Some scenes from Beijing:

The construction site of Fortune Plaza (caifu zhongxin) just inside the East Third Ring Raod, north of the Kerry Centre and China World complexes.

The empty lot behind the construction site is where Rem Koolhaas' CCTV building is supposed to be built, although the rumours circulating around Beijing are still that the project is either off, or going to be seriously reduced in scope and budget. This is a rendering of the CCTV building.

This is the pile of new buildings making up the core of Beijing's much vaunted CBD, seen from the north.

Beijing nightlife:

This is the view from Ladies Street (nuren jie), a badly built collection of shops, bars and restaurants built next to a dam of effluvium that has some relation to water. One of the buildings houses Microsoft's Beijing office.

This is Beijing's new egg -- the National Theater designed by Paul Andreu. Construction seems to be nearing completion.

Lowering the flag at Tiananmen Square at the end of a summer's day:

The Kunlun Hotel, a billboard featuring Yao Ming putting out for China's CDMA mobile network, and a long billboard for Li Ning, the eponymous athletic goods brand started by the former champion gymnast. At the top left of the picture, you can see the hills north of Beijing, which are not often visible through the stuff that passes for air in these parts.

An anonymous new building in Haidian district: