I stepped out of the hotel later that evening. Unlike in D.C., the Beijing skyline was completely obstructed by the hand of human progress. Steel buildings scraped the sky. Most of nature was covered in concrete. The evening looked like a cloudy day with smog visible in the pale moonlight. Not a single star was visible under the array of neon light that shone across the horizon.
There were Starbucks and McDonald’s amid the pagodas. Construction sites mixed in with rundown temples and steel high rises. A wrecking ball hung in front of a temple. On the beam of the ball, written in bold block letters, was the name Mohandis Enterprises. The man was literally bulldozing his way through this culture.
Out on the streets, people were dressed in modern garb, more futuristic than anything with glo
