One might say I grew up in Beijing. By that I mean I spent many of the most impressionable years of my life there. It is the Chinese city in which I lived and studied the longest. It is also the Chinese city in which I have recently been spending most of my time. 20 years ago I knew almost every bus route; nowadays I can barely find my way around, even with a map. “Beijingers” tell me they have the same problem.
I was in Beijing when the first fast food restaurant–Kentucky Fried Chicken–opened in China in the Qianmen area (November 1987; see picture). I was also waiting at the doors when the first McDonalds restaurant opened in Beijing on Wangfujing Street (1992). I still have the plastic commemorative cups they gave me as I rushed to the cash registers.