Time to stop building cities without souls

At his first sight of Las Vegas, a Chinese student of community participation in urban development remarked, "I feel as if I am back in Beijing's second ring road!"

Indeed, the shadow of the American casino capital looms large over Beijing and many other Chinese cities, which vie with one another in copying the model of Las Vegas to become a mixture of something of everything.

With a messy combination of bits from New York City, Paris, Italy, Egypt and others, Las Vegas could satisfy a fancy of the wonderland.