The January issue is out
More than anything, the arrival of 2008 is quite a relief. These four damned numbers – two, zero, zero, eight – have been dangled like a carrot in front of my nose for so long now, it’s about time they stepped up and delivered the goods. As soon as the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 2007, I expect nothing less than flowers to bloom, cars and cranes to disappear, buildings to be finished and armies of smiley people wearing headsets (including you, Jackie Chan) handing out bottled water to everyone …
At least, this is what should happen, if you believe the media hype of the past few years. I’ve heard some people, all of whom smarter than me, give gloomy predictions of how bubbles are set to burst next year (bursting bubbles, I’m told, are bad). But to be honest, I don’t think anyone knows what will happen come 2008. We know it’s significant in many respects, but how will it affect us directly?
For many expats, 2008 is a benchmark year simply because so many have set their “China clocks” by it: “I’ll probably stick around until the Olympics, and then – who knows?” I’ve certainly found myself saying as much whenever I’m asked how long I plan to stay in Beijing – it just comes naturally. But when it comes down to it, the Olympics will only last for two weeks – have I really been in Beijing all this time for the sake of two weeks? It’s a bit like queuing for hours to spend a couple of minutes at a nightclub.
Too many of us are perhaps standing in the queue waiting for the Olympics to bring earthshaking change to Beijing. In reality, however, the Olympics will come and go in the glimmer of an eye. It’ll be fun while it lasts, and the modern city of Beijing will keep steaming ahead, swelling with more buildings, more cars, more people, more of the same …
I for one certainly don’t think this is a bad thing. To paraphrase an insightful young lady who we interviewed for our 2007 retrospective: The best party is always the one you’re looking forward to. We’ve enjoyed Beijing this far, so I suggest getting out of the queue, strapping in, and enjoying the ride – to 2008 and beyond.
Correction
In this months’ Peking Pic (City Scene, p14) we muddled the caption for Matthew Kelly’s picture of the CCTV headquarters with Caroline Catts’s picture of migrant workers hanging out outside her window. Our apologies to both photographers, whose good work is pictured below … complete with the correct caption. Anyone who wants to share their snaps of Beijing city life with the rest of us should e-mail photos to editor@thebeijinger.com.
The massive steel towers of the CCTV Headquarters edged closer and closer until they were finally connected in mid-December. Photo by Matthew Kelly.
You never know when they're going to start work on the building right next to yours. Caroline Catts snapped this photo of workers scrambling up the scaffolding early one December morning.
