A postcard from Anne who is doing her study abroad in New Zealand.

Claire Roby is interning with the Innovative Solutions Working Group at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Claire is pictured with her supervisor, Paul Hogan.

Except for a few that are being preserved, hutongs (traditional courtyard houses along narrow alleyways) are disappearing in Beijing, making way for new apartment and office buildings, and the 2008 Olympics. Last summer I saw a courtyard house being remodeled in a hutong neighborhood that obviously was not being demolished... [To read more about this trip, download a pdf of a report by Dr. Cheh.]