That's Beijing – June 2017 Issue Out Now!

The June issue of That's Beijing is out now – paper-and-ink-form citywide, digital pdf form right here or in your browser here. Editor-in-Chief Oscar Holland introduces the magazine:

A Farewell...

So, after 40 issues and more than three years at the magazine, it’s time for me to pack away my editor’s pen and bid farewell to That’s Beijing. It has been a gratifying, fascinating and, at times, utterly surreal journey.

In truth, my job has always been an easy one. China is bursting with stories waiting to be told. Pursuing them has taken me to bodybuilding competitions in Shanghai, ghost cities outside Tianjin and a cruise ship on the Bohai Sea, but the most captivating tales have always unfolded here in Beijing. I hope that during my time at the magazine – as Editor-in-Chief and before – we’ve been able to produce a magazine befitting of this great city.

This month’s cover story feels like an appropriate one to end my editorship on. Having dedicated many column inches to the restructuring of the region – the creation of a Seventh Ring Road (October 2014), the new CBD being built in Tongzhou district (October 2015) and the announcement of a Shenzhen-style economic zone in Hebei (last month) – it’s now time to see what changes are happening closer to home.

We are in the midst of a huge, citywide gentrification drive (or as it’s known to many, the Great Bricking of 2017), and I considered it our duty to explore the public renovations in more depth. Not only is this a local issue that many of us feel passionately about – it's also one that is profoundly important to the future of our city. Like so many things in Beijing, the matter is more complex than it first seems, and you can read Noelle Mateer’s excellent report on page 42.

Finally, I’d like to put on record how privileged I feel to have worked with so many talented writers, editors, designers and photographers in putting together this magazine each month. I leave you in their very capable hands.

Our design intern Polly offers an accurate depiction of life at Thats – I’m gonna miss this lot (L-R: Polly, Iris, Noelle, me drinking wine in the office, Justine, Dominique and Victor)

Oscar Holland
Editor-in-Chief