In recent months, the entire world has been talking about the city of Beijing. The capitol of The People’s Republic of China, Beijing will host the 2008 Summer Olympics in less than three weeks. National Geographic described it as “…a place of frenzied construction. New housing, new roads, and new sports venues seem to spring up overnight. At the same time, the capital of the People’s Republic of China remains an epicenter of tradition.”

I haven’t personally been to China, but I have a great deal of interest in the region, and plan to travel there someday. In the meantime, I can keep up with my cousin Morgan Miller’s blog Chopsticks and Chinglish. Morgan is currently in Beijing teaching English as part of an immersion program at Peking University. Well, she was up until last week. She’s been in Sichuan, an area heavily hit by the recent earthquakes, since July 14th to help with the earthquake relief efforts. Nevertheless, her blog chronicles her experiences so far teaching in Beijing.

Peter Hessler of National Geographic writes in an article called “My Beijing” of the city’s roots, and of the rapid changes that have taken place in recent years. According to Hessler, the city’s largest map publisher has to issue new maps every three months just to keep up with the rapid development. The cultural changes rampant in the city are perhaps what Hessler describes the best. “This is Beijing pride—beneath it all lies the knowledge that for most of the last century, the Chinese were isolated and disrespected by the outside world. There is no other part of the country where memories are so long.”

Photographs by Morgan Miller.