Many changes have greeted me upon my return to Beijing, but I think it’s essence is unchanged. One surprise is how well I have been able to navigate and communicate–although we’ve had all bi-lingual menus so far. Another is that we visited a large office building this morning and the signpost in front had several corporate logos scraped off of it. So while there are signs in the landscape that the recession has hit here, the streets are just as vibrant, the physical labor is just as visible, and the prices appear to be about the same.
We chose well for a hotel here and are comfortable in a courtyard house close to the center of the city. Tonight we reunite with friends from BeiDa and we discuss the current state of libraries and my rapidly advancing age. I add a decade today, and being in China is a pretty good substitution for a cake.