Blog by Jim James

While I absorbed the news of impending fatherhood, the annoyances and idiosyncrasies of a City wrestling with itself were relegated to the background and I couldn’t bring myself to write this Diary, but now as I attempt to create certainties for my family, the rumour mill of Beijing has me reaching ...

Olympic countdown: 473 days It’s springtime in Beijing. New life is blossoming throughout the city and my life could not be more different than a year ago. Olympic tickets went on sale last week, the first leg of a seven million ticket lottery. I went online to the Beijing Olympic Ticketing Centre...

I have been having a hard time thinking of what to write as life in Beijing has become rather normal. What's normal? Well of late, business thinkers have encouraged me to copy western business models, I watched Ziggy Marley exhort a crowd to peaceful disobedience, and the state utilities company tur...

I have been having a hard time thinking of what to write as life in Beijing has become rather normal. What's normal? Well of late, business thinkers have encouraged me to copy western business models, I watched Ziggy Marley exhort a crowd to peaceful disobedience, and the state utilities company tur...

It is now every two weeks that I write the diary and it seems as though while the pace of on coming dangers to my immediate concern has slowed, everything in Beijing is speeding up to create a communal feeling and Olympic spirit. I went to an event at the British Embassy to discuss ‘Olympic Opportun...