People watching has always been fascinating for me. I love watching what people are doing and getting a glimpse into their lives. I took these pictures on the street around the school, and from a moving car.
The air in Beijing has been unpleasant this week. People heat and cook with charcoal, and cars are added every day. But most deliveries, such as food to 14 million Beijing residents, and trash collection, (btw this is massive, with all the construction going on) are done via foot pedaled tricycle vehicles, and big trucks are not permitted to enter the city between 23:00-6:00 (that’s 11pm-6:00am!) so it could be worse.
Having only one child is certainly a lot more convenient for bicycle travel! I also think the single child policy, whatever else one may say about it, makes for more egalitarian marriages and less tension between the sexes. Women and men alike dote on their single child, as do all the grandparents. This means young people are often spoiled, and rather helpless. The need for constant study to prepare for university examinations means young people do not do household chores, watch television, enjoy many hobbies or participate in extra-curricular activities, and certainly don’t date.
The hard hat workers on all the construction projects (due to be completed by August for the Olympics) are from outside the city and live in prefab dorms near the construction sites.
Nothing is handicapped accessible. One VERY RARELY sees anyone handicapped anywhere here. I do know the Beijing Olympic Village is, and will host the Para-Olympics right after the other Olympics. I saw and talked to a group of young wheelchair tourists at the theater and they claimed to be doing just fine, but I’m quite certain they did not take the subway (four flights down, “up” only escalators on only the newer lines) or see sights that require climbing gigantic staircases and negotiating thresholds between each and every room.
There is a strong anti-waste ethic, concerning paper and ink, but way too much food is served at ALL the meals, and mostly just discarded. Since almost everyone here is only a generation or two away from starvation conditions, perhaps that behavior is a statement of some sort.
Recent Comments