A brief report of the first week in China:
Frans Vandenbosch 30.09.2024
Contrary to what one might have you believe, the Earth is round and not flat:
And since I fly with Hainan Airlines (a Chinese airline), we fly straight over Russia and Mongolia:
As a result, the travel time is 2.5 hours shorter and the ticket price is 30% cheaper compared to Western Airlines (which are not allowed or do not want to fly over Russia) 😉
On the plane I enjoyed this movie:
What a masterpiece!
Our film landscape is bare and sparse. We don’t realize that all our films are more of the same. This applies to the scripts, the direction, the actors and the camera techniques. Woke and political correctness have halved supply and killed creativity. Our Western filmmakers would do better to watch a few recent Chinese films. In China, I have seen film genres that have not yet been discovered in the West.
Here in Beijing, most taxis have been replaced by Didis. so much more convenient. And bargain.
Almost half of the cars are electric. Compared to 5 years ago, it is much quieter on the busy streets of Beijing.
View from the hotel on the CCTV headquarters and the”bottleneck”(Citic Tower):
Lunch at a restaurant I knew the owner was a loyal member of the Communist Party. He came to our table to have an interesting conversation and offered us a special dessert.
On the way back to the hotel we passed several embassies. This is the embassy of North Korea:
Sunday afternoon was at the headquarters of the China Daily newspaper where I was asked to regularly write a piece for “World View”.  
Sunday afternoon I had lunch with Gordon Dumoulin and the editor-in-chief of The China Academy (a Chinese-English online magazine about world politics)     https://thechinaacademy.org/   The China Academy is an intellectual content network dedicated to helping global audiences understand the key dynamics that are driving how China sees the world, from expert voices who resonate with millions of Chinese youths today and who shape policies and narratives in China.   Gordon Dumoulin   Doing business in the blossoming Chinese natural ingredients market   Entrepreneur and political commentator
Chinajournal.substack.com › p/behind-the-smokescreen  
This is a mosque of the Hui Muslims   There are two major groups of Muslims in China: the Xinjiang Muslims (the Uyghurs) and the (more moderate, Chinese) Hui Muslims.
A super delicious dinner at a local seafood restaurant.
The customer can choose a fish here, which is then fished out of the aquarium alive and immediately prepared.
After that, bought a good stock of real Chinese tea. Having first tasted at least a dozen different varieties.
A healthy walk in Ritan park this afternoon (日坛公园)
In the park there was an exhibition of statues of the famous sculptor Wu Weishan:
Li Bai 李白 (618-907 AD)
Beef noodles in a tiny restaurant:
On the way to Zhongnanhai, passed by Tiananmen and Palace Museum “Forbidden City”:.
China National Library
This is the world’s largest library, breathtakingly impressive:
Thousands of students and researchers work here in absolute silence.
Each book is cleaned and disinfected every day. The books are aligned with this tool:
Shopping street 王井大街
Huawei creates the Operating System (the computer system) for all these well-known car brands:
This is the new Huawei Mate XT Ultimate
(a smartphone tablet)
Several dance groups square dancing along the shopping street:
The fruit here is outrageously expensive:
33.61 CNY = 4,20 EUR
The bakery, not cheap either:
CNY 130 = EUR 16,25
Remember, as I told you before, I came to China to enjoy the freedom here in this country.
… the freedom that I miss so much in Western Europe.
Can you somewhat imagine that?