Die Neue Beijing

Visible on many drives through Beijing, be they by bus or by V12 (yeah. ...yeah), in addition to the polylingual displays of the "One World, One Dream" slogan, is another- I first saw it in German. "Jeder ist die Gastgeber, alle bauen die neue Beijing auf". Each of us is the host- everyone builds the New Beijing- and that is what is happening. The face of Beijing is changing every day that we are here- has been changing for months, years, in preparation. The street vendors (for the most part) have been swept away somewhere. There are topiaries and intricate flower arrangements on every corner, by every major attraction. Fantastic buildings rise- are still rising as I type- into the sky that has never held them. The Olympic torch stands on a graceful steel cage, a bird's nest, that will forever represent Beijing to the world, long after the flame is put out. New subways opened days before the games. The rest of the country whispers- Shao Bo's cousin scoffs- "They're going to Beijing? That's not China." Indeed, it's like nothing we've seen elsewhere- neither the futuristic modernity of Hong Kong nor the slow rhythms of Old China, but something shifting, distinct from each, in limbo between. Neon glows at night on glass and on stone.
A woman at Yangshuo (a Filipina, teaching english) said she had intended to spend 14 days in HK but had to leave after 4- "Too expensive," she tells her companion. This isn't the China she knows and loves. "This is the New China," her friend replies. This is the direction that all of China is heading. And here we sit, in a wang ba (net cafe) in the New Beijing. The question- is it permanent? Does Beijing recoil once the international spotlight withdraws, retreat to old ways? Forge on to new? Forget her identity all together? Who was she, who is she, and who will she become?