Comments on: Beijing Bursting Forth http://soyansays.com/2006/10/04/beijing-bursting-forth/ Rub your tummy and pat your head. Soyan didn't say... Thu, 28 Dec 2006 03:37:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Mike E. http://soyansays.com/2006/10/04/beijing-bursting-forth/comment-page-1/#comment-1096 Mike E. Thu, 12 Oct 2006 13:39:42 +0000 http://soyansays.com/?p=64#comment-1096 Checking back in on your blog, I realized that I made a mistake in my previous comment in saying that Xi'an had the big biker population. The city I meant to name was Chengdu. And I got the sense that's the case only because there's a larger proportion of students there. Checking back in on your blog, I realized that I made a mistake in my previous comment in saying that Xi’an had the big biker population. The city I meant to name was Chengdu. And I got the sense that’s the case only because there’s a larger proportion of students there.

]]> By: Mike E. http://soyansays.com/2006/10/04/beijing-bursting-forth/comment-page-1/#comment-1051 Mike E. Sun, 08 Oct 2006 03:28:07 +0000 http://soyansays.com/?p=64#comment-1051 One of the things I expected to see in China was a huge biking population, and I was surprised when that wasn't the case during our trip last summer. But then I just thought my cultural expectations were miscalibrated by too many movies, so it's interesting to see that your experience 10 years back really was that way. Of all the cities we hit in China, the only one that still had a big bike population was Xi'an. Regarding the shift to car ownership, I came across the following NY Times article a few months back, which provides an interesting discussion, and which also touches on some cultural idiosyncrasies that resonated amusingly with some of our experiences: http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/magazine/02china.html?pagewanted=all Your comment about the cranes putting up new buildings also rings true. During our travels last year, I kept saying how I'd like to be the owner of a tower crane company in China. In every big city we visited, there were literally countless cranes putting up high-rises everywhere you could look. One of the things I expected to see in China was a huge biking population, and I was surprised when that wasn’t the case during our trip last summer. But then I just thought my cultural expectations were miscalibrated by too many movies, so it’s interesting to see that your experience 10 years back really was that way. Of all the cities we hit in China, the only one that still had a big bike population was Xi’an.

Regarding the shift to car ownership, I came across the following NY Times article a few months back, which provides an interesting discussion, and which also touches on some cultural idiosyncrasies that resonated amusingly with some of our experiences: http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/magazine/02china.html?pagewanted=all

Your comment about the cranes putting up new buildings also rings true. During our travels last year, I kept saying how I’d like to be the owner of a tower crane company in China. In every big city we visited, there were literally countless cranes putting up high-rises everywhere you could look.

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