China Years

Despite having a Halloween hangover, which I will explain when my brain has recuperated, I was still able to tutor two Korean girls down in Wudaokou. As I biked home from class on this unusually beautiful afternoon, I noticed that the beginning of Houbajia (the ghetto along the tracks) was being torn down. Hundreds of homes and shops were being reduced to rubble. The law requires compensation to those that had been dwelling on this plot of land recently acquired by Qinghua University, but of course its silly to think that this law is justly interpreted by the local officials.

A plot south of there had already been cleared just before I came to live in the neighborhood . Currently there is an enormous hole at this site with migrant workers operating a newly erected crane, adding to the others on the block that are putting up new research facilities and office buildings. With this expansive destruction and construction, I can't help but refer to modernity and development like an infection, as it spreads to all corners of the city. This concept is not profound, indeed, but note that while the US took 100 years to develop its cities and our grandparents tell us stories of walking in the snow up an icy road to school, China is now the fastest developing economy the world has ever seen and its parents tell stories of no indoor heating, unpaved roads and a decade of no school. Such rapid growth is unfathomable until you see it happening with your own eyes and begin to accept that the commute to work on Tuesday will look different than that on Monday.

Houbajia and its residents are retreating at warp speed, and the new cosmopolitan is growing bigger and faster every day. I once told a friend that living in Beijing is like watching a child grow, but I later retracted my comment and said it is more like watching a puppy become a dog... 1 calendar year is about 5 China years.