Extreme Makeover, Beijing style

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China’s transformation for the Beijing Olympics has begun, but it goes beyond the architecture, the price tag of which sent the Games’ cost soaring to a record $43 billion. The government also wants to see a new, improved population.

As Times staff writer Barbara Demick reports from Beijing, ‘Everybody wants to make a good impression for important guests, but it’s almost like an episode of ‘Extreme Makeover’ here these days.’

Migrant workers and beggars, masseuses and fortune tellers have all been sent packing, she writes. And DVD shops have pulled pirated Hollywood films from their shelves. Read the rest of her report.

-- Debbie Goffa