Welcome 2011 | Life is What You Make It

As the new year rolls in, I look back at everything that happened opposed to making new resolutions.  I believe you have to examine the past before you can prepare for the future.  Even then, I don't make a specific resolution. I have goals, but they are always there and usually take more than one year to achieve.  No need to rush.  There was a lot of transition in 2010---a little too much at times but I believe I ended up where I needed to be in the  end. I always do seem to take the long way.

This was my very, very first holiday season away from home. I anticipated it to be hard, but it wasn't that bad.  I found people to hang out with and did small things to honor the occasion.  The atmosphere in China is very different for Western holidays so they kind of all just quietly came and went with out much commotion. The "holidays" presented themselves as what they essentially are: just another day.  It's not that they were suppressed in any way---the country just attaches no meaning to the holidays, the people have no childhood sentiments, and the traditions have become another import.  Christmas specifically is a fashionable holiday where young people have an excuse to shop their hearts out. This reconfirmed in me the oh-so-cliche proverb "life is what you make it."  It is the meaning and memories we attach to people, places, objects, and days(events) that make them special. Everything is the same everywhere.

China is the Most Populous Nation Because...

Encountered on the staircase outside the shops at the Portman Ritz Carlton | Shanghai Center

The Chinese like to screw.  I could not help but double-back and snap this picture with my  phone when I found it. Despite the fuzzy quality of my out-of-date piece of technology, I believe you can still make out the medication: Viagra. Most medications are prescription-free in China, from anti-biotics to sleep aids to case in point: Viagara.  You can see from the picture that this was not a lost package as it has been opened and emptied of its contents. Then, I gather the eager individual decided to rid himself of the bulky packaging on the steps outside the pharmacy at the Portman Ritz Carlton shops in Shanghai Center where I encountered it while shopping for vitamins because it's winter and I don't want to get sick. However, this humorous incident reaffirms my belief that the Chinese have sex on the brain just like everyone else.

Evidence #1: Walk in to any convenient store chain and you will see a menagerie of condoms (mostly Durex) at the check-out along with the chewing gum and candy. While in the US, I have never seen this. Aren't condoms supposed to be tucked away on some discreet aisle along with the tampons and pregnancy test sticks? 

Evidence #2: Four out of five weekdays in Shanghai are 'Ladies' Night' where Ladies drink absolutely free.  Specials will range from house cocktails to free-flow champagne until midnight or later. I have no idea how the bars make any money except that men will be where the ladies are. China especially, is a country where splitting the check is a seldom practice. Prepare to pay up gentlemen.

Evidence #3: Chinese women are hot (myself excluded). Judging from the raven-haired barbie dolls that I walk to work with each day; Chinese women are petite recreations of Barbie herself with porcelain perfect skin.  Beauty is such a huge industry in China from diet teas to special face creams to cosmetic surgery.  This nation is on the move and the women are in it to win it.

The Christkindlemarkt

In my defense, they never asked me for my ticket. I didn’t try to sneak in. I honestly didn’t know there was an admission!  Down the street from my apartment is a German beer hall called Paulaner Brauhaus which apparently holds a Christmas Market (Christkindlemarkt) every year for a 25 yuan admission fee---to keep away all the locals I suppose.  The “rift raft”, as one old friend would put it.  It was a lovely market, something a kin to the stands at Union Square and Bryant Park every year (which don’t charge admission, might I add). The Christmas Market did have food stands though with a mix of German and Western fare like Bratwursts, Pretzels, Chili, Goulash, etc. I bought myself some hot, spiced Gluϋhwein that came with a red ceramic cup and reusable  green plastic lid and white sleeve. How cute! And THAT’S when they asked me for my ticket. Maybe if you drank two the second one was half price or something...I dont’ know. It’s not like the Gluϋhwein or anything in there was free.  Well. All I could manage was a bashful “I must have misplaced it” and slowly slithered away to quickly buy some folk art stationary cards before I made a run for it. 

The Shanghai Biennale

Wang Mai's headless horse-shaped pipes in Oil Monsters

The Shanghai Biennale is back in it's 8th run at the Shanghai Museum of Art. The theme this time is Rehearsal, alluding to the fact that art is an on-going production. Art is fluid and changing.  Artist Ma Liang (also fashionably known as Maleonn)  recreates a portion of his photography studio---which is known to be cluttered with quirky, outlandish props---in order to allow visitors to see what the opposite side of the lens looks like in staging a piece of work.  Below are some of the props.

