These hutongs are making her feel brand new.  And being somebody in the China City is almost as good as being somebody in the World City.  Sylvia is just in from Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, and is planning to live here permanently perhaps working in a magazine.

She had several lackeys photographing her on Nanluoguxiang.  I joined in.  She is a makeup artist.

Probably best known by foreigners at least for its appearance in 希望（xiwang – to wish/hope for), the character 希 means “rare” or “infrequent”.

看到这个字外国人肯定会马上想到“希望”。

The shades lighter than navy should appear more, especially in coats.  It brightens the mood in a winter landscape, too often dominated by black and gray, especially in horrible puffer coats.

Blue coats always make me think of Julien Sorel, the protagonist in the Red and the Black.  He was given one by his patron, the marquis, and this enabled him to feel on a level with the aristocrats whom he was attempting to impress.  Of course, I would think that the coat in that case was a dress garment and not an outdoor coat.

我希望大家会穿更多这各蓝色的外套。北京冬天超难看的黑色羽绒服太多了。

From Australia, Tana has been in Beijing over ten years. She started what was probably the first vintage shop in Beijing on Yandai Xiejie, near Houhai. The items she sold were brought in from abroad and included Levi’s and other such items.  The shop has not been open for several years, but vintage clothing has become much more popular here lately.

从澳洲来的Tana十多年在北京。因为她喜欢收藏很独特的衣服，丝禁，鞋，袜子，帽子，等，她原来开国第一个卖二手衣服的商店在烟袋斜街。她卖的东西原来主要是从国外进口的，像一些Levi’s牛仔裤，70年代的衣服等，但价格卖的不是很高因为这个她的爱好。 她的11岁的女儿, Lily。女儿受到母亲的影响，也穿得很特别，也喜欢戴大的墨镜。我真羡慕她女儿，能说世界两个最重要的原因说得很流利。

An art student from Hong Kong on Nanluoguxiang. 香港来得艺术学生在垃圾桶旁边抽烟。

He didn’t care that China Fashion Week had ended.

From a small town in Yunnan, Peipei runs Bye Bye Disco, one of the most notable shops on Nanluoguxiang, with boyfriend Pang Kuan, a member of disco-punk hybrid act New Pants.  More on Bye Bye Disco on the website of That’s Beijing, a magazine that is now defunct.  This place is beloved of foreigners, who come for the iconic Feiyue sneakers (available all the way up to size 47 at Bye Bye Disco).  Feiyue is so hip these days that there is even a blog.

Graphic designer June picked up her dress at a second-hand shop on Gulou street.

She has quite a collection of pendants.

This one is of a bus.

Vanessa is from Harbin and her boyfriend is from Shenyan.  She is a graphic designer and he makes 3D cartoons or something like that.  They have been to Beijing for less than a year, but plan to stay.

By the way, Harbin is one of my favorite places in China.  Feed a duck to the tigers in Siberian Tiger Park.  The suspense is intense as the tiger awkwardly paddles through the pond in pursuit.  The ducks just nonchalantly cruise along as if there is no monster cat a meter behind, but they sometimes do even escape, unlike the chicken or pheasants who have no chance.  Also make sure to have a shot of an obscure vodka at the Russian Café, on Zhongyang Lu, probably my favorite café in the world.  Shenyang is not such a must-see, though it does have a very manageably-sized mini-Forbidden City built by Nurhaci as well as several late-90s examaples of provinical “shock-architecture.”

Regina Ye, who makes me think of this girl, is studying fashion design here in Beijing.

Today the wind was blowing like it was about to go out of style.  But, of course, it is one of the permanent things come October.  We can debate whether wind creates beauty or disorder, but let us agree that it brings a mystery mixed with vulnerability to some pedestrians as they protect themselves from its gusts.  One fact we know is she likes that sweet cheese concoction so popular on Nanluoguxiang.  I think her succulent cashmere shawl comes from Woo Scarf, just down the street.

When I got home, my eyes were red and filled with dust, perhaps including some tasty fertilizer runoff particles just blown in from the countryside.

Shannon is about to open a restaurant/bar on nanluoguxiang, called h.u.n. bar 十三姨.

Photo: Weina Zhao

Majoring in International Relations at mighty Beijing University, third-year Emmie would prefer to be studying something related to media.  The main problem, she says, is that international realtions is too politicized a field and one rarely learns anything with real substance.   As is the case with so many others who are unhappily wedded to their courses of study, Emmie ended up in International Relations as a result of her Gaokao score. Otherwise, she has no major complaints about life at Beida.  She gets along with her three roommates and feels lucky that she doesn’t live with five or even seven.

Her two-month summer internship at the PR company Ogilvy will hopefully set her on a more favorable path, which should allow her to work in foreign companies after graduation.  Often, majoring in something like international relations would only lead one to a government job or, at best, work in a state-run company.  Emmie points out that foreign companies in China and state-run companies operate in completely different systems.  Advancement in the latter depends almost completely on relationships, whereas the situation is somewhat more standardized with the foreigners.  Of course, she acknowledges, foreign companies must operate effectively in the guanxi system if they are to succeed in this country and degrees of localization vary a great deal from one company to the next.

Wearing matching Chinese navy shirts, Spencer (张铎怀） and Yoyo （程琛）are students of media.  Both are from remote and landlocked Qinghai province.

When I need a job done properly, I rely on the services of young but talented Shanghaiese Jeffrey Ying (应捷).  His base of operations for at least the next month is right here in the Northern Capital, to which his eye-catching style and unique pursuits bring a certain drama.  His main residences are in the French Concession, San Francisco, and right overlooking the Bosphorus in a city that he still insists on calling Constantinople.  Here he wears a 1960s Kipper Tie and “bi-curious” spectators from Moreschi.

Will his activities turn Beijing upside down this summer?  But of course…Full Profile to follow.

From Xinjiang, Zhang Yajun does marketing for Red Bull and is wearing a Mcdonald’s scarf.

In a sweater from Xidan, tall Chicagoan Einar Engström () prefers Beijing to his home town.  He enjoys the laidback feel and still feels the rush of newness that greeted him on his first arrival about four years ago.  For most of his years in Beijing he was a translator (he also majored in Romance Lanuages and Literature) from Chinese to English, but now he is in marketing at China Visual Arts Center (CVAC).   His favorite of the more well-known contemprorary Chinese artists is Xu Bing.  Einar enjoys Xu’s famous work Tian Shu (A Book from the Sky).

Einar thinks that the Chinese saying “” is the best description for man.

This catty girl is doing the jungle prints thing quite convincingly.

Are they both cat?

Liu Sha would not provide the name of his girlfriend, but he did mention that their clothes were mostly custom-made by a tailor near Dongsi.  It was quite a hot day, but they didn’t seem to be sweating even in all that black.