Beijing new and old

a few images of beijing modern and what's left of the ancient

these towers are one of beijing's newest malls and office buildings at the xizhimen ( pron. SI-jer-MAen) subway station. the mall just opened in october

this is the new cctv (the national television channel) tower. it's enormous and will be one of the most impressive new buildings in the beijing skyline. the two towers will meet horizontally at the middle creating a large negative space between them. i believe it'll open this summer.

yesterday ross took me to the summer palace, a large 18th century complex with a giant artificial lake, parks, and temples. it's where the last empress lived until the fall of the monarchy early in the 20th century and was spared by the maoists. it's really really beautiful and incredibly just within the modern city boundary though originally it was well outside old beijing

this is what a shoreline looks like as winter begins to freeze over the water. super crazy, i don't recall ever seeing this before. in my mind a shoreline is still a sort of beach. i still don't really get winter.

this is one of the bridges in the artificial lake within the summer palace leading to "the temple of fortunate rains and excessive moisture." kinda funny.