A para sailing skeleton from Ma Liang's studio

Traditional Chinese New Year Lion heads

A traditional Chinese scroll is meticulously drafted over by artist Guan Wei showing futuristic new developments.  On an opposite wall he also uses maps and imagery to make a statement of our increasingly globalized society.  I was more interested in the drafting.

Guan Wei's Development Zone

 Artist Zhang Huan's piece has two parts: a reinterpretation of the Baroque opera Semele  with a Chinese perspective and then second, the transportation of the set which was originally a 450 year old village temple to be displayed in new glory as a museum centerpiece. Cool. Check more about Mr. Zhang's projects and the story of Semele here.

 

There was also an amazing installation by Norwegian art group Verdensteatret that was totally my favorite  It's called And All the Question Marks Started to Sing.  Best said by WSJ's Art Scene Asia, "The work fills a room with spinning bicycle wheels, surreal projections, music and live performance to evoke a cheery if slightly eerie dream." The installation is reminiscent of Tim Burton--another favorite---because both artists bring inanimate objects to life in a creepy but whimsical way. Check out Verdenstreatret's website here.

Image courtesy of Verdensteatret

Then there's the charming playroom by Qiu Zhijie in which essentially a 2 dimensional painting is brought in to 3D. Also, best said by the Wall Street Journal:

[ Mr. Qiu] "brings to frenetic life a famous traditional painting of Ming Dynasty-era city life with an interactive installation comprised of mask painting, mechanized grindstones of ink and of salt, strewn keys and other miscellanea. " WSJ

I wasn't expecting the interactive opportunity of artwork or ability to photograph anything I wanted. Art museums are still a growing cultural phenomenon in China---maybe these lax rules will establish a more enjoyable art-viewing experience in the future. I mean---who wouldn't want to photograph or touch art work?

Yours truly with Qiu’s Notes on ‘Colorful Lanterns at Shangyuan Festival'

Beware of the Motorbike

Shanghai is China's largest city, but it does have room to expand unlike Hong Kong or New York. There's not that claustrophobic density or fight for space.  The city spreads out wide and low with a matrix of alleyways and unmapped side streets.  Almost every road is tree-lined and they shed giant leaves that paper the ground as Fall winds down.  The pleasant tri-ling of bicycle bells as people pedal past add to the charm. The city is actually rather peaceful on weekends with the backdrop of period French architecture and older residents that gather to chat on doorsteps. You begin to forget where you are for a moment as you fantasize about the stories this city must have during the 1920s and it's European occupation.

And then, there comes the motorbike---menace of the streets. It obeys no traffic laws. Red light, one-way street, mother and child in the middle of the crosswalk---the motorbike does not care.  I've always known that traffic is crazy in China, but at least you can see and hear cars and they obey the traffic laws.  Plus, usually they're inclined to honk.  Bicycles are a little trickier to detect, but they don't go that fast and won't kill you. Motorbikes however are a cross-breed of the car and the bike that alternate between roads and sidewalks like an indecisive Mario Kart player.  They constantly zip through intersections long after everything else has stopped or travel against the flow of traffic.  I am terrified of them because they will severely injure, possibly kill, and almost always ruin my weekend musings around Shanghai.

One Way Ticket to Shanghai (back-logged from 10/28)

Hello, sorry for the over-due post. This is why I suppose, I am not paid to blog, write, or report in any manner; because I am not punctual. At any rate, it's important that I back-log my post to October 28th one month ago almost exactly because that was d-day when this whole journey began...

* * * Cue blurry flash-back visuals and magical music* * *

I sit at my gate, exhausted, and relieved.  I've spent all night packing, list-checking, and organizing.  I barely slept.  I was paranoid there would be some awful last minute set back like missing my flight or the system loosing my reservation or the airplane having a fatal mechanical problem.  I sit at my gate and I wait and I write...

