Beijing has long been a city that is known for rapid changes, as anyone who's returned after a couple of years will know. In any given year, it's not hard to notice how different the city looks now than it did 365 days prior. (unquote)
I've lived here nearly 20 years. Since 2008 or so, my overall impression is that a cube of concrete is a cube of concrete and cheerful colors of paint 'n neon do little to change that.
Still 'n all, it do beat the States whose civilization has reached the point where it celebrates turning cities into piles of bricks. (With garbage in the interstices.)
As much as I acknowledge the already well-established infrastructure system of the U.S, I cannot ignore the fact that the city has gone through dramatic changes in the past 10 years. Ask anyone who went to China 20 years ago and came back 20 years later, he will tell you how shocked he was to find Beijing to be an entirely different city .