Now and then
culture, art, technology and intellect, because it has the country’s best universities, institutes and think tanks, including Tsinghua University,
Peking University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Library of China, Beijing Film Academy, Central Academy of Fine Art, Central
Academy of Drama, and on and on.
      I consider the program the best documentary series of the year. Of course, that’s totally personal. I’d like to quote a British shop owner
who has lived in Beijing for 15 years. His shop has a lot of old everyday items. He said in the program in Mandarin, “…Things like a
washbasin, or a subway ticket — others may not care — but in my eyes, they’re as important (as) the Temple of Heaven. So I print them on T-
shirts, as a celebration, because I love Beijing. I want to show people my Beijing, the Beijing in my eyes, the Beijing in this laowai (a slang for
foreigners)’s eyes.”
      He said it very well. This is all about MY town, my life, and my story. The stories of the interviewees are collective memories, but are also
very personal.
      However, I must say, not everything is becoming better. The first thing that comes to mind is pollution. The last time  I landed in Beijing and
walked out of the plane, I saw air. It was not fog but just highly polluted air that I could literally see. The gigantic new airport terminal that was
under construction not far away was looming in the thick air.
      Then one day, I was sitting in a cab on my way to a newly developed suburban neighborhood. I recalled that when I was in school, our
transportation was bikes. We biked to places like the Summer Palace during holidays and summer breaks. Those places sounded so far away.
It took a long time to get there. But we were happy, biking and chatting with friends. At that time, the sky was blue and the air was fresh. Now
many places that were not within the city range are connected by highways. I was amazed by the convenience of the modern invention. Then, I
saw a familiar building profile a few miles away, enshrouded in traffic haze. In a few seconds, it disappeared behind nearby buildings. It took
me a while to realize that the building was Fo Xiang Ge, the Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha. It was a bit hard for me to realize it, because I
didn’t expect to see the pavilion at all, in a cab, on a city highway. That pavilion was among my memories of summer days, when I was young
and innocent. It was so elegant, so beautiful, and so heavenly. Now it is dirty, obscure, and encroached by ever expanding pollution.
What have we done?
      And now, children no longer play. They have more toys but less time to play. They’re busier than their parents. Years ago, when the
average salary was less than US$100 per month, the Chinese bought pianos and let their children learn and practice in their small apartments.
That was a social phenomenon called “Piano Fever.” At that time, I thought that was normal and was just what people do. Now I think of it in
retrospect and compare it with other countries, the investment and value stressing on education in Asia seems incredible. To some extent, it’s
fearsome.
      I’m not against progress. But I see costs as well. Now that I live in the U.S., I’m not sure if we have the right to demand people in China to
do things better and fix all problems. It was, however, a heart breaking moment to see how Fo Xiang Ge revealed itself in front of me.
Shang Zuo's column
By Shang Zuo

    “Beijing Memories” is a documentary series produced by BTV, a local Beijing station. It tells a lot of
tales of the ‘80s, the dawn of economic reform. It celebrates the country’s achievement in the past three
decades with pride, joy and nostalgia.
    I’m mainly attracted to the retrospective elements of the documentary. It brings back many warm and
sweet memories when life was simple and poor. I lived in Beijing for 20 years. I love the city and its people.
The series has 15 episodes and covers many aspects of urban life, including food, commerce, art, private
and public transportation, road construction, telecom, new immigrants, housing and architecture, etc. In the
‘80s, many families lived in dormitory-like apartments, with shared kitchens and restrooms. Several
buildings shared one telephone. Beijingers didn’t have many vegetables to eat in winters other than
cabbage. There were not many restaurants and taxis. But today, people around the world go to China to see
the future. It’s not only amazing but utterly shocking to see how much people can accomplish in a few
decades.
    It was sweet to see Zhongguancun in its early stage again in one of the episodes. I was very familiar
with the area, but eventually a district of 127 acres was completely wiped out and then rebuilt, leaving few
places recognizable to me. The episode makes an interesting comparison between the city’s east side and
west side. The east side is purely business and is much internationalized. The west side is more about