As dawn breaks over the back of airplanes parked on the edge of Dulles International Airport, I feel strangely calm---almost like I've done this before. In a way, I have...moving. I seem to be always moving. However, this time it's slightly different.  This one-way ticket (it's all I could afford) has imbued in me a sense of calm and of release. There's no turning back now. I have always felt the need to plan...generate endless alternatives, make commitments, fill my moments, and be productive. Yet my schedule once landing in Shanghai this time is straight forward and loose. Check in at my accommodations, meet some real estate brokers for appointments, go to the Expo, go to work on Monday. There's four things I need to do. Nothing more; nothing less. I take a deep breath. Think positive.  This could be the beginning of something great. It has always been my dream to work abroad, specifically in China, as a designer...how did this all happen, anyways?! I don't really know, there are still a lot of unanswered questions ---better not to think too hard about it or like with all dreams: I'll wake up.

They call my section and I get on the plane.  We take-off almost immediately flying backwards in to time---West, which will eventually become East again.  I close my eyes to sleep and over the horizon the sun is coming up.

Humanity to the Rescue

Photo Courtesy of MSN.com

I wanted to put down my thoughts about a story that has been saturating the news waves yesterday and today.  33 Chilean miners have finally been rescued after 69+ days underground. 69 days! Can you imagine the mental warfare your mind must be having with itself to get you through that? The emotions! The anxiety, the fear, the pain, the depression, the boredom...I first heard about it on August 5th when it first happened, kind of forgot about it for awhile, and then as the news flooded all the channels yesterday that they were going to be rescued---sat glued to CNN last night sobbing as the Phoenix capsule first emerged in the underground mine shaft.  I felt like we had just landed on the moon all over again.  In a way we had. We have made another milestone advancement as a people. However, this was not to flex our technological muscles, but as a beautiful gesture of faith and compassion. This was not a race of one country against another, but a united international effort.



We look to so many things in life to rescue us, but sometimes it is ourselves--humanity that will come to the rescue.  There is such strength in the human spirit that normally lays dormant. I began to think, how would I be in that situation? What would I want to do if given another chance to live?  Would I want to do something amazing to test my own invincibility or is it more important I become better in my daily life...

On Brave Days an Atheist

Growing up,  religion never played much of a part.   Well more specifically, religion was never presented to me as a truism.  My grandmother is Buddhist, but my mom is agnostic and therefore allowed us to decide for ourselves what path we wanted.  She sent my sister and I to Christian sleep-away camp and me to a few years of Catholic school where our administrators were Sister Mary and Father Rick.  We celebrated both Easter and Christmas.   I used to set up the porcelain nativity scene under the tree each year until we moved our celebration to my aunt's.  

However, at family gatherings we still burned incense for our ancestors and made extra food or fake-money offerings on occassions like April 5th (Chinese tomb-sweeping day). I kind of liked the idea of communicating with my grandfather in the underworld and making sure he had good food and enough money.  To protect us from danger,  my grandmother gave us prayer tokens for our rear view mirrors when we started driving.  I don't really drive anymore, but I keep a pendant of the Goddess of Mercy in my wallet.

Religion became to me like a philosophy of which there are many viewpoints all of which can be right.   Would a Christian approach be better for this or a Buddhist?  Do I feel a need to go to confession today or meditate?  I agree religion is important because it is a way to deal with life.  I keep an open-mind though beyond tolerance.  We don't just tolerate other races or sexualities; we accept them.  The concept of God has become fuzzy in modern times anyways with so many interpretations.  Sure, sometimes you're right, but other times they are.  I don't think I could ever choose a religion because I would never be able to adopt all the theology that comes with it as unquestionable truth.  I would be ousted from all houses of worship for heresy.  However, to be Godless seems like one of the worst things to be these days.  You can't claim allegiance with any group and apparently atheist are also the minority that Americans would least allow their children to marry.  That's bad news for me unless I find myself another atheist!  Imagine a Godless nation of atheists? Extremists would bomb our homes and evangelicals would burn our important books--like maybe our diaries.  Well, that probably won't happen considering atheists are also the hardest demographic to identify because we won't even identify ourselves...yet.

On brave days, I would say I'm atheist, but on cowardly days agnostic.  I am responsible for what happens to me, but sometimes when things get tough you look for a little extra help.  On the flip side though, a recent conversation with a friend that was raised Catholic revealed that on bad days she can loose her faith in God, but on good days she remembers to thank him.  Get thee to a nunnery! Those Catholics and their confessions.

