2015 Year in Review: 10 Things We Don't Want to See Again in 2016

2015 was a pretty awesome year in Beijing, and we can only expect more great things from 2016. How, you ask? Well, if we're very lucky, we won't have to see these things again in the following year (or ever again).

1. Traffic jams
Traffic has always been bad in Beijing, but things are getting worse. As non-drivers, we suggest full-time odd/even regulations in place to minimize traffic and make it easier to get around. This year we saw the worst traffic of the year on September 7, following the end of schools' summer holidays.

2. Surprise holidays that benefit nobody
Do you remember that parade? When they decided to close off the streets, disrupt traffic, and send everyone home for a few days only to demand we work a make-up day. Yeah, that was not great. Honestly, we prefer to work normal weeks – Saturdays and Sundays in the office are so 2015. 

3. Pollution
This is a pretty high demand, we realize that, but a Beijing without pollution would just be so wonderful. With the amount of red alerts we've had this year (two at the time of writing, with the second one announced for Dec 19-22), it's no surprise that Beijingers are yearning after a cleaner and blue-skied city. It has to be said though, and statistics don't lie (especially official state-released numbers), that the air is getting better on average. And no, for the thousandth ruddy time, a day spent breathing in Beijing is not the equivalent of smoking 40 cigarettes.

[Picture of frozen phlegm]

4. Frozen phlegm 
Phlegm by itself is bad enough, but when it freezes to the streets in winter it is not only beyond disgusting, but also terribly dangerous for those of us walking or cycling around. That stuff is surprisingly slippery, and we don't want to fall down onto/into it. Yuck.
 

5. Terrible translations on films 
We love it when big international films hit our screens, but for the love of good, please don't mess with our translations. This year saw many films get lost in translation, including Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. If necessary, send us the details and we'll do the translation for you.

6. Soft-reopenings
Firstly, this phrase itself is rather uncouth, and secondly, just because you've closed for the weekend really doesn't mean that you need to get more attention by having a 'soft-reopening'. It's not a thing, stop it.

7. Slow Internet
Oh Internet. When will you speed up? When will you stop wasting my time, day after day? This year we were promised that the Internet would become not only faster, but also cheaper. We'll wait and see what happens in 2016.
 

8. Baijiu
We don't really understand this baijiu trend, within Beijing and overseas. It is disgusting, it makes you a whole different level of inebriated, and it can make you go blind. Do you really need more reasons to stop drinking baijiu ASAP? Hopefully we'll not have to see more of it in 2016.

9. Hoverboards
They're ridiculous – especially when ridden by that smug guy that glides down the street with his hands in his pockets, or worse, staring at his phone. Just ridiculous. Time for these things to self-implode, and for us to be safe on the streets again.
 

10. A Beijing without M&S
Yeah, we're still on a high from Beijing getting it's first Marks & Spencer at the Place, and we hope that we will never have to go without again. In fact, we're hopeful that more locations throughout our city might open in 2016.

And with that, roll on 2016 with it's many wonderful gadgets, hair-brained schemes, and silly memes that will be so mindblowingly original that we can't even fathom what they'll be yet! We love you Beijing!

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Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com
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Photo: Wikimedia, news.xinhua.net, aqicn.org, screencrush.com, staticworld.net, ajia5.wordpress.com, image.made-in-china.com, Michael Wester/the Beijinger