New Beijing: the view from Central Park, a residential complex, south toward the China World Trade Center.  The tall building is the CWTC’s third phase, currently under construction but already the tallest building in Beijing; it will have 81 floors upon completion.  The previous tallest building, the recently completed Fortune Plaza, had taken over the top spot from the Jingguang Center just months earlier.  All three buildings are in this area, known as the Central Business District.

The Place, a shopping mall near Central Park, with a stunning city-block-long video screen suspended above its central walkway.  Here, the screen shows an underwater scene with dolphins and whales swimming its length.  The highlight presentation is a trip through the solar system, complete with dramatic classical music reminiscent of the “2001: A Space Odyssey” soundtrack.

Back to old Beijing and Beihai Park.  The impetus for many of the photographs on this page was the recent purchase of a very wide angle lens; most of these shots could not have been taken without it.  Detail of the Buddha tiles on Shanyin Hall.

Buddha tiles on Shanyin Hall in Beihai Park.

The stairway leading up to the White Dagoba in Beihai Park.

The Pu’an Hall in Beihai Park.  The stairs in the previous photograph lead from here up to the White Dagoba.

The long corridor, recently restored, along the northern shore of Jade Islet in Beihai Park.

A straight-on view of Nine Dragon Screen in Beihai Park.  I’d always wanted to take this shot, but the wall’s length (27 meters, or 90 feet) and the nearby trees prevented it.  Only with an extreme wide angle lens was this shot possible, and even then, I had to climb over that fence and set up in a grove of trees.

Inside the dark cedar Daci Zhenru Hall in Beihai Park.

Drums old and new in the Drum Tower, a short walk from Beihai Park.

Inside the Drum Tower.  Once again, without an extremely wide angle lens, this shot and the one before it would not have been possible.

A performer in the Drum Tower.

The bell in the nearby Bell Tower.

Photographs of Beijing in the summer of 2008 would not be complete without a few shots from the Olympics.  I managed to get tickets to one of the events at the main stadium, known affectionately in Beijing as the Bird’s Nest, and took what photographs I could.  The slogan for the Beijing Olympics is “One World One Dream;” this was taken just outside the stadium.

National Stadium Beijing, the official name for the Bird’s Nest.  With metal beams soaring off and intersecting at weird angles, this was the strangest structure I have ever seen.

Wide-angle view of the Bird’s Nest.  If you saw the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, then you no doubt remember the former Olympic athlete suspended in air, holding the Olympic torch, running in slow motion around the rim atop the Bird’s Nest.  That athlete happened to be a fellow traveller on my Beijing-to-Lhasa road trip three years earlier.

An entry gate to the stadium at the Beijing Olympics.  The Olympics complex is very new and amazing, but also very sterile and not at all like a part of Beijing.  Locals wearing their everyday clothes looked very out of place as they wandered through the complex.

Young uniformed personnel at the Beijing Olympics marching off to work.  The early morning mists floating around the stadium made the experience (as well as the lighting in these photographs) a bit surreal.

A Chinese participant in the 50-kilometer race walk, one of the track-and-field competitions taking place this morning at the Beijing Olympics.

Most of this competition took place on a kilometer-long stretch of road just outside the stadium.  The start of the race took place inside the stadium itself, and soon, the finish would as well.  Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia, here in the lead, Jared Tallent of Australia, here tied for second, and Alex Schwazer of Italy, here in fourth place, would soon win medals.

Heading up into the Bird’s Nest to watch the end of the race.  That’s the Olympic Media Tower on the left in the distance.

Inside the Bird’s Nest at the Beijing Olympics, with the Olympic torch in the distance along the roof edge.  Once again, the wide-angle lens made this shot possible; I waited until the sun was centered over the field to take it.

The Olympic torch.

The stadium crowd awaits the entrance of the race walkers seen outside earlier.

The race ends: gold-medal winner Alex Schwazer of Italy, center, covers his face in disbelief as he crosses the finish line in 3 hours, 37 minutes, 9 seconds, an Olympic record for the 50K race walk, before a bevy of photographers.  Jared Tallent of Australia would win the silver medal over two minutes later, and Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia would win the bronze medal about a minute after that.

A Chinese supporter at the Beijing Olympics.

A souvenir stand at the Beijing Olympics.  The paper signs hanging from the rafter say, in English and Chinese, “Please stand in line.”