Sunday, Nov. 21 —
Richard Li wants to put together the biggest broadband Internet access play in the world. I don’t know if he’ll succeed. But I’m impressed with his risk-taking and his boldness, not to mention his brains.
More in my Sunday column.
The Forbidden City
Monday, Nov. 22 —
Emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties made it their home and seat of government. Commoners were forbidden to enter, hence the name. On a day so misty that buildings would fade into white-gray shrouds at any significant distance, the Palace Museum, as the regime here prefers to call it, had an almost ghostly feel.
I walked north from Tiananmen Square, site of the government’s bloody crackdown against the pro-democracy movement a decade ago, and into the grounds through the South Gate. I made my way slowly to the North Gate, listening to a rented audio tape tour. (Incongruously, the actor Roger Moore is the tour guide.)