Expats point to world of difference, but miss buzz Games brought to Beijing

Perhaps Beijing was always destined to become the world-class city it aspires to be, but last year's Olympic Games acted like a fast-forward button and brought it much closer to that goal, expatriates say.

'I can now get Shreddies and Yorkshire tea from my local supermarket,' said British journalist Caroline North, who has lived in Beijing for five years with her diplomat husband, David Concar, and three children, aged 13, 11 and seven.

Bluer sky, fewer waste plastic bags on the street - or stuck in the trees - and a Sanlitun (a street of bars) that seems like 'a whole different planet' are just some of the other differences North has noticed since the run-up to the Olympics, along with, of course, supermarkets four times the size they were before.

However, she misses the energy and zest the city had both before and during the Games. When the family went to the first British Premiership soccer games in Beijing last week, she realised how much they were 'looking back in longing to last year'.

'My eldest son really likes British sports, and watching them, and here he can't do that as much as he likes.'

Mr Concar also said that despite Beijing becoming an easier place to live in, there was still a way to go for it to become a world-class city.

He said he now took the metro more, and enjoyed the wider range of restaurants and bars available. More foreigners were now making Beijing their home, and they had a bigger range of residences to choose from. The environment had become cleaner, the people friendlier; there was less spitting in public and road manners had improved, too. Even so, he felt that the pace of change had slowed since the Games.