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There used to be a bar street I frequented here in Beijing. It was kind of a sketchy place, but popular among college students and young adults. Then the Olympi
by garply 16y ago
There used to be a bar street I frequented here in Beijing. It was kind of a sketchy place, but popular among college students and young adults. Then the Olympics came around and the gov't decided they needed to gentrify the area. The police raided the bars, killed a bunch of drug dealers and made other undesirables disappear. Then the bar street was totally bulldozed and within a year or so a luxury outdoor mall was built on top of the bulldozed area. A thriving Apple store and Starbucks now sit smack in the middle of the place.
Within a couple of years the old sleazy alleyways were transformed into something that could easily compete with the Stanford shopping mall.
- roel_v 16y agoThat's basically how Pudong in Shanghai was build. Over 20 years they turned a backward nick in the river from slums into China's jewel for displaying to the world. One day the bulldozers showed up, leveled the area and started building. It's efficient, yes. There's more to a society than 'efficiency' though.