Beijing Then and Now: The Eberz Family

For our October Issue, we invited local personalities to recreate photographs that inspired fond memories. Here are the stories behind those snapshots and those Beijingers, in their own words.

Kay, Simeon and Rob Eberz, Summer Place, 2000

Kay, Selah, Simeon, Rob and Micah Eberz, Summer Place, 2011

What are you now doing in Beijing?
Working with the international church (Beijing International Christian Fellowship).

What has changed for you?
We have gone from a transient life as English teachers and language students to one as full-time workers with a settled family life. Our two younger children were born in Beijing, so we can all speak the language. And what has changed in the city? It seems the entire infrastructure – highways and subway systems – has been recreated over the past ten years. We watched the area where we now rent an apartment spring up from farm fields and hutongs, then saw the same trend continue beyond the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads.

Anything else you'd like to add?
In the west side of Beijing where we live, we were once some of the few foreigners – now it‘s less unusual to see another foreigner on the road. Foreign products, western restaurants, shopping malls and larger grocery stores have multiplied on our side of town.

Click here to see the October issue of the Beijinger in full.