Sorry for the lack of updates this week. It’s been very busy as the old Lunar New Year winds down and everyone gets ready for the coming of the Year of the Tiger.

Here’s a short video showing the sights and sounds of the Beijing Imperial Academy just next to the Confucius Temple. This was where generations of promising young scholars were prepared for the ordeal of taking the incredibly rigorous Imperial Examinations. 

Here’s a short video showing the sights and sounds of Beijing Confucius Temple.

As I mentioned at the time, the temple came as an unexpected surprised to me when I visited it. You can also read more about it in this short (and yet be finished) photo essay here.

How do you compete in a world that is being transformed by Asia, Automation, and Abundance, in which “we are moving from an economy and society built on the logical, linear, computerlike capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, empathetic, big-picture capabilities of what’s rising in its place, the Conceptual Age”?

This is the question that Daniel Pink tries to address in his book “A Whole New Mind”, and his answer is that we need to develop a “different form of thinking and a new approach to life” that takes advantage of our “high concept” and “high touch” right brain qualities of “inventiveness, empathy, joyfulness, and meaning.

A few more photos from Beijing Hutong Country in the following galleries:

Beijing Hutong Gallery

Beijing Fire God Temple

Beijing Houhai Lake

Talk about an eclectic mix of icons and messages: Mao meets Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf. An ironic commentary on  cultural convergence? Or simply thrown together?

And as for the “Better travel than dead” slogan on this mock heroic poster for the curiously named Pass By Cafe, I guess you can at least say that it grabs your attention – though whether you would want to stop and eat there is another matter.

“Transformative change happens when industries democratize, when they’re ripped from the sole domain of companies, governments, and other institutions and handed over to regular folks. The Internet democratized publishing, broadcasting, and communications, and the consequence was a massive increase in the range of both participation and participants in everything digital – the long tail of bits.

 Now the same is happening to manufacturing – the long tail of things”

Here’s a short video showing some of the sights and sounds of Beijing Jingshan Park.

You can also view a photo essay on the park here, as well as the Jingshan Park photo gallery. 

Walking around Beijing Hutong Country I came across a number of small shops showing the emergence of interesting new businesses being developed by the country’s growing army of native and foreign entrepreneurs.

One good example in the area was the NLGX design store, which claims to create “original-designed apparel inspired by the Beijing’s development into a multicultural melting pot of artists, entrepreneurs, travellers, and global-minded individuals”.

I’ve opened my Beijing Hutong Country photo gallery with a few snapshots of Guozijian Street (Imperial Academy Street).

This is over 700 years old and is the only street in Beijing with four decorative archways. It’s a pleasant enough to stroll around but is perhaps a little too gentrified and doesn’t quite have the same atmosphere as some other Beijing Hutong.