B is for Beijing

B is for Beijing and Beijing is for contradictions.

It is the capital city of modern China and yet the most backward one in looks and logistics. Beijing is the city where you will have to pass three security check points in order to see Tiananmen Square from the opposite pavement, and then bump into a Tibetan Art Centre that boasts a not-too-subtle sculpture at the entrance. Beijing is flat and spread out, yet walking-unfriendly. Taxi-unfriendly too, for that matter. Its dialect is the most aggressive-sounding, yet its people are kind. Except when they're not. Beijing is the intellectual centre of China, and the place where it will be most difficult to find people who speak English, even working in very western restaurants.

I have found a little patch of Beijing that I am comfortable in. It has my usual hotel, a fabulous range of food options, easy(ish) access to the highway, and a big bookstore across the road.

Invariably, the highlight of Beijing to me, is reuniting with my dear friend Quynh and her lovely family. It is catching up on life, common passions and musings, and being "auntie Sonia" as much as the kids will let me.

On my last visit, Beijing unveiled to me what I now know to be its strongest suit: passionate people who work to strengthen their ties to the community and live life with meaning. Leaders and staff of NGOs that are doing incredible work. Young dreamers who are making a life in China, neverminding the bad air, or the traffic, and instead betting on what the place has to offer and what they can offer back.

My general experience of expats in China - with wonderful exceptions that confirm the rule, was that people are there to get as much as they can out of it. Beijing being different in every way it can, has challenged that notion beautifully. And I am thankful for that.



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For an overview of the people and projects I am most excited about:

Growing Home: 
http://chinadevelopmentbrief.cn/articles/growing-home-the-ngo-that-tells-bedtime-stories-to-rural-boarding-students/

Which was "handed" to me by

Roundabout China
http://www.roundaboutchina.com/

And Robin's blog, for same titles different takes on our experiences of China:
http://startingfromzed.blogspot.hr/