this is one of many posts about my awesome trip to china. while earlier posts are about sights like tiananmen square, the forbidden city, and the great wall, this one is about the actual cities themselves.

i only visited two cities during my trip to china: beijing and xi'an. the two couldnt be more different from each other if they tried. one was quite terrible while the other was incredibly awesome. in this post i hope to explain why ill never return to beijing but why i cant wait to go back to xi'an again.

__the difference in attitude__
lets start with the people. beijing people suck. now, to be clear, im not saying that all the people in beijing suck - im just stating that all the people I MET in beijing suck (for all i know, the other 19.5 million might be the raddest people in the world). many beijingers chased after me annoyingly trying to sell me something i didnt want. and when i did actually want to buy something, like at a ticket counter or restaurant, they were loud and rude. people treated me like i was nothing but a dumb american tourist with too much money to spend. and maybe i was. but in sharp contrast, the people in xi'an seemed to treat me and each other with respect. they wore more smiles, were less pushy, and were almost always helpful and patient with me. everyone in xi'an seemed generally less shady and more eager to treat me like a human being rather than an object like in beijing.

__the difference in appearance__
aside from the peoples attitudes, the feel of the cities was also very different. beijing was dirty. i watched countless beijingers - both young and old - throw their trash to the ground without a care in the world. and boy, the city sure smelled like it too. xi'an had its share of awful smells too, but at least it was a lot easier on the eyes. in contrast to beijings dull, dirty, and drab style, xi'an was a beautiful city with bright colors and pleasant architecture.

__third world capitals suck__
after traveling to india and absolutely hating delhi (while loving the other cities), i had mistakenly thought that visiting big cities in third world-ish countries was a bad idea. but china changed my mind. its not big cities that suck - its capitals. xi'an is a big city with more than 8 million people, but it was absolutely awesome. now ive learned my lesson. even with having only two samples, and even though ill probably eat my own narrow-minded words later on, ill conclude right now that capitals of third world-ish countries are terrible, terrible places that should be avoided at all costs.