Beijing

The city that got the ultimate makeover

Beijing is not the city it once was. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing depends entirely on your point of view. Well over a million people have been evicted from their homes to make way for the capital's astonishingly rapid development, but the result is a more sophisticated, more worldly and more tolerant city. Groundbreaking architecture, plush five star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants now rub shoulders with relics of the city's past, be they street hawkers, traditional neighborhoods or UNESCO World Heritage sights.