"So which city is better?"

^Now this is just too much haha, traditional right?  Taken at the Forbidden City.

^Don't know how well you can see it, but if you double click this picture and open it, you will see there is an oval-shaped, silver building in the background, which is the National Center for the Performing Arts.  Picture taken from the top of Jingshan Hill at the back of the Forbidden City.  Seeing these two scenes together makes me wonder what Beijing's really is.

“So which city is better?” It’s the question that I’m asked every day by Beijingers comparing their city to Shanghai. Their really is some sort of rivalry between these two cities.  Well, when it really comes down to it, they’re both great and I think its up to the person.  Personally, I think Shanghai claims to be one thing, and only thing only, a bustling business city with some of the flashiest new money I have ever seen.  While at the same time, Beijing tries to take on a more traditional Chinese atmosphere accompanied by “older money.”  But I mean, come on what really is traditional Chinese anymore?  And hasn’t everyone really made their money in the last 20 years?  Sorry to be a cynic, but I feel that Beijing sort of has identity crisis.  One thing is for sure, when you drive past, 中南海 (Zhongnanhai – central government’s compound) or 天安门 (Tiananmen – yes, that one), you get the sense that you are in the capital of a very powerful nation.

^Tiananmen at night is even better than the daytime.

So apart from the regular stops, 天坛 (Tiantan – Temple of Heaven, also 5 minutes from where I live), 故宫 (Gugong – The Forbidden City), and 颐和园 (Yiheyuan – The Summer Palace), I have been on a mission to see the entire city.  I’ve been from Fortune Plaza in Guomao to Apple in Sanlitun(er) village, from Chinese classes at Dawanglu to teaching English at a public school in Anzhenmen, from interning in Jianguomen to a 发改委(Fagaiwei – National Development and Reform Commission) meeting in Xidan, from my apartment in Ciqikou to the house of the family that offered me this place in Nanlishilu, but don’t forget the 30,000 English teaching interviews that I have had everywhere from Suzhoujie to Zhongguancun to Xizhimen, but without fail they tell me every time that they wish I had more time and are not sure if there are enough part time students (thanks for making me ride the metro for an hour and half, its 100 degrees today, you couldn’t have told me that on Skype?)

^This gets me every time.  On every sign, they made sure to point out that all of these things had been savagely destroyed by Anglo-French Forces in the 1800's and then rebuilt, but I don't think I've ever seen a sign at a traditional Chinese site that said, "Savagely destroyed by Maozedong's Cultural Revolution in 1966 and then rebuilt."

Name a metro stop and I’ve likely been there.  I’ve lived here for three weeks now and I feel like I lived here my whole life.  But what has made this all so much better is realizing that all of my Chinese classmates from GWU have come back to China, and one by one, I’ve had a chance to have dinner with them, or attend an event with their family, or eat at the street stands in the middle of the night in Sanlitun(er).  Then there’s Morgan, my Sigma Chi fraternity brother, who is interning here for the summer and at this point we see each several times each weekend without fail.

^Thank you for jumping in the picture. Morgan, some Chinese woman, and me.

And recently, I was having brunch at The Veggie Table (which is a must-have by the way, if you're looking for a change of pace, with organics and hummus that is to die for) with a friend visiting from Shanghai and her local Chinese friend.  Her local friend holds a law degree from Northeastern in Boston and is an absolute riot.  So she goes, “Hey Todd, have you heard that foreign guys are the kings of 7’s here in China?”  And I tell her no; I didn’t know what she was referring to.  So she goes on to explain that on a woman evaluation scale of 1-10, foreign guys can lock down up to 7 all day, but you rarely see a foreign guy with an 8, 9, or 10, which mind you is an amazing girl anywhere in the world.  And her reasoning is that foreign guys have enough of a reputation that precedes them that they can get 7’s, or the foreign guy has enough money that the girl is willing to brush off her Chinese values for a little while to enjoy a nice bottle of wine and dinner.  But when you consider 8, 9, and 10’s, they have a personality and the looks to go with it.  Plus they’re probably educated, speak Chinese and English, and expect you to have all of the above as well.  Well, I kind of thought to myself, jees, this girl’s theory is dead on, everywhere you go, you see a western guy (mid-level manager of course, no one above that would dare do this in public) with a 7 on his arm, obviously a Chinese fling.  And I thought to myself, I guess I had better keep studying Chinese if I really want to find my 8, 9, or 10..

^GWU classmate, Arisa Hu, and I watching some Mongolian performers.