This brings me to a book that I've been interested to read for awhile ( and the point of this post).  It's called Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist, by Stephen Batchelor who is a disrobed monk.  Has anyone read or heard of it?! It seems like a peaceful, middle ground of thinking and at worst a unique story.  I'll definitely let you know my thoughts if I ever get my hands on it.

The Petty Foibles of Office Life are Universal

It's officially Fall, my favorite season and the beginning of a new TV line up to look forward to.  The show that's caught my eye is "Outsourced" a new comedy on NBC about an American guy that is forced to move to India because his management position at a call center has been outsourced to India.  There he encounters a parody of personalities and the quirky office culture of his new employees.  The show caught me instantly. Basically, any concept that explores and sometimes makes fun of cultural stereotypes, usually get me.  Harold & Kumar was a brave step and Modern Family is another of my favorites.  It is through observing, dissecting, and bringing to light this cultural hodgepodge of America(ns), that we can find understanding and hopefully laugh at ourselves.

I'm so glad that NBC took a chance with this show and I hope it does well.   God knows all we need is NOT another law or forensics or vampire-themed show.  " Outsourced" is refreshing and relevant to the issues of today yet most importantly funny and something we would want to end the day with.  The time slot after The Office draws a great comparison that, "Whether it's a paper company in Scranton, Pa., or a call center in Mumbai, the petty foibles of office life are universal( Washington EXPRESS)."  Maybe one day there will be room for an East Asian parody--and I mean something better than what Margaret Cho tried to do back in the '90s because let's face it, the All American Girl is never something we would ever want to be in this global society and her portrayal of Asian Americans were just down right two-dimensional and painful.

What's Old is New Again

Photos courtesy of DC Nine

It was Thursday night and my cousin and I were in need of a distraction.  As an avid reader, literary type--she always seems to know what's going on oppose to myself who usually exists in a bubble outside of my imposed list of responsibilities.   It's not that I actively buffer myself from the outside world, just that I know I am easily distracted and so the less irrelevant information the better.  That being said, I am not one that actively follows music or is even confident about her musical taste outside of satisfying myself.  However, on Thursday night we went to DC Nine (bar and music venue on 9th street) and saw April Smith and The Great Picture Show.  She was really good!   I believe they're based in Brooklyn now, but in all my years in NY I'd never heard of them until coming to DC.  

Smith's voice is unexpectedly powerful and although they've been classified from folk to country to swing, her musical style reminds me of Broadway musical performers.  It's got that energy and snappiness to it. Plus, she flirts with the audience and is a great showmen.  Her band, The Great Picture Show jams merrily behind her giving off that campy enthusiasm of the roaring 20s swing parties.  If you're a fan of the HBO series Weeds, you may already have heard their Terrible Things. If not, check it out here.  Hope you enjoy.

DC's More Soulful Side

Compared to New York, DC is not colored by the attitudes of fashion or the glitz of the financial industries. Instead DC is primarily a conservative city supported by the rational and scientific institutions like government, law, social non-profits, and so on.   In short, DC can be a little boring due to the nature of it's demographics and the fact that things close early.

However, as of late I discovered that DC does have a soulful, funky side behind the preppy cobblestone streets of Georgetown and the collegiate haunts of Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle.   The now revitalized hip areas of the U street and 14th Street corridors are historically and still presently Black American neighborhoods. The way I see it, the city is trying to preserve it's cultural heritage while still being cool and accessible to the public.  Maybe that's why there are such amazing little establishments like Bus Boys and Poets, a "restaurant, bookstore, fair trade market and gathering place where people can discuss issues of social justice and peace" so named after two opposing jobs held by Langston Hughes. And maybe that's why I was able to see free of charge the controversial Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio and local DC musician Matthew Hemmerlein.  The latter of which is amazingly talented acoustically or playing multiple instruments and managing the sound board as well with his toes.   His song No Fangs is a good example of this.  He's also kinda hot despite the Robert Pattinson-esque spray of untamed hair preceding him.  Check out his website here.

Matthew Hemmerlein on vocals and strings

They were really democratic about accommodating everyone to this free event so we were literally sitting at his feet on the steps to the stage.  This explains the weird angle of the photograph.

Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio

There are of course also speak-easies. This one is called The Gibson and is reservations only for crowd control purposes. It is nowhere as "secretive" as the New York ones though, hence the patio but they make really delicious cocktails. One of their specialties is a cocktail-gelato float like this cognac and champagne selection.  Maybe DC can be a soulful once it loosens it's collar a little.

