Beijing bulletin

By Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing

Things move quickly in China.

The Chinese government opened up the country to the outside world 30 years ago and since then it's been racing to catch up with the West.

The pace of change is furious, and affects not just the way people live, but how the country looks.

Beijing changes so fast that older residents sometimes find it difficult to recognise long-known areas of the city.

Diners sometimes return to their favourite restaurant not only to find the eatery gone, but also the building it was once housed in.

A patch of ground outside my apartment block is another case in point.

In today's China, people often struggle to work out who they are - should they ape the West, or cling to established Chinese traditions?

A few weeks ago it was home to dozens of migrant workers, employed on the district's construction sites.

On this small strip of land, they ate, slept and relaxed.

But then the construction ended, and the workers and their temporary homes were no longer needed.

One day residents could be seen cooking meals on make-shift stoves, the next they were gone.

A few days later, their shelters were pulled down and the rubble carted away.

This week, workers have been laying turf on this little patch of ground - the labourers who once lived there are already just a memory.

This frenetic pace of change has resulted in a sometimes odd-looking Beijing - old shacks sit right next to giant buildings of glass, steel and concrete.

People earning just a few hundred dollars a month live next to foreigners on massive ex-pat salaries.

A similar transformation appears to be taking place in the minds of Beijing residents.

China's Olympic stadium is the focus of development in the country

Old thinking is being replaced by new thinking, although the process is not always smooth.

Most people are no longer serving the people, as they were once encouraged to do under Mao Zedong. They're serving themselves.

After being freed to get rich, China's citizens are doing just that.

The new way of life provides more opportunities - and freedoms - but many people regret the passing of old certainties.

Life under Mao might have been chaotic at times, but spiritually you knew where you were, as one long-term resident told me recently.

In today's China, people often struggle to work out who they are.

Having been told for years that China is a socialist country, are they now supposed to believe they're all capitalists?

Should they ape the West, or cling to established Chinese traditions?

In a few generations' time, Chinese people will no doubt have resolved these dilemmas.

In the meantime, the change is fascinating to see.