An Hui Li 2008 - My Personal Chinese Village

A subset of Beijing's massive Chaoyang District, An Hui Li basically occupies the area once referred to as the "Asian Games Village" and in fact some of the facilities from this 1992 event were recycled for the 2008 Olympic Games and provided a site for the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube.

It was also in An Hui Li that I spent my first night in China (2002) in the Tibetan Medicinal Bathing Hotel, made my first Chinese friendships... and bought my first Chinese frothy coffee in Coffee Language.

 
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As part of the preparation for the highly successful Paralympics, local shops provided ramps for wheelchair access. How cooperative can they be? - they even tell you where you are in Pinyin ( English alphabet) as well as characters on prominent buildings. Next to my hotel and always visible through my bedroom window was this small university. During term there was no sleeping in.

Like most Chinese "Big Teach" this technical university was residential. During the Games however the residents were volunteers. This street is a major thoroughfare, the traffic and parking were absolute noisy anarchy. Look at it now! Drying peppers in the sun after growing them in an An Hui Li suburban garden.
 
Nike does right by China in its big year(which was decent considering how many Chinese kids wear fake Nike clothes). The movie "Cala My Dog" describes the trials of keeping a dog in a high-rise apartment block. Here all good dogs come to poo. These days the DVD shop is run by young ladies and and each day at 6.00 pm fresh stocks of new releases arrive to pull the customers.
The entrance to the "Flea Market" Panjiayuan. Once inside there was just too much to take in - usually nothing you wanted but much you can't resist. Note Paralympics poster. The fabled "Bird's Nest" Olympic Sports Stadium. Photographs give no indication of size.
The Bath hotel now boasts a bit of the Himalayas. Behind it towers an extension of the Tibetology Research Foundation which will house a museum of Tibetan culture.

The distinctive blue silk tunic of the Games Volunteer as he cleans up around his temporary home.

 I met Meixin and "Angel" (Liaoyun) when they were both working in the Tibetan Medicinal Bathing Hotel in 2002. Here they still check the ice cream menu in Coffee Language in 2008.
A Beijing butterly right there on Bei Si Huan Dong Lu. The burns on the shrub are from salt used to dissolve Beijing's heavy winter snows. These really look like trees don't they? In fact they are both metal frames with metal planters holding individual shrubs. A very Chinese solution to accelerating tree growth. For some reason this district has adopted the US "spiderweb" approach to cabling - nothing underground so far.
There was something genuinely open-hearted about China's invitation to the world in 2008. I am afraid the nasty response may inspire some zenophobia. A feature of this kindergarten is that the children are taught English - hence "Oxford Baby". A small business turf war: two vegetable vendors shout and shove each other over the right to this spot.
A new restaurant for tourists uses the classic painting "Roman Charity", depicting breast feeding, in its billboard. Click here for painting. My hotel, Hao Y She does it's best for the Olympics with plastic leaves around the heating pipes. The local postoffice for An Hui Li where I regularly post my China Treasures back home to keep my luggage within limits.
Vendors of "first-day covers" and other Olympic souvenirs on the steps of the postoffice. A major (six-lane) road calmed by new traffic measures and park-like landscaping. He Juan stays in touch while waiting for her pizza. Chinese are almost always on the phone, anytime, anywhere. It is a busy, energetic culture.
Another traffic calming by restricting access, with dramatic results. Water conservation in the people's park which seems to be working fine as the trees and bushes thrive. This folk art museum and gallery preserves the tradition.

This is apparently one of a network of air raid shelters. A bit of folk art with the Games Spirit. These cartoon characters drew much abuse from the US. Another An Hui Li bonsai gets some sun. Note the national flag for the approach of National Day. The former "Foreigner Hospital" has been repacked as a Community Health Centre with an Ambulance.
This welcome poster features Olympic Volunteers of mixed origin. This lady was complaining to her partner that I was photographing her - but she still posed nicely. A gallery of Tibetan art (next to the hotel) was delayed foranother year. The Birdsnest is already an icon as a sports stadium and will become a performance centre.

 

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