Toto, I Think We're Back in Kansas

I haven't spent this much time at home since I was on summer break from college. Essentially this is what this is---summer break from work, right? Maybe. As much as I love my family, I spend a great deal of effort trying to be independent from them. No one wants to be like their mothers or be reminded of all the restrictions that youth once imposed before you were making your own money.  Aside from New York City being the best place for design in the US, this was the mindset that made me move away from home.

However, I did make the decision to stop working. I needed to reassess what I wanted in life; whether it was to trudge on as a slave to design for the sake of livelihood or locate my personal goals. Where was I headed and would time slip through my fingers before I had a chance to figure it out? Was New York City really the best place for me or was it a default location other than home?

Well, after 5 months of producing window displays and retail merchandising; 3 months of moonlighting as a corporate caterer; and another 5 months of wandering and mentoring youth in China, I can confidently say that life is fundamentally the same everywhere. It is the person that affects the experience. No mater where you are or what you're doing--perception or mindset really is everything. The concept seems simple now as I write it, but the grass is not greener on the other side or will it magically be greener in the future.  It is the person that waters that grass to make it green.  I don't mean to turn this post in to a philosophy debate, but I do believe we generate our own happiness and that appreciating the present saves you a lot of anguish about the past or anxiety about the future.  Now is all we have.

And so now I am home. And so now while I try not to obsess and agonize over the future of my career and my life, I am grateful to be with my family who are the foundation for everything I am. I am grateful to observe the slight childhood quirks of my two nephews despite the fact they wake me up at 7am everyday pretending to be marauding pirates.  I am grateful for home-cooked meals despite the fact that my mother tends to be an eccentric, experimental cook; and for a roof over my head even though my parents are pack rats and I can never find anything among the piles of clutter.  Finally, I am grateful to live in the DC area and hopefully will unravel a little about this city as an adult that I did not see as a child.

A Change of Pace

Being back home in the US is great, although oddly disenchanting.  Sometimes I feel like someone that knows a secret she isn't supposed to tell. How do you return to ordinary life after having experienced something more? I don't want to resume business as usual. How do I maintain what I've learned? I'm still working on that answer whether it's getting a fresh start by acquiring a new apartment, a new job, or a new degree.  I should change my routine.
One main difference I've noticed within myself is that I really have achieved a broader perspective on things and do feel (gasp) more patient.  While I still try to take every opportunity I can--I understand that success is not achieved because of one or two magic moments, but a constant effort toward a goal.  Yes, single-mindedness and focus is hard work in this digitally, fast-paced modern era of ours but I'm damned glad to be surrounded by the diversity and resources of  the US of A.

One Last Look

Open-air cafe near Beixinqiao

China is one funky place I would like to return to. There's so much history but simultaneously so much development and both sides are struggling to preserve and create.  It's like the country's on one of those makeover TV shows and you want to see the follow up episode of "where are they now".  Did they get better or worse or stay the same?

I would like to see where everyone's lives take them. Rebecca, the Russian language teacher tells me she is planning to get pregnant next year and have a baby--maybe two since minorities aren't restricted by China's one child policy.

Rebecca and I at Beidaihe

 

 

Three of my students are going to study abroad. Vanessa and Tony are headed to Australia for college and Zhao Si Yue is going to live with a host-family in Canada for high school.  It will be the first any of them have ever set foot abroad.  I can't imagine taking a plunge like that and trying to somehow perform academically--but I am so excited for them. They're going to have such great stories.

Tony and I in Bedaihe

Vanessa and I in Beidaihe

Zhao Si Yue in Beijing's 798 Art District

Finally, I would like to see what new innovations and oddities the Chinese people turn up. Below is an elaborate fluorescent light fixture in the Beijing subway station. Fluorescent because of energy and cost-savings, but decorative because anything less would be too institutional. I like it.

Then there's also the nicotine patch vending machine at the Bird's Nest Stadium because that's one of the only rare places in China where smoking is actually prohibited. I think most societies would view the placement of such a machine as a bit tactless about a very serious addiction problem but not the Chinese. They locate it of course, right next to the other vending machines where any passer by--such as a kid may access nicotine patches.  I love China, and I hope to be able to come back many times over to see how she's doing.

