From The Country That Brought Us The Great Leap Forward

This has to be a joke right? Beijing has just been annointed as China’s most beautiful city. Mmmm, maybe Shanghai’s Bund and a moonlight journey on Hong Kong’s Star Ferry aren’t as flash as I thought.

Sadly it’s not an early April Fool’s prank. The grandly titled China Insitute of City Competitiveness Survey has nominated the Chinese capital as the most stunning city in all of China. Thankfully, Hong Kong came in second, but the craziness returned with the southern boomtown of Shenzen registering third. That’s about as legitimate as the bogus iPhones that are currently on sale in a thousand Chinese streetmarkets.

I know the Olympics kick off in a year or so, but I really thought China’s PR practitioners were a little more savvy.

Via Reuters and thanks to dbaron on Flickr for the gorgeous Beijing cityscape.