I've wondered, in the days since the stabbing death of an American at the Olympics, how many people around Baristaville are assuming Beijing is a dangerous place. It's hard to shake the idea that an American tourist could be sightseeing one minute and murdered the next, especially at an event as life-affirming as the Olympics.
I arrived in Montclair in 2004, after living in Beijing for three years. And as I met my new neighbors, several told me they wanted to see China. I offered advice on which sections of the Great Wall are the most beautiful and where to find the ultimate platter of duck. And always, I told them this: Beijing is the safest capital city I've ever seen. Crimes against foreigners -- muggings, burglaries -- are incredibly rare.
During our years there, my husband worked long hours. Back when we were childless, we had this routine -- I'd call the office around midnight and ask when he'd be done. "Soon," he'd say. "But come down here. Bring a book and read for awhile, and then we'll walk home together." So I'd walk three long blocks down a dusty sidestreet just off Second Ring Road, past the darkened stores selling Russian imports and the dingy hair salon, past the shuttered fruit stand that would open at dawn. In New York or Paris or Bangkok, I'd have been looking over my shoulder wondering if it was wise to be out that late alone. In Beijing, I didn't need to.
You can debate, of course, whether crimes against foreigners are rare because the government would crack down so heavily on those who perpetrated them or because it's a safe place by nature. But whatever your take on that, Beijing is generally very safe for tourists. And it's a fascinating city that's changing daily, filled with people eager to welcome Americans (especially those who bother to learn to say "ni hao" and "zai jian"). I can't promise you a perfectly smooth trip, but I can tell you that personal safety probably won't be an issue.
(Photo by Warren Levinson)
Forgive me, croiagusanam. but I bear some residual nostalgia for the sort of headbreaking Rizzo espoused. (Perhaps even on the international scene, as Russian thuggery now runs riot in Georgia.)
I sure preferred Rizzo to the "understanding" suggested instead by David Dinkins during his mayoral tenure, which led to Orthodox Jews being beaten up and cops standing by while Korean greengroceries and Jewish-owned buildings burned, summoning up visions of Kristallnacht.