The Next Big Thing

Freshmen Grade 1 Class 4

 So although my reasons are great and varied for going to China, teaching is the reason I was able to stay as long as I did.  I didn't think I would care as much as I did, but weeks after returning, I still think of my students.  There are just so many little things about American life that I wish I could teach them---show them.  I wish I could show them that life can be something else. It's not always regimented schooling, battered buildings, and the looming divide that gao kao---the college entrance exam creates for those left behind.

The average Chinese student is a robot.  They might as well live at school with the amount of time spent in the classroom studying and memorizing. Volunteering in the classroom is discouraged as it might create a disruption and so students wait to be called on.  Because most schools are over-crowded anyways, it is more orderly for students to remain in the same classroom and have teachers rotate.  I am assuming because the education levels of parents may vary that students are made to finish homework at school while supervised by a teacher.  All in all, students are in school probably a total of 10 hours a day Mondays through Fridays and usually Saturdays.  Furthermore, although my school was public, uniforms and short hair cuts were required and dating was forbidden.

High school is an awkward enough time as it is for teenagers, but to have all these restrictions is to create a prison for the mind and spirit. So much of their youth is encircled within the walls of academia.  It impedes independent thinking and creativity.  What does this mean for a generation of only children that already have two sets of grandparents and parents doting on them? I worry what this means for the country's desire to innovate and become the next super power.  They will need thinkers, activists, artists.  China needs to move beyond this mimicry and cultivate differences; innovation; change.

Most young people I think see this but are powerless to change it. They continue on this path established for them and those that can afford it choose to study abroad.  However in select students I see such hope and determination for a better future that I know something is stirring. While many will be limited by bureaucratic restrictions, I hope even more will find a way to surpass them and get to the other side.

Sophomore/Junior Grade 2 Class 5

Beijing Buddy

Before coming to China, I had so many theories (and misconceptions) of what Beijing would be like. As a child I had come with my uncle and cousin for a tour of the Summer Palace, The Forbidden City, and various other notable spots I'm sure.  I remember the city being cold, dirty, and sterile. Well, the first two  still apply, but having ditched the hotel rooms and tour bus I uncovered a city teeming with history and nationalism yet relentlessly modernizing.  I believe that it is possible to modernize without westernize and that China is developing its own renaissance so to speak. The first signs can be seen in contemporary art and architecture.  Thanks to a Beijing buddy I was able to get a more intimate slice of the city. This post will be about art and night life from a more localized perspective I hope.

The 798 Art District used to house many industrial factories before it was transformed in to a neighborhood of galleries, artisan shops, and restaurants.

A European bust of a man is covered with a Chinese, ceramic, floral pattern.

A cartoonish stainless steel sculpture by Xia Hang entitled It's Not Far features a funny little creature with propellers on his back.

 A stainless steel version of historical literary icon, Lao Zi by artist Zheng Lu is perforated using passages from his own works.  Lao Zi therefore becomes transparent yet still heavy.

String art decorates a tree outside a clothing shop.

 

An Art Noveau style defines an entrance to a  Spanish gallery...

while a more simple, rustic approach transforms a log in to steps for a shop.

Travel a little south to the Sanlitun neighborhood and you will find an awesome example of architecture as art. Opposite House by Japanese architect, Kengo Kuma is probably one of the most beautiful (interior) places I have ever seen in my life. This may be in part due to the uber expensive 98-room hotel also functioning as a rotating gallery space for artists.  Not to mention, the staff materialize out of thin air due to cleverly concealed doors and work stations.  I am beyond words, only that the Japanese really do aim for perfection.

Sanlitun, is also a popular night spot where a mixture of established clubs and dive bars converge in on each other.

My Beijing buddy is Sohith, a transplanted New York  designer in Beijing for the architect's playground that has become this city.  Although China holds great opportunity to build for the architecture industry, competition is fierce and the hours are way longer compared to the US.  How do you balance this? You go out even more to equalize work time and play time.

It's pretty easy to get in to places around here; there were no annoying lines, pretentious bouncers, or closing times it seems. Below is a roof top bar at dawn.

 Maybe I should have tried something more authentic for street food, but by then again, I already had my fill of Chinese and was really craving something more Western. Thank goodness they didn't screw it up.

The whole area of Sanlitun is only several blocks in total of alleys and streets but already a paradox in itself of class and crass.