Office life in Beijing has changed dramatically since the IBM acquisition.

FORBES: Not East or West

Life in Beijing is much better than back in rural Hebei, says Li: his wages cover the family's rent, tuition for the underground school for migrant children that his kids attend, as well as the odd night of karaoke.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | The Numbers Game

But all 300 of them have one thing in common: they are children of migrant workers who have come to Beijing in search of a better life.

ECONOMIST: China��s schools for non-children

Lined with family-owned shops and siheyuan (traditional courtyard homes), each hutong illustrates a way of life that has endured in Beijing for eight centuries.

BBC: The perfect trip: China

My new life in the power city of Beijing consisted in taking lessons from Professor Angry, practicing, and going to elementary school.

NPR: Lang Lang: A Life In Music, So Far

The new system could well make life easier for the central government in Beijing.

ECONOMIST: Five years in China | The

He also raved about Beijing art duo Sun Yuan and Peng Yu's life-size sculptures of dinosaurs and rhinoceroses, which stood, like a scattered herd, in several fair booths.

WSJ: Hong Kong: The Next Global Art Powerhouse

Beijing simply has more people who can appreciate the "web life-style, " as Gates calls it.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia