Plants in the Road Meridian

Our neighborhood noted by the presence of the New Convention Center.  Like everything, it used to be a field.  And I can remember when it was a field and a school and a collection of two story buildings.  Eight years ago or so a massive, four-hall center was built.  And for all the resources marshaled to build this New International Convention Center, it began to deteriorate the day it opened.  There don’t seem to be much of any funds that haven’t been siphoned off, available for upkeep. 

The façade is dirty.  Broad lines of rust streak down, discoloring the front of the main hall.  The gates are already rusty, the building and the grounds are dusty.  Major events are few and far between, giving the grounds a desolate and abandoned feel most of the time, which is on the balance a good thing.   Events, when they happen, are a considerable headache. 

When a major event occurs swarms of people descend and the neighborhood with it’s village era traffic design, is completely overwhelmed.  Right now, the Beijing Auto Show is on.  It’s a nightmare.  Every conceivable space that could host an advertisement has been plastered up with pictures of confident men sporting three-day growth, asserting their will on new automobiles.   The plants in the Tian Bei Road meridian all have car logos.  Who has rights to the plants in the road meridian? 

Our little market area with its Starbucks, restaurants and markets, half a kilometer away from convention center is cordoned off.  All possible parking places are guarded by rent-a-goons who stand watch over pylons connected by chains.  

There was no coffee this morning.  So my daughter and I rode our bikes over to Starbucks at seven thirty.   The scene was already tense, with guards rehearsing their lines, staring down passing cars.  I would have been prevented from stopping my car anywhere, I suppose.  No one bothered us, as we sailed past on our bikes.