Yee Fong’s Blog

My first trip to Beijing was in the 90s. It was dirty, dusty, and the manager of a run-down hotel put me in a suite when I had asked to be booked into a hostel. She did that because Singaporeans were thought to be “rich people”, and establishments could charge a premium on foreigners, even a student like me.

Traumatized, I didn’t think I would come back to China again.

As chance will have it, I landed in Shanghai in 2003 and was hooked to witnessing the whirlwind development of the country called China.

Buildings topped with bizarre features like blades and giant lotus-like structure pierced the skies. It was noisy, crowded and rough. I learnt to fight for my cabs and snapped at those who wouldn’t get in line.

Yet, big-haired, heavily powdered ladies in pyjamas and high heels strutting out of the linongs made delightful sightings.

So intrigued by the city I was, I decided to write for the local English daily, to get a taste of local life…and journalism in a communist state.

As chance will have it, again, I landed in Beijing in 2007.

It’s less noisy, less crowded, with more space to think about stuff. But challenges present themselves in the most intangible and unexpected ways, much like the labyrinth of hutongs that often open up to new discoveries with every turn.

The fun has just begun.

More about Yee Fong at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/correspondents/index.htm

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