A fascinating, intimate portrait of Beijing through the lens of its
oldest neighborhood, facing destruction as the city, and China,
relentlessly modernizes. "Soon we wiil be able to say about old Beijing that what
emperors, warlords, Japanese invaders, and Communist planners couldn't
eradicate, the market economy has." Nobody has been more aware of this
than Michael Meyer. A longtime resident, Meyer has, for the past two
years, lived as no other westerner-in a shared courtyard home in
Beijing's oldest neighborhood, Dazhalan, on one of its famed hutong
(lanes). There he volunteered to teach English at the local grade school
and immersed himself in the community, recording with affection the life
stories of the Widow, who shares his courtyard; co-teacher Miss Zhu and
student Little Liu; and the migrants Recycler Wang and Soldier Liu;
among the many others who, despite great differences in age and
profession, make up the fabric of this unique neighborhood.
Their bond is rapidly being torn, however, by forced evictions as
century-old houses and ways of life are increasingly destroyed to make
way for shopping malls, the capital's first Wal-Mart, high-rise
buildings, and widened streets for cars replacing bicycles. Beijing has
gone through this cycle many times, as Meyer reveals, but never with the
kind of dislocation and overturning of its storied culture now occurring
as the city prepares to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Weaving
historical vignettes of Beijing and China over a thousand years through
his narrative, Meyer captures the city's deep past as he illuminates its
present. With the kind of insight only someone on the inside can
provide,
The Last Days of Old Beijing is an invaluable witness to
history, and brings this moment and the ebb and flow of daily lives on
the other side of the planet into shining focus.
