I first came to Beijing in early 1994, just after Chinese New Year in March. Without sounding too cliché but yes….:”back in those days” landing into what was laughingly called Beijing Capital Airport albeit with the letters “PEK” for Peking on the luggage tag, can only be described as a complete and utter farce. In reality it was originally some type of converted military airfield gone wrong. Ok so how was it or how bad was it? The sublime did indeed follow the ridiculous. I connected via one of the world’s best airports, Changi Singapore and landed in the world’s worst airport being a mix mash of wooden, metal and bare concrete with cracked thin glass windows, and once I actually got to the terminal it went progressively down hill. Dark dingy mold colored green corridors channeled a small but outgoing bunch to linger in a poorly lit holding area beneath a un welcoming sign titled “Boarder Control”.
Having completed mountains of paperwork, Customs Declarations forms, Health Declarations forms and Immigration Declaration forms, each collected at a separate counter we finally waited for immigration clearance. We appeared to be the only flight in that afternoon in a semi deserted area of town. I stood in a short queue while just ahead of me behind bars and yet more cracked glass stood a thin soldier like person in an ill fitting uniform. Taking my Passport and various bits of even thinner flimsy paper being the immigration forms, he studied it for an immense amount of time (and I thought like whom or why would anyone even bother to fake it to get into this dump anyway?) A loud stamping sound concluded the matter and I wandered over wooden floors to the ……wait for it…alleged baggage collection area. What unfolded before my eyes was a broken carousel, with dubious flight arrival details clinging precariously from above. Finally bags followed. So much for my arrival into a country steeped with history. With bags in hand I proceeded with quite some caution to cast my eye around the place looking for the promised someone from the then SAS Royal Hotel Beijing with a sign bearing my name. Then ensconced in a Volvo speeding down what was actually the only highway in China at the time I had survived the Arrival and now the real adventure lay ahead, one that takes me through are fifteen year journey.
Immediate thoughts and sights and sounds in Beijing for the first time??? Grey and dull, with packs of people clothed only in black, walking down or cycling along grey streets before flats in a colour that I dubbed Commie Mould green; buildings all thrown up based on old Soviet plans. What soon became obvious, was that there were no office buildings to speak of, and the only structures of any significance or substance were new 4 and 5 star international Hotels. But for who? at the time no locals could go in let alone afford to dine or stay in one. Yes Beijing had just started to be a city under reconstruction, so Genesis like, a new world is about to come screaming into the late 20th Century…….and then.
Fast forward 15 years later to late 2009 and poles apart cannot even begin to describe Beijing or indeed China today. I think and feel fortunate to have witnessed the so called rise of China and now wonder will I be around to witness the fall?
Coming up…..China travels spanning more than a decade and the cities of the middle kingdom laid bare.
Anthony Arrigo has either lived or worked in more cities in China than he can care to remember or count, and enjoys Peking Duck when in Beijing.
Immediate thoughts and sights and sounds in Beijing for the first time??? Grey and dull, with packs of people clothed only in black, walking down or cycling along grey streets before flats in a colour that I dubbed Commie Mould green; buildings all thrown up based on old Soviet plans. What soon became obvious, was that there were no office buildings to speak of, and the only structures of any significance or substance were new 4 and 5 star international Hotels. But for who? at the time no locals could go in let alone afford to dine or stay in one. Yes Beijing had just started to be a city under reconstruction, so Genesis like, a new world is about to come screaming into the late 20th Century…….and then.
Fast forward 15 years later to late 2009 and poles apart cannot even begin to describe Beijing or indeed China today. I think and feel fortunate to have witnessed the so called rise of China and now wonder will I be around to witness the fall?
Coming up…..China travels spanning more than a decade and the cities of the middle kingdom laid bare.
Anthony Arrigo has either lived or worked in more cities in China than he can care to remember or count, and enjoys Peking Duck when in Beijing.
