2009 was certainly one of the more interesting years in recent memory – the Swine Flu hit, the world economy collapsed (and then showed signs of life), Michael Jackson died and Obama sputtered through his first year of presidency. And over on this side the PRC celebrated its 60th anniversary, the web got a whole lot less accessible and real estate prices continued to skyrocket.

Things were subsequently pretty interesting on this blog as well. With the Olympics now a memory, Beijing continued surging forward with a host of new openings, construction, regulations, restrictions and subway lines, even as things closed down, fizzled out or burst into flames.

So as we move forward into a new year and new decade, we thought we’d jump in the list making fray with our own look back at the Top Ten posts of the year on this site, according to page views:

10. Dine Like a Local with Beijing Eats! (2,642 views)
Our promo plug for Eileen Wen Mooney’s fantastic book (published by True Run Media) on all things edible, and distinctly Chinese, in the capital.

9. The Great Race: Seven Commuters Dash Across Beijing (2,705 views)
This post, originally run as a sidebar in the 2009 Insiders’ Guide to Beijing, pitted a team of our finest and fittest editors, interns and photographers as they raced from our offices at Dawang Lu to Gulou to determine which mode of transportation was the fastest in Beijing.

8. New Years Turds (2,768 views)
The hottest Chun Jie trend in 2009? Turds on a stick – or more precisely, an inflatable replica of cow dung (in homage to the Year of the Ox and a pun on the term “niu fen” – meaning both manure and “fight like a bull”). Nothing like a little scatological humor to attract those eyeballs …

7. Nazi Mad Scientists and their post-WWII plan to rule the world (2,792 views)
the Beijinger’s interview with documentary director Rodrigo H. Vila about his film Project Huemul: The Fourth Reich in Argentina – which centers on a secret Nazi project to produce limitless nuclear fusion energy in an Argentinean island – garnered a lot of morbidly curious clickthroughs.

6. STOP PRESS: Major Disruptions Tomorrow (2,904 views)
The world will forever remember the spectacle of the PRC’s extravagant 60th anniversary parade last October, while we here in Beijing will never forget the logistical and transportation chaos that preceded it …

5. Mesh, Q Bar top the Beijinger’s 6th Annual Reader Bar and Club Awards (3,502 views)
Drinking and partying is serious business here in Beijing, as evidenced by the consistently high number of participants and readers of our annual reader polls of the city’s nightlife scene.

4. CCTV on Fire (3,523 views)
One of the more spectacularly shameful moments of 2009 was the night the just completed TVCC Tower, which was to house the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel and a state-of-the-art theater and cinema, accidentally caught on fire due to the management’s boneheaded decision to allow an extravagant Spring Festival fireworks display on the grounds. Since then the burnt up husk has remained an eyesore and serves as a monument to administrative incompetence. Meanwhile the burning question still remains: When, exactly, are they going to start rebuilding?

3. Postcards from James Fallows (4,074 views)
James Fallows – Senior Atlantic Monthly correspondent, longtime Beijing resident and patron saint to aspiring writers and freelancers across the city – graciously bowed out of his stint living here in the capital with this highly read interview for tbj.

2. And the Winners Are … the 2009 Beijinger Reader Restaurant Awards (4,646 views)
Because if there’s one thing Beijingers take even more seriously than drinking and partying, it’s where (and what) they eat.

1.  Obama-Mao! Proof Obama is a Marxist-Leninist (4,676 views)
Strike one up for the power of sensationalist headline writing – this blog post referring to media reports of a temporary crackdown of Maoist-flavored Obama memorabilia in Beijing was our number one most viewed post of the year.

And now, stay tuned for 2010 …