Word: downtowner
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There has been a reaction. Chinese Communist purists blame foreign influences for such trends as a revival of pornography and prostitution. University students have staged several demonstrations in downtown Peking and other major cities. While ostensibly aimed at Japan's commercial presence, or, as was the case last week, at China's nuclear testing program, the demonstrations seemed to be directed more broadly at Deng's reforms because of the corruption and nepotism that have accompanied them...
...full scope of the reforms can best be glimpsed in Sichuan's cities, especially in Chongqing and in Chengdu, the province's capital. Under a huge white statue of Mao, disparagingly called the "Old Man" by many Chinese, downtown Chengdu is alive with hundreds of peddlers hawking fruit, vegetables, meat, fabrics, pots, wicker furniture, even Brooke Shields calendars. The bargaining would shame an Arab bazaar. "What do you mean selling them at this price?" a woman asks a man hawking tangerines. "They're full of defects." The vendor yells back, "Defects? What do you mean defects...
Bystanders stared in wonder last summer as the fleet of 20 midnight-blue Cadillacs arrived in downtown Peking amid the clutter of buses and bicycles. The limousines, complete with built-in bars and TV sets, were the newest showpiece of an enterprise that is as remarkable in China as the luxury cars. Known as China International Trust and Investment Corporation, the state-owned firm woos foreign investors with a combination of savvy, sizzle and shrewd business skill. Said CITIC Chairman Rong Yiren, as he took delivery of the first Cadillacs to be acquired by a Chinese organization since the Communists...
...fashionable neighborhood of Zugliget, overlooking downtown Budapest, the drabness of Communism seems a world away. Sleek, modern villas nestle beside Italianate mansions along the quiet, winding streets. Well-coiffed women in fur coats promenade upon the snow-dusted sidewalks. The district that housed many of Hungary's pre war magnates now shelters a different breed of plutocrat: the entrepreneurs who have prospered under the country's unique brand of "goulash Communism...
Nonetheless, in the wee hours in downtown Belgrade, Yugoslavia's troubles are invisible. At the crowded Star discothèque, the local jeunesse dorée shows off in Benetton sweaters and Pierre Cardin shirts. Yugoslavs admit that things could be much better in their version of the workers' paradise. But their restiveness is still curbed by the knowledge that things could also be much worse. --By George Russell. Reported by Kenneth W. Banta/Belgrade and Budapest