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Archived Articles  Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian descent, and former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with the hot political and economic topics, both Bulgarian and international. ("A Royal Solution." World Press Review. June 1997, provides English versions). He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in the country, and in 1996-1997 participated in the international monitors' teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria. In 1999 he was among the few Bulgarian journalists that supported NATO military operation against Yugoslavia. In 2002 Simeon and his family emigrated from Bulgaria to Canada where they now live in Montreal, Quebec.
Global Real Estate Project
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Beijing, China: Yesterday, today, and tomorrowThe countdown to the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing enters its final 2-year stretch. The world will celebrate its unity in sport and witness one of the most remarkable modernization projects since the beginning of the industrial revolution more than 2 centuries ago. Chinese and Beijing municipal authorities will welcome the world and at the same time will solve one of the largest remaining urban problems that inhibits the economic development of the capital city, its decaying infrastructures in many areas. It may be doubtful whether this Olympics will change the political landscape of China, but there isn't a slightest doubt that it will forever change the city itself.
YesterdayChina is one of the oldest civilizations on Earth, but Beijing, or the Northern capital, is a relatively new political center. The first mass construction projects date from early 15th century. Three centuries before the Russian tsar Peter the Great started building Saint Petersburg from scratch, a project on a much larger scale was put into motion where Beijing stands today. Viewed from space, the city today still follows the main format it was designed to 6 centuries ago. At the center there is a vast imperial complex, surrounded by layers of residential areas for ordinary and less ordinary people. At the beginning it seemed it was a city designed to serve the court. The court has long gone to history textbooks, but the main urban square-shaped road infrastructure is still largely intact.
TodayBeijing today is a strange mixture of modernity and past. Some of the past, particularly what symbolizes authority, political or spiritual, is something the current power is keen to preserve. In thousands-year old country no political regime can last too long without attaching itself to the tradition. On the other hand, there are many signs of modernity, which are to become more and more dominant in the years to come. In between there is still a past that has to be eliminated, thousands of old and small buildings lacking even minimal sanitary norms. Some of these buildings have been built in early 15th century. Demolishing these past vestiges seems much cheaper than trying to renovate them. 'Communist' China is still in a grip of folly modernization, a kind of philosophy that has dominated the West up until 1960s. I'm sure that 30 years from now it will rediscover the beauty of old and small for purpose of tourism attraction.
Tomorrow30 years from now is still a long run; tomorrow Beijing won't look like a mixture of different architectural styles and times; tomorrow it will show us the face of modernity. The only vestiges of the past will symbolize the detached authority over people. Summer Olympics of 2008 is only a pretext to change the city face. Thousands have already been moved out of their housings; thousands more are waiting to be moved out soon. An area the size of a big city itself, tens of square kilometers, mostly in the northern areas, is under development. For their centuries-old houses people are given up to $800 per sq.m. Given the residential prices in the downtown they are in fact given a one-way ticket to go to remote and cheaper outskirts.For a country that still officially profess communist ideology these Olympics games are remarkably business friendly. Everything that is under construction somehow should benefit future generations, meaning it should be an asset instead of a burden for the future municipal authorities. What couldn't be directly converted into residential or commercial spaces would most probably not be erected as permanent structures. Then, on the day after the Games, it will give place to 'real' developments, residential and office skyscrapers and commercial centers.
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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of China.
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