You've probably seen the adverts with the woman singing, "Malaysia, Truly Asia," hummed the tune a little in your head, and thought about how long it's been since you last had a beach holiday. Fair enough. Malaysia does have more than its fair share of beautiful beaches, but it also has more than that - a stunning capital city that embodies the very spirit of this multi-cultural melting pot. But, I hear you asking, can it beat Beijing? And if not to relocate there, is it worth considering for property investment purposes.

This weekend Singapore-based real estate enterprise Orange Tee hosts a property investment opportunity (details here) at the Park Hyatt in Beijing – and this is why real estate dabblers in Beijing should take a closer look at what’s happening elsewhere in Asia.

Most people count years sequentially. Urbane is not fettered with such pedestrian constraints. Welcome to the hype overdrive for Shanghai 2010 World Expo, the subject of this month’s feature. Contingents from more than 200 countries and international organizations are poised to flock to Shanghai slightly less than a year and a half from now. They will build a Giant Hairy Marshmallow, and scores of other amazing exhibition pavilions, as they show off to each other and the world for six glorious months. To make it all happen they will raze their city as Beijing did for the Olympics, mercilessly popularize a goofy gummy mascot, and take as many other extreme actions as they can think of, on a massive scale.

Back here in the present, things are still pretty interesting. Our expanded Exhibitionist section features a what’s why and why’s what of China’s recent nationwide art zone explosion, as fashion heavyweight Dior also thunders onto the Chinese contemporary art scene this month in Beijing. Elsewhere, we discuss a bovine-grass energy solution for rural China, The Opposite House reveals its attractions and Nanluogu Xiang explodes with commercial creativity.

As all Urbane readers know, a helmet and road goggles can only protect so much. Many days, it seems the dangers of speedy freewheeling is not so nefarious as the street’s sludge of slowness. As Beijing’s Olympic dreamy traffic restrictions fade into ever-dimmer memory, this month’s “Car Crunch” feature takes a look at some potential solutions for Beijing’s gnashing gridlock.

In our other feature, “The Hunan Factor,” Madeleine O’Dea tells the story behind the SZ Art Center in 798, a homegrown complement to the mega-galleries (such as UCCA and Pace) that now loom large on the landscape of Chinese contemporary art.

As the specter of winter cold looms around the corner, Urbane’s gaze turns toward another looming beast, as both of our features address the magnificently monstrous new CCTV headquarters project in Beijing’s CBD. Alex Pasternack slips behind the scenes of the CCTV project (Must See TV, p22), finding out why and how the people behind it have made it the way it is. Meanwhile, photographer Jim Gourley and his camera take a more pedestrian approach, appraising the structure from a thousand human perspectives (Transfixed, p28).

In the Dwell section, we recommend a palette of stylish autumnal decorations, as well as a slew of sleekly thin gadgets, and sit down with the designers behind the local product line Doublebrain. In our two design features, we go inside architect Wang Hui’s striking Changping District retreat as well as the gritty, seductive Hotel G by Gongti West Gate.

The American Renaud brothers are known for their hard-hitting cinema verite documentary films, which have ranged on topics from college football rivalries to US soldiers in Iraq. It was there that the two witnessed severe injuries firsthand, and learned of the sporting program that turns wounded veterans into Paralympic athletes. Their current project, Warrior Champions: From Baghdad to Beijing, follows former soldiers as they train for the 2008 Paralympic Games.  Brent Renaud spoke to Alex Pasternack from New York, just before leaving for Okinawa to join the US Team in training. The brothers are producing web videos for the US Paralympic team while they are in Beijing, you can view the videos here. Melissa Stockwell failed to qualify for the 100m Freestyle and Butterfly earlier this week, she'll be competing in the 400m Freestyle on Friday morning.

This interview first appeared In the September issue of Urbane.

Alex Pasternack: How did this film come about?

Brent Renaud: There’s a scene in our film Off to War shortly after we get to Baghdad when a mortar hits the base where I’m staying with the soldiers. A number of them were killed, a number of them were injured; one of the soldiers I was with that day ended up losing his arm and having problems with one of this legs. When he returned to the States he started getting involved with these sports programs for injured veterans. They say if you or I get injured or lose a leg, we’d need to train full time for six or seven years and then we might be able to reach that level. But some of these soldiers have done it in less than year. It’s a pretty remarkable story.

This month Beijing hosts the Paralympics, and Urbane takes a closer look at the athletes and the games they play. As the event represents a high-profile demonstration of handicapped awareness in a city not necessarily known for it, our second feature investigates how far Beijing has come in terms of accessibility.

Meanwhile, in the month after the Olympic Games, not only does the world continue to turn, but it's only getting wider and brighter for Urbane readers. Robert La Bua takes us to the gateway to Antarctica, Amy Fabris-Shi appraises the fabulous Palazzo Versace on Australia’s Gold Coast, Rania Ho braves the vertiginous dunes of the Badain Jaran Desert, and Gary Bowerman shares a sneak peak of the wonders in store for the 2010 Guangzhou Asia Games.

Are you a reader of Urbane magazine? We'd love your your thoughts and feedback. Let us take you out to lunch for an Urbane focus group this Thursday at 1pm (venue TBA). We're looking for 4 additional people; please RSVP at editor@urbanechina.com with a little bit about yourself and why you read Urbane and we'll get back to those that reply first.

New Beijing is on the scene. In this month's Urbane, distributed concurrently with the city's explosive self-exhibition, we reflect on the shape of the "New" metropolis. Our August mega-feature, made up of six essays, explores the city that greets the world this month. From Old Beijing, Green Beijing, and Beijing TV to addressing the question of what will happen to the city after the Games, One Dream Beijing Infinity offers an in-depth snapshot of the New Beijing that has evolved before our eyes.

We also go behind the scenes of the Beijing Games image-making machine, into the design workshop at CAFA (China Academy of Fine Arts) with Olympic designer Wang Jie in our designer Spotlight, as well as the mastermind of this Games' design, Wang Min, in our second feature. What was the creative process behind the Olympic banners, logos and emblems blitzing the city from every angle? Read on.

We're looking for a few good photographs of the city you love. And hate. And I know you've got them. They could end up being seen by lots of people, in the pages of Urbane's big August issue. But mostly, we'd like to have a look.

Here's the idea:

As the city prepares for its Olympic close-up, an era of creative destruction comes to a close. And so too do those institutions you might associate with it. Whether it's old subway signage, a favorite restaurant, some hutong scrawl, or curious evidence of Olympic preparation, we want to see the exciting and endangered people, places and things you miss and love about Beijing before the flame rolls in.

Photos should be around 1MB or larger, and you can email them to pasternack2 at gmail dot com. We need to get them in by Wednesday July 16.

We can't pay - I wish we could - but think of it as an art project, an exhibition, a love letter, free advertising, whatever.

This month’s cover depicts a cool, sleek corridor in Jiang Tao’s studio, and the visually evocative tour of the Green T. House designer’s lair is just one of many treasures within the magazine’s pages. Our two features will whet your appetite for urbane revelry this summer and beyond: Handel Lee gives a behind the scenes preview of The Legation, while expert party planners reveal secrets to throwing a truly unforgettable party in some of Beijing’s most exclusive venues.

This month’s issue also features dancer Tao Ye, Motorola handset designer Xu Ye, a preview of “Synthetic Times” – the landmark media exhibition opening this month at the National Art Museum of China – Beihai’s Tranquil Mind Studio, and the inside scoop on the venue boasting one of Beijing’s most amazing rooftops, The Emperor Hotel. Plus,