down embassy road

So I am sitting in a Starbucks in the business district are of Beijing, Jianguomen, otherwise known as “Embassy Road”. In these parts of town, Beijing feels like any other developed, international city. Plenty of foreigners, people working on their laptops, the AC blasting with pop music softly playing in the background, and Starbucks coffee being consistently bad (sorry, I just am not a fan of the stuff and only bought it because I thought there would be wireless internet here).

Outside the Starbucks are three men that are discreetly hawking pirated DVD’s. Evidently, the government has not been completely successful with ending counterfeiting resulting although there does seem to be a greater effort to control it. While a see a fair number of “D&G” and “Dior” shirts, pumas which used to be sold at the Market near Sanlitun can no longer be found. I also hear there has been a bigger crackdown on the sale of fake luxury goods such as “Louis Vutton”, “Chanel”, “Gucci”.

Six years ago, I used to come to this part of town for the Silk Market, the friendship store which is one of the few places that sold “equal” and diet soda, and it was close to one of the few ATM machines that would take my U.S. Debit card. It was nice to be back in a familiar place and see the Friendship Store and Starbucks in their old location.

Now, there are Starbucks all over the place (along with a scattering of Subway, 7-11, Outback Steakhouse, Schlotzkys, and Papa Johns). The 1.20 RMB taxis are gone and in there place are newly painted VW taxis that are all 1.60 RMB. But with such fast paced development, old Beijing is harder to find. The little hutongs (alleyways) and old siheyuan (courtyard houses) are being torn down to make room for new apartment complexes and shopping centers. Although it remains a relatively safe city, the inflow of migrants and rising unemployment has led to higher crime rates.

Surely though, these problems will be dealt with in due course. . .and somehow, Beijing will continue it’s economic development and modernization while retaining its own flavor.