i’ll end my time in beijing with a few last observations.
the city is being destroyed. i mean literally demolished. much of this has to do with renovation for the olympics and the rest of it has to do with simple modernization, but the effect is all the same. there is construction everywhere and there are are debris and rubble everywhere else. whole city blocks are nothing but makeshift landfills until they can be cleared and built over. as sites are excavated to prepare for skyscraper foundations, tombs and ancient cultutural sites are being discovered. then they’re being looted and destroyed. the smithsonian, EPA, historical society and archeological restrictions are all completely unknown. china is simply uninterested in its past as the price of being consumed by its future.
mao is everywhere. it’s almost nauseating how far the chinese will go to get the chairman’s likeness on some kitsch. he’s on flags, t-shirts, watches, banners, kites, books, shoes, jackets, maps, guns and food. it’s weird.
finally, i went to the military museum and was a little creeped out. i think the extraordinary celebration of military equipment and feats hints at the reason why mankind’s history is plagued with violence. we give parades for it. we watch it, read it, hear about it, sing it and play with it. the image of the chinese children playing with the fake automatic weapons in the gift store was haunting and will stay with me. i only wish i could say that our culture was any better.
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