THIS MAGAZINE: BECAUSE EVERTHING IS POLITICAL

Search for:

• FEATURES
• THIS & THAT
• ARTS & IDEAS
• FICTION & POETRY
• LETTERS
• BLOG THIS
•  
• SUBSCRIBE
• BACK ISSUES
• SUPPORT THIS
•  
• ABOUT THIS
• CONTRIBUTORS
• CONTACT THIS
• ADVERTISE
• SITE MAP

Home » Blog This

April 10, 2008

Bidini: China's concrete welcome mat

Posted by mason at 12:19 PM ET

In this instalment of his twice-monthly column, Dave Bidini laments China's unstoppable development rush. In an effort to be seen as good Olympic hosts, he writes, it is sacrificing pieces of its cultural uniqueness. Bidini's trip ten years ago to the walled city of Yingpao is particularly illustrative:

We ended up staying at the only place in town, a ten-storey concrete hotel that, outside, possessed a grim Scarborough-projects facade, but, inside, bustled like a Cotton Club of the Far East, with brilliant chandeliers and young female attendants wearing '70s-era taupe and mauve stewardess outfits serving gold-seal white liquor and countless exotic dishes to small tables horseshoed around the glittering lobby. It was like being dropped through a strange fissure in time--'70s fashion meeting '40s China meeting a futuristic tourist idyll; a backwater Plaza on a quilt of ricepaddies--and our time in Pingyao--we stayed for three days, until the next train passed through the town--is my most sustaining memory of my first trip to China.

Today, that previously remote city is home to an international photography festival and has become a hotbed of tourism. Similarly, Bidini writes, Beijing is giving up some of its historical charm to roll out an "asphalt welcome mat" for this summer's Olympics.

Read the whole column right here.

PHOTO FROM FLICKR BY MONIQUZ

More entries on: Human rights

Previous: Nepal: shining future or end of the path?
Next: One cool bookstore, the Chinese intelligentsia, best comedy ever

---

Reader comments:

---

Post your own comment:

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)

---

 Subscribe to the feed

---

Blog This Must-Reads

---

---

---

Blog This Archives

May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
March 2000

---