Beijing has made me old - or should I say, elderly. And I'm not upset at all. Indeed, if anything, I feel a bit chuffed about it, especially in crowded buses and on subways.
Wang Kun, a famous Chinese folk singer said that she hates the Chinese folk singers who perform in the kind of gowns worn by French ladies. My parents, who are both fans of this great singer especially popular in their generation, also expressed similar opinions concerning the evaluation of some currently popular folk song singers.
When Chinese students and parents hear that I went to a certain American university, they perk up with interest. I know then that the usual torrent of questions about how to study abroad is coming my way.
By the end of this year, 450, 000 public servants in Beijing will switch from government-paid medical care to basic employees' health insurance. The medical subsidies provided by local government offices will ensure they enjoy no less favorable treatment than before.
Beijing is toying with the idea of closing off those villages where most residents are migrant laborers. The gated and walled-in communities will be open from 6am until 11pm. People will be able leave during other times only in extraordinary circumstances.
An online post by a Beijinger, who is about to move his family out of the city because of the high house prices, has struck a chord with the public and aroused much sympathy.
Professor Tao Hongkai, a noted critic of online games, has recently become a laughing stock.
I've learned many lessons since I arrived in China and almost all of them have been positive.
Beijing is a gigantic city and stuffed full of mostly different people. There are those who adore change and others who strive to maintain tradition, individuals who devour our "Piccalilly" society and, of course, a few who despise literally everyone.
I visited a friend last week who works for a Chinese company. While I was there, her Chinese colleagues were doing various tasks around her. And they were all speaking Mandarin.
My friend Felix, an electronics engineer, is fanatical about action figures. Scale models of soldiers and tanks and movie figures always demand his full attention. However, as he soon discovered, it is a very expensive hobby, and as the crowd of figures in his apartment grew the money he had available to spend on his hobby shrank.
As it grows warmer, more and more commuters will be taking breakfast with them to eat on the way to work. Crowded carriages will smell of meat, garlic and soy milk, and some passengers will be bothered. Is eating breakfast on the subway the sort of bad behavior that should be prohibited, like smoking?
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