Panoramic View of Beijing 2008 Olympic Venues

[peterdanford]

I was on the 33rd floor of a building overlooking the Beijing Olympic Village construction on May 12th and shot this panoramic view:

The Beijing Guide: Olympic Venue Construction

Peter Danford

www.peterdanford.com

[baron-pierreIV]

Thanks for posting that, Peter.  But...what a boring, unappealing skyline -- all those blocks of boring buildings.  I can see why they don't like Shanghai and Hong Kong to shine.

[micheal_warren]

thanks for that very interesting

[mr.x]

wow.  i have to say that i'm actually quite impressed.  well done Beijing.

[Xu Wen-Ting]

wow

great~!thanks a lot~

[peterdanford]

Yes baron-pierreIV, Beijing has knocked down most of its charming old alleyways (hutongs) and built a new city over it.  Rather than preserve their culture and history as cities such as Amsterdam or Paris have done, they have started from scratch.  Its a pretty controverial thing here, lots of people are unhappy about it, especially all those who had to give up their homes.  And the new buildings are not usually architectual masterpieces and the quality is often questionable.

[Xu Wen-Ting]

In fact now Beijing still has Hutongs in the old city.

[peterdanford]

Yes certainly Beijing still has hutongs and is preserving some of them.