From the National Geographic, 1960. View of Beijing, link from top of page,
http://fooddeserts.org/images/000ChinJapKor.htm
Those priveliged to visit Beijing may recognise this view looking SW across Chang'an Avenue towards Tiananmen Square. Chang'an Avenue, very wide because once the main railway through Beijing went along here (see also from this page links to Beijing old maps), right past the gate to the Forbidden City which is visible here on the right, gives onto Tiananmen Square, and beyond the Great Hall of the People, in typical 1959 Brutalist style. Also new are the motor buses and some lorries in the gateway in the foreground. However the old Beijing residences behind this gate have long since gone, as have the bikes, replaced by car gridlock oftentimes. In the distance to the right about 10-15 km away should be visible the Fragrant Hills, but they are hidden in haze.
In some ways this view just captures the transition between old and new in Beijing.
Dr Hillary J. Shaw
Visiting Fellow - Centre for Urban Research on Austerity
Department of Politics and Public Policy
De Montfort University
LE1 9BH
http://dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/academic-staff/business-and-law/hilary-shaw/hillary-shaw.aspx
www.fooddeserts.org
