Observations from Beijing

DATELINE CHINA - I would like to share some news and observations I've picked up on the streets of Beijing this week during my visit:

1- China’s capital city will introduce a “no smoking” ban in restaurants and all indoor public venues beginning May 1, 2011, thus eliminating one of the biggest irritants North Americans face when visiting this amazing city – smoked filled everything.

2- Can someone please take the car horns away from Beijing drivers? Their constant honking is driving visitors like me stir crazy.

3- Renowned New York chef Daniel Boulud has just opened a restaurant in Beijing (Maison Boulud) in the old American Embassy (23 Qianmen Dongdajie, Dongcheng District) and it’s getting rave reviews. The good news is that Bouloud’s Beijing menu offerings are 25 per cent less than what his New York room charges.

4- Tourism authorities here revealed during my visit that 50 million Chinese travelled abroad last year and that 70 million are expected to take foreign vacations in 2011. Half those Chinese travellers – 25 million – go to Hong Kong and Macau. A large majority of the remainder prefer the Asia/Pacific region for holidays, with Japan (before the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power leak) being their favourite destination. Europe is still attracting lots of interest from the Chinese and one tourism official told me that North America is gaining in popularity but “because of the cost and time commitment involved in travelling to Canada and the U.S., it may take another three years before those countries see any major economic benefit from Chinese tourism.” Hey, we can wait.

5- Many of Beijing’s famed hutongs (courtyard homes) are being gutted and transformed into chic restaurants where the city’s elite like to be served. The courtyard homes date back 300 years to the Ming and Qing dynasties. In recent years, their numbers have been reduced from thousands to a mere hundred or so; victims of Beijing’s runaway expansion and modernization. My favorite hutong restaurant is Hua’s (www.huajiacal.com) followed by Palette Vino (5 Dong Si Shiyitiao), Saffron Restaurant (64 Wu Dao Ying Hutong) and Xihe Yaju Restaurant (www.xhyj.net).

6- In an effort to bring its traffic chaos under control, Beijing announced recently that it’s restricting to 200,000 the number of new vehicles it will allow on city streets each year. That’ 200,000 too many. Beijing has now unseated Tokyo as the traffic gridlock capital of the world.

7- Subway rides in Beijing cost 2 yuan (about 30 cents) a ride but if you think the chaos on the streets is bad, try hopping on a Beijing subway at rush hour.