"Beijing" photo by Svennevenn, under Creative Commons license on flickr.com.
BEIJING, China -- Interview a hundred China experts, and you'll hear a hundred views of the emerging superpower. China, the economic juggernaut. China, the rising geopolitical threat. China, the human-rights violator. Here's one slant you don't see or hear as much from policymakers and big thinkers: China, the everyday populist nation where people shop, work, study and play, just like you and me. Nearly a year after the Summer Olympics, Beijing has settled back into the rhythm of any big city.
The fiery controversies of the day -- trade relations, geopolitical security, Internet censorship, Tiananmen Square, the environmental crisis -- are no less urgent or important, but seem far removed from the daily pulse of China's largest metropolis, so normal on the surface. Once you orient yourself, that Olympic slogan, "One World, One Dream" seems a little less bogus. Here's a fantasy: We all convene in the village green, eating potluck, sunning ourselves, listening to jazz. But then we wake up. There's money to be made, and politics to be played.
Here are images from the Beijing urbanscape:
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