"In the early years, transportation between Hefei and South Korea was not convenient

These changes may look pleasant, but not quite so to Derek Hyra, an associate professor at the American University School of Public Affairs and an expert on neighborhood changeChen Weihua/China DailyHaving lived in Washington DC for almost five years, I have seen the city growing, with new construction and renovation projects happening in many streets and neighborhoods

Hyra described how the "dark ghetto" has been turned into a "gilded ghetto"To Hyra, it has caused not just residential displacement for African Americans but also political and cultural displacementHis book this year, Race, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City, is the result of his many years of field research on the issues

Whites are the majority now, accounting for 55 percent of the communityThe 14th Street near U Street, a traditional African American neighborhood, is now lined up with hip restaurants and bars in this photo taken on Sunday

The area, a 90 percent black neighborhood just a few decades ago, was only 30 percent African American by 2010

Hyra described the massive transformation in the U Street/Shaw area, where the city's once most infamous open-air drug market has become a farmers' market now selling grass-fed beef and homemade duck egg ravioliBy comparing these figures, Pew seems to suggest that China and the US are engaging in a popularity contest in the Philippines

A zero-sum mentality about China-US relations is reflected not only in the thinking of some US politicians, but also in a new survey conducted by the Pew Research CenterAccording to the survey, 78 percent in the Philippines have a positive view of the US as of this spring, down from 92 percent who expressed positive sentiments in 2015

The US government, lawmakers and pundits have generally expressed negative views of Duterte since he took office last JuneBut Filipinos also share positive views of China and its leader, President Xi Jinping