Beijing

A sea of variant grays and uniform bright red. Beijing is perhaps the most oddly planned (?) city I have ever seen. It struck me as soon as the city limits became clear along the highway from the airport. Every couple of blocks there were pairs or triples of identical high rise developments. All new, all gray. Welcome signs for the upcoming 2008 Olympics peppered their sides like badges of reluctant courage. However, almost in spite of the high-end shops open to receive the new money that has arisen in the high rent districts, the large portrait of Mao hangs on the gate of the Forbidden City looking over the depressingly barren Tiananmen Square with pleasure. The monstrous administrative buildings of the CCP enclose the East and West Ends of the Square while the tomb of the Great Helmsman holds silent vigil over the South. I rarely saw the guards in their pale green uniforms around the ritzy shops, but they combed the Square with choreographed precision for everyone to see. These are two of the Beijings I saw during my short time there. And it might be cheeky, but I found it quite funny that Mao seems to be gazing right over the square at his own grave.