TBJ Blog Reaches 20,000 Posts! See Its Humble Beginnings
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It's weird, it's wonderful, it's a deep-dive into 11 years of blog archives. It's time for Flashback Friday.
Last week, the Beijinger's blog achieved a gigantic milestone of 20,000 posts, so it's only natural that for this edition of Flashback Friday we've worked to uncover some of the earliest gems from the TBJ blog back in 2007 – posts that paved the way to this grand moment.
We're happy to report that contrary to the mantra that every visitor to Beijing has ever adopted ("Beijing is always changing"), some of the topics covered in these early TBJ blogs are still relevant today. Among the news, interviews, and snippets of wisdom, there were a few particularly fun blogs that caught our attention. Without further ado, let us look back at the humble beginnings of thebeijinger.com blog.
As a prime example of one topic that never seems to die, the first ever blog on the Beijinger's website, posted on Jun 27, 2007, shook a fist at rural residents burning straw fields and causing city-dwellers to cough and suffer through days of phlegmy throats. According to the regulations, straw burning had already been outlawed in Beijing in 2000, but some surrounding provinces still practice it to this day.
The pollution meters were especially important back in 2007 because of the upcoming Olympic games. Beijing pledged to hold a "Green Olympics" and meeting air quality goals was an essential part of that promise. Other measures to ensure a smooth and pollution-free Olympics included induced precipitation, limiting the number of cars on Beijing's streets, and halting construction.
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While in 2019 we've already been blessed with visits from the likes of Skrillex and Slash, 2007 saw some real stardom drop by, least of which was The Spice Girls AKA one of the few cultural artifacts of the late '90s that resurfaces every few years semi-ironically (as opposed to Justin Timberlake's ramen hair).
The girl power-toting mega-group was scheduled to stop by Beijing in January 2008 as part of their 'The Return of the Spice Girls Tour,' eight years after their initial split. Sadly, as with many shows here, the concert never came to be, and the Beijing date was canceled alongside stops in Hong Kong, Sydney, Cape Town, and Buenos Aires.
Rubbing salt into the wound, the group has reunited a few times since and even revealed dates for their 2019 tour. Is it naive to think that this may in fact be the time that the iconic girl band (minus Posh, of course) finally make it to the Northern Capital? Watch this space...
Then there was the story of Starbucks being forced to close its most notorious Chinese branch right in the middle of Beijing's Forbidden City. First opened in 2000 with special permission from palace managers, the Seattle coffee chain promised that its presence would help to raise money for the historic site's upkeep.
Starbucks appreciates the deep history of the Forbidden City.
- Wang Jinlong,
President,
Starbucks Greater China
Perhaps unsurprisingly, people started hating on it almost immediately. Despite locals "decrying the presence of what they saw as a symbol of globalization and Western commercialization in Beijing’s most sacred spot," the venture lasted a whole seven years before shutting down in July 2007, after a renewed wave of protests. When asked about the closure, the president of Starbucks Greater China, Wang Jinlong, diplomatically stated: "Starbucks appreciates the deep history of the Forbidden City," without mentioning what may have been the true reason behind the closure – that the palace management had raised sufficient funds and was now done with the capitalist interlopers.
A great milestone for the great wonder! (Not to blow our own trumpet, JK.) Yes, we're referring to when arguably China's most famous tourist attraction was dubbed as one of the New Seven Wonders (world.new7wonders.com) of the world in 2007, together with the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, and Christ the Redeemer, among others.
The wonders were selected by a public online voting campaign with almost 100 million votes cast worldwide. Of course, no such voting is complete without accusations of rigging. As the Beijinger put it at the time: "... the motives of the corporation that organized the whole endeavor are far from pure – apparently, you could buy the privilege of voting more than once and they also reserved the right to exclude any votes that were cast." No one cares about cries of rigging if they win though, right?
You've heard of fake booze at dive bars, but what about fake water in your bottle? Back in 2007, the Beijinger reported that "50 percent of all bottled water is fake," based on an estimation made by an unnamed manager of an unnamed major water company. Seems credible.
On the other hand, a survey published in May of 2007 "had indicated that 96 percent of Beijing water supplies were safe." Amid all the confusion, we guess it was safer back then to skip the water entirely and just down glasses of gin instead (as long as that was real). Cheers to that!
Finally, in July of 2007, iPhone fans in mainland China were blowing a socket with news that the first handsets were going to arrive "any day now." The irony wasn't lost on people that even though they had been manufactured in China, they still hadn't graced people's pockets here.
On top of all that, anxious fans were not even sure if the beautiful devices could be unlocked to use with Chinese networks, and that they may need to pay "more than 150 percent of the market price elsewhere – upwards of RMB 7,000." Considering that we now pay upwards of RMB 10,000 for an iPhone, that seems like an ok deal!
There was also talk of an adorably quaint initiative by China Unicom which would allow "users to download music to their cell phones for a fee of RMB 3-5/song." Early adopters would have access to music from 23 different record companies, and "users can simply send a message with a song title, band's name, etc. to the number 10155 and then receive the music on their phone via a wireless download." Look out, Spotify!
***
These few articles are a nice reminder of how the Beijinger's blog has been with us through thick and thin over the years, guiding us through the rubble of chai'd hutongs and into gleaming malls, teaching us tidbits about China's fast-changing culture (yeah, we said it), and helping us squeeze the most fun out of our fair city. And it would be nothing without you, our fair readers. With that, we raise our craft brews to you and another 20,000 posts about the dynamic, colorful Beijing life!
Images: evoke.ie, daxueconsulting.com, thehistoryhub.com
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