I've just returned from China, having last visited it 23 years ago.
It is almost unrecognizable. In Beijing, all I remembered were the buildings around Tiananmen Square
(The Forbidden City, etc.); in Nanjing it was the city wall; in Shanghai the European-style buildings along the Bund.
Other than the occasional temple or shrine, or heaps of rubble where older houses had recently been demolished,
everything else was new. Shanghai presented serried ranks of tall apartment buildings and splashy commercial skyscrapers.
In Beijing the Bird's nest and the Egg exemplified the new construction.
Between the major cities run new networks of superhighways
and high-speed trains (The one I took from Beijing to Jinan travelled at 270 km/h).
It is almost unrecognizable. In Beijing, all I remembered were the buildings around Tiananmen Square
(The Forbidden City, etc.); in Nanjing it was the city wall; in Shanghai the European-style buildings along the Bund.
Other than the occasional temple or shrine, or heaps of rubble where older houses had recently been demolished,
everything else was new. Shanghai presented serried ranks of tall apartment buildings and splashy commercial skyscrapers.
In Beijing the Bird's nest and the Egg exemplified the new construction.
Between the major cities run new networks of superhighways
and high-speed trains (The one I took from Beijing to Jinan travelled at 270 km/h).
