[pc100porsche]

I went to Beijing and Shanghai in 2005 -- I stayed 5 star within a 3 min walk to Forbidden City,Tiananmen Square etc and to me Beijing was a ****ty place.
The old people spit in the street -- whilst you may notice the infants wear jumpsuits with a slit in them (its culturally acceptable for them to take a crap next to you, anywhere in public) -------------if you take notice of the Barber Shops you will notice that there are "extra" female workers ... they don't cut hair, if you get my drift. I got to Beijing a few days before my gf and I was consistently harassed by pimps/hookers (8 approaches w/in 3 blocks of the hotel).
The Great Wall was interesting ........ we hired a car and driver to go there and a Tomb, very reasonable approx. USD$100 for driver and good car for the day... that was all OK.

Shanghai is better ... some good restaurants and night clubs (try Bar Rouge on the Bund) ... I stayed at the Sofitel in Nankang Rd (good hotel) .....but got a little sick of being accosted each and every time you exit the hotel with continual offers of "Rolex, DVD, & Looky Look Girl" ....

Please see below .. myself and my new Red Army Buddies ...