the Beijinger

Truth be told, we never imagined Beijing would move so fast.

Ten years ago, when editorial director Jerry Chan and I traipsed the smoggy streets of Beijing seeking a space for our fledgling office, we lived in a very different city.

Beijing hadn’t yet won its Olympic bid. The city’s subway system consisted of two lines that effectively went nowhere. Houhai was a rustic getaway unsullied by bar touts, and entire areas of town such as Nanluogu Xiang, Dashanzi and Shuangjing were virtually terra incognita to all but a handful of foreigners. Sanlitun South Bar Street’s network of hole-in-the-wall dives lined up along an unpaved road was still the epicenter of Beijing’s social scene (and RMB 50 would be more than enough get you drunk and leave change for ten lamb kebabs to boot).