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Q: Has Beijing lightened up?
Haven't visited the nations capital in ten years and back then it was....a wee bit uptight. I was only there for a week but in that time I was turned away from one hotel for being a foreigner, another for being with someone who was not my wife (the very thought), and it seemed to me that there was a soldier on every corner and a general air of authoritarial foreboding abounding left and right, if that even makes sense. What I mean is the place seemed overly strict. I even remember being turned back when cycling through a tunnel under one particularly wide road, and when I suggested that I simply get off my bike and continue to the other side, having already made it exactly half way, this jobsworth insisted that I turn back, turn back, TURN BACK! How utterly absurd a mentality to travel through life with.
So what's it like now? The same? Better? Worse? Here's hoping.
I guess better, I havent had any of those experiences here...
Can't say as I wasnt in Beijing 10years ago but from what I see everyday in Beijing it is fairly open city to be in.
Gaohao:
I hope so but i've just got to mention that yesterday, purely by chance while surfing some old questions asked before I started using this site, I came across pretty much the same question. Some girl asked "Why is there a policeman on every street in Beijing nowadays?" or something like that.
I'll have to go again and see for myself.
brisguy:
If someone important is in town like a Prim Minister or President you will see a heavy police presence but mainly blocking off roads and road crossings other than that fairly minimal
What about the passport / visa checks? Are they still being strictly enforced? In two years here I haven't been asked for mine once, indeed, I don't know of a single laowei who even carries it.
brisguy:
I have been asked twice to show my passport. This was during the crackdown but they have seemed to ease up a little now.
