Beijing - a personal journey of discovery amidst rapid change

With its many parks Beijing offered me a profusion of walking opportunities. A favourite has always been Jingshan Park with its stunning views south across the Forbidden City. Just so much to photograph, including evenings when parts of the Palace's walls and its iconic Tiananmen Gate would be beautifully illuminated.

However, not all my time was spent appreciating the many natural and historic wonders of Beijing that could so easily keep me transfixed. Like much of China the city was and still is changing fast. Walking again was an excellent way to take in much that was happening both with infrastructure improvements and the increasing change in people's lifestyles.

When I first started exploring the city, bicycles remained a common form of personal transport while the yellow mini bus taxis or 'mianbao' were a popular alternative to crowded buses for longer journeys. While often polluting the streets of Beijing they offered cheap travel but by the late 1990's they had all but disappeared from the city's inner roads. Since then there have been remarkable improvements with urban transportation. Indeed only a few days before writing this piece I was on Chang'an Avenue. Looking at red, sleek and environmentally positive buses it was interesting to reflect back 15 years to that same thoroughfare busy with cyclists alongside often polluting diesel vehicles.