From The Country That Brought Us The Great Leap Forward

by Brett Atkinson on

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.

Short and Sweet Travel Advice for the World’s Top Tech Cities

by Neil Woodburn on

If you’re in the tech industry these days, your travel has become increasingly more widespread in the last five years as international competition has started challenging Silicon Valley as the sole place to do business.

With this in mind, Business 2.0 has published a handy little guide in this month’s issue: The Road Warrior’s Guide to Travel.

The guide, which is available online here, or as a pull-out in the print edition, breaks out the travel basics for the planet’s hottest tech cities: Bangalore, Barcelona, Helsinki, Hong Kong, London, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Tallinn, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo.

Each city section addresses the same six questions; How to get around, where to find free Wi-Fi, where to get a trim, best place to get down to business, best place to celebrate closing the deal, and what you might not know.

Better get a print copy soon, however. I just learned that Business 2.0 (one of my favorite magazines) is going belly-up–perhaps yet another sign that the tech world is migrating out of America?

New Beijing Airport to be World’s Largest

by Justin Glow on

China is building a new airport in Beijing that is expected to be open in time for the 2008 Olympics. At over a million square meters, and an expected 53 million passengers per year, it will surely become the world’s largest and most technologically advanced. “It was built using sustainable design principles,” according to Business Week, “including southeast-oriented skylights (to maximize heat from early sunshine) and an integrated environment-control system that uses minimal energy.” Check out the gallery below. (Thanks, Marilyn!)

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Paris in….China?

by Justin Glow on

You know, if I were to casually glance at this photo, I’d believe it were actually taken in Paris: The Eiffel Tower….those other buildings. Very Parisian. But look a little closer and you’ll realize that it’s not actually Paris at all. It’s not even Disneyworld. It’s China.

Located in the residential area of Tianducheng just outside of Hangzhou in East China’s Zhejiang Province lies this modest recreation of the Champ de Mars and Gustave’s greatest creation. Just over 2,000 people live here. What’s especially weird is that I can’t find any more information on this save for the photos. You’d think that a fake Paris sprouting up in China would have received some press somewhere. More pics (from Reuters) after the jump.

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Gadling on the Road Archives

by Neil Woodburn on


Here at Gadling we pride ourselves in putting our money where our mouth is. In other words, we write about travel because we are all travelers. This is our passion, this is our hobby, this is our life.

Unfortunately, we can’t all travel 100% of the time. But, when we do hit the road, we tend to hit it rather well.

Over the last few years, our writers and correspondents have traveled the globe, absorbed their surroundings, converted what they’ve seen into zeros and ones on their laptop, and then digitally rearranged it for you right here on Gadling. Sometimes it might be a simple post, but other times we’ve built entire series around exotic locations. Sadly, as time passes, these features have died a lonely death, disappearing into the void of cyberspace never to be seen again.

As a result, we’ve decided to resurrect some of the very best and provide for them a nice, accessible home so that they may continue providing virtual sustenance to our readers. The link to this new home is just below our Gadling Writers on the Road section (which features our current writers on assignment). To explore our prior destinations, simply click on the Archives Button and you’ll soon be up to your knees in China, Beijing, Alaska, Haiti, Miami, St. Lucia, Tajikistan, the Balkans, and Trinidad & Tobago.

Enjoy!