The massive oblong opera house is formally called the National Center for the Performing Arts, but locals refer to it as The Egg. The National Stadium is called the Bird's Nest, because its exterior is a twisted weave of metal. The National Aquatics Center is a rectangular collection of blue bubbles, commonly called the Water Cube. And the towers of the new China Central Television rise in a winding grid of vertical and horizontal sections, like something ripped from an M.C. Escher print.
Of the estimated $190 billion being spent on Beijing's comprehensive makeover, only a quarter relates directly to the Olympics. The rest has gone to China's ground-up approach to remodeling a city.
According to statistics from the Beijing Environment Bureau, more than 6,000 square miles of illegal buildings have been demolished in the past couple of years. Few would argue that the new buildings and homes aren't safer, but the concern seems to be that the government protected the obvious - the China you would find on a postcard - and forsook the nuanced.
"They've lost the character of a functioning thing," Frenchman says. "It's not woven into the fabric of the city. It's been cleaned up to the point where it's lost a lot of its original character."
And while there are thousands of new homes available for the displaced, compensation for their old homes hasn't kept pace with the skyrocketing prices of newly built apartments.
The cost of new homes has continually increased - from $821 per square meter to $1,169 between 2004 and 2006, according to a report published by Sina.com and New Real Estate Magazine.
But for those living in hutongs and areas targeted for reconstruction, the developer's offer price hasn't budged in six years. Homeowners are given about $1,000 per square meter, a set figure that hasn't increased with inflation or with drastic changes in the real estate market. The average cost of a new home last year ran $1,700 per square meter.
Jiang's home--- the only one the 70-year-old has ever known - is under renovation. She's gathered with neighbors outside, watching as workers lay bricks to repair the decrepit entryway.
She ducks inside and prepares some tea. The walls are bare except for a Chinese calendar and a photo of Mao Tse-tung, China's leader until his death in 1976 . A television, a pair of chairs, two beds, a fridge and a large fish tank complete the room.
