The Lost City

Coming in to land at Beijing, I always find myself thinking of the first time I came here, in 1973. The journey was interminable then. Commercial flights to Beijing did not fly over Soviet airspace but hopped across the Mediterranean and the Gulf States, stopped in the Indian subcontinent, then flew the last lap up over the Himalayas. Beijing was still, in those days, an exotic destination. As we approached, we all peered into the darkness, trying to make out the shape of the city. It was like landing on a deserted planet, with scarcely a light showing.