A Map of the Neighborhood

Yesterday and today I spent a while making a map with Google of the neighborhood in Beijing around the Chinese Academy of Sciences. I'm not certain if the link will work, but here it is. Google doesn't do streets for China, so this is just a satellite view. (If when you initially click on the link you don't see anything on the map, click on satellite and then you'll see a very impressive satellite of the city. The resolution for Beijing is quite good, so you can zoom in a lot.

The large cluster of blue markers is the CAS neighborhood. I added links to the forbidden city and Tiananmen Square for reference. Also, on the upper left I've indicated the location of the Fragrant Villa, which is where we held the first week of the school.

I've found this satellite map to be very useful for orienting myself in Beijing. And it's also just cool. I'm amazed at the resolution. I'm not sure if this will be of much interest if you're not currently at the CSSS. The overhead view doesn't really give a sense of what it's like to be on the ground. But nevertheless, this map does a pretty good job of conveying the overall scale of Beijing, which is almost unthinkably immense.

Although Beijing is busy and bustling, the campus of the CAS is relatively quiet. There are many dragonflies buzzing around the large open area in the middle. Sometimes sparrows chase the dragonflies. And at night there are bats.