heard a rumor that Beijing University loses quite a number of students each year to bicycle accidents). The subway was a similarly chaotic - the cars were packed, but unlike in Tokyo, professional packers weren't required - the locals appeared to be quite capable of packing themselves in. And let me tell you - if you've never been a tall black man packed into a subway car in Beijing with 200 people staring at you - it's an interesting experience.
English. Forget it - doesn't exist, particularly among those who you need to interact with (e.g., taxi drivers, wait staff, etc.). Now you're thinking, "surely they know simple stuff like 1-10, "hotel", "airport", etc." Nope, you're dreaming. If you leave home without your destination written on paper in Mandarin, you're not leaving home. Similarly, if you managed to leave home, but don't have the address for home written in Mandarin - good luck. You're screwed.
The Economy. Neither I, nor any of my colleagues, could reconcile China's communism with the spirit of entrepreneralism that rages through the Chinese people. Chinese people are more than happy to completely rip you off (let the buyer beware) and will do their best to accomplish this goal. But to be fair, everything is negotiable, so if one is dumb enough to take prices at their face value, he gets what he deserves I suppose. Many of us found that prices could be negotiated down by anywhere from 50% to 90% (although we concluded that westerners lack the basic skills to be good hagglers). What was also interesting was the economic influence that 100 young scientists with a per diem could wield. Stage performances in a bar were altered to accommodate us, we were virtually the sole patrons of an acrobat show one night, and our final night in town, we rented out an entire restaurant (and negotiated down the alcohol prices). One quickly becomes aware that he's wielding wealth that is quite disproportionate to the average individual. Case-in-point, 6 of us had dinner and drinks one night at local establishment for a grand total of AUS$12 (and that includes the extra main dish that we ended up with by mistake). [But you could pay AUS$4 for a coffee at the aiport, and these kinds of contradictions are everywhere]. Really, the only clear sign that communism is thriving was the absurd amount of overemployment in some establishments. The local supermarket around the corner from us, for example, must have had 4 people "working" in each aisle and three at each cash register. As a consequence, none of them really had anything to do. When I did take something off the shelf, it was immediately replaced. This type of overemployment was rampant and must be juxtaposed against the rural poverty which exists outside the developed areas.
The People. We found the locals wonderfully helpful and curious (I don't think I've ever attracted so much attention in my life). If one were lost with a confused look on his face (which, let's face it, happens often), he'd quickly attract a crowd of do-gooders who would attempt to collectively help him out of whatever jam he's in. That said, by western standards, the locals could also be described as horribly rude - concepts such as waiting in line, for example, don't exist. I suppose in a land of $1.3 billion, if you snooze you really do lose. One also sensed a sharp disparity in equality between the sexes. And the Chinese must be, hands down, the world's most accomplished spitters.
The Food. Top Notch. Granted, came across a few odd items (see below), but generally one of the best eating experience I've ever had while travelling.
Vices. One would imagine the Chinese to be a bit conservative, but once again, it appeared that just about anything could be had for the right price. My roommates and I were amused to find advertisements featuring scantily clad women offering oddly translated services shoved under our door on a daily basis. We ended up with quite a collection. Then there was the night where about 30 of us decided to go to a nearby bar. Entrance required a quick trip up in an elevator, and when the elevator door opened, we were a bit surprised to find a double row of young women waiting for us. A more knowledgeable patron would have calmly made a selection from the collection and gone off to enjoy his evening, but we were too busy trying to figure out what we had gotten ourselves into. We made a hasty retreat, particularly when we found out how much they were charging for a beer.
Sightseeing. What can I say, it's Beijing. There's heaps of really old stuff, increasingly surrounded by new stuff. I joined some other youngins on a tour of the Summer Palace immediately upon arrival, and caught the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Great Wall later in the week.
Some photos from the trip available
here.
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