Beijing Spring

It is springtime in Beijing and despite the pollution, the city was showing some of its charms this past week.

When I was living there in the 80s, there were very few flowers. Mao had ordered all the grass destroyed and so public spaces were mostly concrete or tamped earth. Flowers generally only appeared at official functions where they were arranged in pots before a podium.

Today, the city is full of flowers and flowering plants. Spring, of course, is when they are most visible.

This past week, they were at their peak.

I smoked the biggest cigar I have ever smoked - a Cohiba from Cuba - with this guy, a billionaire. Billionaires in China or sort of like millionaires used to be in the United States.

The city is full of surprising architecture. This one, the China Central Television Tower, is not new. It was finished in 2008.

The city is also full of surprising art, or odd objects that must be art. This is a VW Beetle that has been molded into a sphere.

And, yes, this is what you think it is: a bull fart. Go figure.

But the city is still interlaced with the old culture. I watched these guys playing a game of elephant chess outdoors.