Winter wonderland Beijing

Back "home" after quite a long trip away. The city has a new look for our arrival. åŒäº¬æ¬¢è¿Žæˆ‘们! * Many backed-up items to touch on in the next day or so.

* "Beijing welcomes us!" Anyone who has been within 500 miles of the city during the past Olympic year has heard the song and slogan åŒäº¬æ¬¢è¿Žä½ ,  Beijing huanying ni, "Beijing welcomes you." YouTube video of the official welcoming song here. The ever-so-familiar signature refrain begins about 1:15 into this 6:50 video, presented initially with the song stylings of Jackie Chan. The whole thing is actually worth watching as a time capsule of the super-confident, everything's-great atmosphere that prevailed here only six months ago. Yes, this is a government happy-talk presentation but at the time it didn't seem so distant from the general public mood.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2009/02/winter-wonderland-beijing/9570/