Surviving the city

China’s economy may be booming but growing affluence does not mean an easy life for all, as our columnist discovers while in Beijing.

XIAN Peng is just one of Beijing’s 15 million denizens. She lives alone in a tiny, cramped room, splitting the rent with another young girl. She’s finally saved enough money to buy a second-hand car that earns her keep by ferrying passengers to and fro on the multitude of highways and streets that criss-cross this city.