Instead, he found a quiet efficient road system and modern infrastructure and buildings. At times, there was traffic congestion, but this was a slowing of progress rather than a jam. Four days of clear blue skies had him questioning Beijing pollution stories, so I had to show him some Beijing pollution pictures just to balance the impression.
(July 29): The China reality check remains alive and well. I took a colleague to Beijing. He is an author and financial market educator. It was his first visit to China. He had done extensive research but, as he commented, he discovered that he was not even fully aware of what he did not know. Perhaps more importantly, he found that what he did know, in large part, turned out to be wrong.
Visiting Beijing, he expected the pollution to be considerable and the road system to be in a constant state of chaos, with more than the odd horn blasting. He anticipated that every building would be adorned with red and gold trim, making for fairly garish city streets. These preconceptions largely came from the Google search images he had seen on the internet and via the media.
