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Beijing's Cast of New Citizens

As Beijing becomes increasingly an international city its appearance is changing rapidly, both in building design and at street level. Environmental improvement began with pedestrianisation, followed by landscaping with flowerbeds and general "greening". Now, as this picture shows, we have the transformation into an open-air gallery of incredibly lifelike sculptures.

When Wangfujing was largely given over to pedestrians a few years ago, metal statues reflecting historical Beijing first started to appear outside Sun Dong An Plaza. They became instant tourist attractions and photo props.
Children, young and old, have sat on the knees of traditional musicians, girls cuddled a barber with his long old-style pigtail, and crowds queued to sit in the bronze rickshaw hauled by a chap with unusually hard leg muscles.

Constant human impact, a new "assenger"every minute, has changed the statue's color from black to shiny gold.
More metal work started to appear outside a nearby shoe shop, and giant bronze shoes became the latest target for the picture-hungry. The idea spread, and more statues appeared in various locations around the city. No two ways about it: they have become a distinctive and highly enjoyable part of Beijing's modern image. Meanwhile, at the Asian Games Stadium, some solitary characters are sitting or standing. Waiting for what, we are bound to ask? The next event?

Recently the city beautified Beiheyan Dadjie (parallel to Wangfujing). Among the flowerbeds a girl sits with her laptop to the amazement of a 19th century local. A bronze window has an elderly chap peering out at a couple playing chess.

Some statues that do not quite reflect historical Beijing are at Xidan. There, close to the headquarters of the Bank of China, a long-haired rock singer performs next to an elderly European member of a symphony orchestra. More attuned to Beijing (upcoming Olympics and all that) was the superb display of metallic athletes - everything from a javelin thrower to ... well, you name it.

Recently, Wangfujing hosted an outdoor exhibition of metal and stone statues from north-west China. Everything from the weird to the wonderful was there, with some incredibly detailed sculptures graphically illustrating the strains and joys of life. Somehow, it now seems, all these metal statues have become part of our lives in Beijing ... friendly neighbours, almost. I for one am immensely glad.

It was a whole new challenge for British artist Robert Wilson, who has spent more than 30 years exploring the many spheres of creativity and experimentation with all manner of materials, media supports and disciplines. Now France's famed house of Louis Vuitton has commissioned him to both design its myriad global shops'Christmas window displays and create a new collection handbags - which this versatile creator happily rose to with his Monogram Vernis Fluo range, pictured here. The bags are available until the end of January, 2003.