Ricky


Photo: Suzy
There are so many of those pre-tied “strap-on” bow ties going around these days. I think Men’s Leon editor Ricky might be the first person I’ve seen in Beijing who knows how to tie a real bow tie.

The Wealthiest Town on Earth

Some readers have commented that my posts of Beijing street fashion have been less frequent in recent months. Thanks to my valued collaborator in this blog, Suzy, this hasn’t brought down the number of photos appearing here by too much.

In fact, these days I spend a good portion of my time outside of Beijing and am often outside of China as well. A recent trip that I found particularly interesting was to Huaxi, in Jiangsu province. Huaxi was celebrating its 50th anniversary as a village and invited over ten-thousand people for the party.

Here is a night view from my room of the “village”. This is how I imagined Chinese cities would look when I was little.

Huaxi even bosts its own version of Tiananmen. They did not reproduce the portrait of Chairman Mao. I suggested to several locals that the architect of the Huaxi dream, Wu Renbao, ought to be on the village’s Tiananmen.