Welmer

The recent rush to modernize and the rapid economic growth of China has led to a huge construction boom throughout the country. In my neighborhood in Beijing, when I lived there in the late 90s, it seemed as though a new building sprang up every week or so. Migrant laborers thronged the streets in hardhats [...]

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The vast territory of China encompasses many different lifestyles, cultures, nations and even races. Even within the prevailing Han ethnic group there are differences at least as important as those between the various Romance countries of Europe. The lowland farmers of the Yellow River basin are distinct from those of the Yangtze, who are different [...]

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China in the late ’90s was in the early process of opening itself up to the rest of the world. Decades of isolationist policy were just starting to give way to engagement with the world — economically, politically and culturally. In this climate, more and more outsiders – known as laowai to Chinese – were [...]

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The years have pushed on since I lived in Beijing, so for better or worse, I think it’s time to write down some of the history of the city when I lived there in the late 1990s. I lived in NE Beijing, on top of an old cemetery near sihuanlu (fourth-ring road) — a location [...]

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An urban scene in contemporary China, by Yan Yong (click on photo for gallery site) Judging from most modern and public art, skill and beauty are foreign concepts to Americans. The statues cities put up and the paintings displayed in museums seem almost as though they were designed to puzzle or disgust people rather than [...]

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