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Chapter 18
Observations by Head(CD)/RG
Physical Developments
well as the suburbs.
This was my first visit to Peking and, although I
did not quite know what to expect, apart from what I had
gleaned from photographs cf the city's major sights, the
city still took me by surprise. Much of it is still very
rural, with extensive areas of village-type development in
the centre of the city, adjacent to Tiananmen Square, as
Partly as a consequence of this, it
also a very green city with many trees lining the roads
and alleys. There is, however, also extensive modern
development, particularly out towards the suburbs, with
high rise buildings and Пodern roads, and in these areas
the cityscape is not unreminiscent of one of Hong Kong's
towns. I was particularly struck by the juxtaposition
international-standard hotels (such as the
is
new
of
five star,
one in which our party stayed) with very traditional
undeveloped dwelling areas which, in many ways, is symbolic
of
the present situation in China.
surrealistic.
It was somewhat