A constant grayish-white cloudy layer covers the entire city so that you always feel as if your standing in the middle of a very large movie set. This only adds to my feeling of almost complete disconnectedness, as I haven't been back to Beijing in 14 years and I have a sadly diminished command of Chinese.
In my forced role of observer, I see that China has changed: it seems desperate to be America, and it's slowly succeeding. Every store ad features a white person as a model and all the commercials feature white people as scientists and doctors telling you to buy things. The Chinese restaurants all carry American dishes, and coffee shops appear more frequently than they should. The Chinese youth is sluttier, rowdier, and fatter.
I met up with Francis and went to his girlfriend's send-off dinner party. We all gathered at her apartment, 8 Americans and 2 Europeans, drank our Chinese-brand liquor, smoked our Chinese-brand cigarettes and ate our Chinese take-out and Pringles. But we could have been anywhere.
I've also done the culture thing (The Great Wall, authentic food, traditional festivals) which hasn't seemed to have changed. It's as if there are two parts to Beijing, like trying to "discover who you are" at college while mimicking your peers, but then going home and being the respectful child your parents remember.
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