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I grew up in Beijing (around the 3rd ring). You'd walk past elders playing Xiangqi on the back alleys, while street vendors sold Tanghulu for a few coins. I wo
by dannyw 5y ago
I grew up in Beijing (around the 3rd ring). You'd walk past elders playing Xiangqi on the back alleys, while street vendors sold Tanghulu for a few coins.
I wonder if the city is anywhere like my childhood two decades ago.
- nus07 5y agoYou might enjoy reading this - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/03/chinas-reform-generation-adapts-to-life-in-the-middle-class/amp https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/03/chinas-reform-...
- jacquesm 5y agopaying -> playing
- seanmcdirmid 5y agoNot really. My first visit to Beijing was more than two decades ago (winter 1999), when you could get a roasted yam on the street for a few mao. The sea of bicycles was still a thing, old military guys with tuktuks would wait outside of the subway stations to take you to your final destination for a negotiated 5 mao or so, you could choose between a cheap 8 kuai drop taxi or a fancier 10-12 kuai one. Starbucks just opened one store in Xidan, and the department stores were still mainly based on the Soviet model. Things changed quickly when it returned in 2002, and then when I moved there to stay for almost a decade in 2007. It is a completely different place from my memories. The feelings, the momentum of society, the industries.