Category: Photos

On Friday I took my day off class to walk around inner Beijing. I got to walk around the financial district near Xidan, the hutongs from Qianmen Xiheyan to Yangmeizhu Xiejie, the Dashilan commercial district, the surroundings of Tiananmen Square, the old legation district around Zhengyi Road, the shopping centres of Wangfujing and the touristified hutongs behind them. It was been a lovely day, although my feet were aching by the end of it…

I was struck by all the different parts of Beijng. There are the giant gleaming office blocks in the financial district, showing off their wealth and style and space. There are the run-down apartment blocks where people are happy to live but the landlords are not interested in keeping up appearances. There are new mansions for the new upper-middle classes with giant gates to keep out the riff-raff. Continue reading “Hutongs and Hotels”