spring into a future you may not want

It’s springtime and the festival has come and gone. Everyone is dressed in new clothes. The optimism of the season has not yet affected the temperature, as it is still in the single digits. No worries. Next year’s Spring Festival will be my last celebrated in Beijing, then I’m off to a warmer climate.
Beijing isn’t the best city for people who like outdoor sports, even if you prefer winter sports. You still have to travel long distance to go skiing or snowboarding or hiking. The 2008 Summer Games will change that, as there is likely to be increased interest in sports and health, but that will happen largely as a result of the foreign influence.
The foreigners will bring their strange, new ways of doing things. That’ll challenge some Beijingers because the old habits are hard to break. For example, smoking. I was at the gym today and the downstairs weight room smelled like cigarette smoke. Someone had been smoking cigarettes recently in the gym. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t experienced it myself. What is someone thinking when they smoke at a gym?!
So the foreigners won’t likely have these kinds of habits, and sports and healthy lifestyles will increase in the urban populations of Beijing as more foreigners arrive, and they will arrive. They will come in great numbers–like the stars in the sky. Ready or not, Beijing and China is about to be invaded again, but this time it’ll be a peaceful invasion. The loss of culture won’t be as maniacal as in the past, but no doubt the foreign influence will create some strain on the Chinese people, as they manage and enjoy their new trade-based wealth while attempting to preserve a Chinese identity.