NATO Fifty years is not a long time in the life of a nation that can boast 5000 years of history. But the last 50 years have perhaps transformed China more than all of its thousands of crawling years. This year is the 50th anniversary of the Communist Revolution in China. Tiananmen Square is under repair and Beijing is in a fury of construction to pave the way for the celebrations on October 1, 1999. Since my last visit in 1992, Beijing has changed so much that it cannot be recognized.
Construction is everywhere in sight.
High rise hotels, offices, and apartment buildings decorated with neon signs and huge billboards give the city the look of an emerging global city. In 1992, bicycles swarmed the streets. Today cars and traffic jams clog the boulevards. Bicycles are shoved to the sideways. In 1992, the air was fresh and the view clear.