Beijing is home to 12 million people and Xian has a population of 6 million, but there were very few beggars or street people. Instead, the progressing privatization in China has created numerous street vendors, farmers markets and small shops, where tourists can even buy the latest Kodak film or batteries for their cameras. Out in the country, farmers live in villages and bicycle to their fields for work. The soil around Beijing has a lot of gravel in it. Fields looked dark green, dense and healthy.
Corn is a second crop, planted after the wheat and canola are harvested.
In smaller vegetable fields, farmers were growing cabbage, broccoli, onions, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, pole beans, peas and carrots. Strawberries were harvested and sold, often directly along highways. The berries were neatly sorted and offered in baskets. Watermelons grown in plastic greenhouses were also popular. Every corner of a field is planted to the edge, and weeds and idle fields are conspicuously absent.