Even though I just returned from a trip to Beijing, watching this video produced by Jonah Kessel for The New York Times makes me homesick!
The video was published as part of a “36 Hours” travel series. Here’s a the introduction from the accompanying article, What to Do in Beijing:
It seems like only yesterday that Beijing had its much-ballyhooed “coming out” party — the 2008 Summer Olympics — but things don’t slow down much in China’s frenetic capital. Already, the city is eyeing another Olympics bid (it’s one of two finalists for the 2022 Winter Games) and planning a $13 billion airport that is expected to be among the busiest in the world when it opens in 2019. And yet compared with China’s other vertical megacities, Beijing is still a traditionalist at heart. The city may have fantastic new sculptural monuments designed by Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas, but to truly understand Beijing, one has to delve into the remaining hutong neighborhoods — traditional alleyways lined with courtyard homes — and smell the sweet potatoes roasting on coal fires in the winter.
Enjoy!
Related posts:
“Live the Language” – a Great Beijing Video
Beijing Like You’ve Never Seen it Before