China's hunger is Africa's pariah
A beaten-up red taxi took me home one afternoon as spring was turning to summer. The driver's accent, which tagged a lazy ‘er' sound onto the end of most words, identified him as ‘lao Beijing', or ‘old Beijing' — a singular description.
In English we differentiate between London and Londoners, and between New York and New Yorkers. But the Chinese language makes no distinction between the alleyways and courtyard houses that make up the old quarters of the national capital and the people whose families have lived in them for generations.
Both are called “old Beijing”, as if long association has somehow fused one with the other. Most often alleyways in Beijing's old quarters have been bulldozed over the last decade, sweeping away hundreds of years of history. A city with the antique charm that rivaled Venice is preserved only in photographs. The people of the “old Beijing” can still be seen walking to the imperial parks dedicated to the sun, earth, moon and sky to fly kites. To read the full article, click here
