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Many Things Old, Many Things New
Posted: 03/12/2007, 4:43 PM PT
Beijing boasts a modern light-rail train, the
latest in electronic gadgets and luxurious hotels and restaurants. And yet some
aspects of the city seem straight out of the 1800s. While driving with a friend
to a section of town with high-end housing, we passed a shepherd and a flock of
sheep. Late-model cars share the road with people pedaling carts. At one point I
watched a mule or donkey slowly pull a cart across a wide street.
At prestigious Peking University, buying a long-distance calling card on a
chilly January day meant standing in an unheated room. Similarly, the restroom
of a campus restaurant was in an unheated foyer. And that made visiting it an
unpleasant prospect on a day when the temperature was below freezing.
It will be interesting to see the extent to which these contrasts persist as
Beijing, and China as a whole, continues to boom. Will the entire society push
forward into the 21st century? Will part of it remain frozen—literally—in the
past?
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Ed Frauenheim
Workforce Management staff writer Ed Frauenheim is based in San Francisco, where he covers HR technology, workforce management practices at tech companies and issues of leadership, talent management and corporate culture. He recently completed a three-week reporting trip to China.
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