As a frequent traveler on Beijing’s new No.10 subway line, I have noticed that access for the disabled is probably not as good as it should be.  The other day, a group of Chinese women in wheelchairs were helped onboard by some subway employees. The employees put down a sheet of metal and the women were able to cross the gap between the platform and the train. Upon arriving at Huixinxi Nan Kou station, the women were greeted by another batch of subway employees who once again put down a sheet of metal and the women wheeled themselves off.

This system seems to work okay if the subway employees know in advance that people in wheelchairs will be boarding the train.  Yesterday, however, I witnessed a very different situation. A man in a wheelchair tried to disembark from the train but his front wheels swiveled sideways and were caught in the gap between the platform and the train. It was only then that a subway employee sprinted over and lifted the wheels from the gap.

Since I have not lived in other cities, I do not know what their access for the disabled is like. Therefore, please do not take this post as a comparison between Beijing and the West. In fact, this post intends to only focus on Beijing.  I think that Beijing really doesn’t get access for the disabled.  Beijing city planners think that access for the disabled amounts to a type of special treatment, but that is the exact opposite of what access for the disabled means.  Access for the disabled should enable a person with a disability to access public facilities without needing help, so they should be able to catch a bus or a train like any other person. In this regard, I think the host of the 2008 Paralympic Games has failed.

As regular readers of this blog know, I have been griping over the new No.5 subway line lately.  There aren’t any rubbish bins, faulty travelators are a huge waste of money and there have been stoppages.  To keep you updated, there still aren’t any rubbish bins, travelators are still struggling with the huge amount of passengers and trains kept stopping mid-tunnel last Monday.  However, today I want to gripe about something that probably can’t be directly blamed on the city government.  The thing that has been noticeable this week is the anger that erupts from the pores of passengers on the Beijing subway.  Slight nudges and accidental pushes can cause vicious tisking and angry reprimands.  As a daily user of the subway system, I am certainly no stranger to this palpable anger.  Nothing annoys me more than queue jumpers, space invaders and backpack wearers.  Here are some examples of recent happenings: 

The psycho chick – Beijing has been trying to make people wait in line before they board the subway, but this has only been mildly successful.  I was recently waiting in line when a young woman made a beeline for the door and pushed in front of me.  It was going home time and I was combative, so I lightly put my hand on her shoulder to stop her from pushing in.  At once, she turned around and loudly said "sorry".  As the doors opened, I spoke Chinese and told her that I was second in line and she was pushing in.  This caused her to give me a psycho stare, which only ended when I sat in another part of the carriage.  I seriously regret not calling her a chŏu biãozi. 

The other day, a young bloke carrying a laptop nearly knocked over a woman when he was trying to squeeze past.  I think the woman must have tisked because the man angrily reprimanded the woman.  I thought that his anger was a bit excessive because the woman was unaware that he was about to use brute force to squeeze past. 

I nearly missed my stop because everyone standing near the door didn’t get off.  As I squeezed past and tried to pull my bag out from the scrum of people, a woman wearing a red dress wailed:  “Why didn’t you get ready?”  She probably wasn’t talking to me in particular, but it pissed me off because she was partly to blame.  If she had the foresight to move to another part of the carriage, then I wouldn’t have had to squeeze past her. 

In my last post about the new No.5 subway line, I bitched and moaned about the faulty conveyor belt at the Chongwenmen transfer station.  I didn’t realise that even bigger problems were in the offing – this morning the subway line was temporarily out of order and my wife and I had to catch a bus to work.  No sooner had we descended an enormous flight of stairs to enter the subway station proper, we were told that the trains were temporarily out of service.  My wife was keen to stick it out and wait, but I was more pessimistic and quickly decided that we should catch a bus. 

Since the subway authority went to the trouble of announcing the delay, it must have been a serious problem.  The other day, we had to wait for about 20 minutes for a train, but there was no announcement (trains are meant to come every four minutes).  Today’s problem was probably a simple teething problem, but the entire subway is being hammered by the exponential increase in passengers.  In my view, the dirt cheap price of tickets is a mistake – instead of forcing car drivers off the road, the subway is taking people away from cheap buses and bicycles and has created underground bedlam. 

One of the ‘highlights’ of the new No.5 line is the conveyor belts at some of the stations, which bear a resemblance to the conveyer belts at airports.  You know what I am talking about – the conveyor belts that you can lug your heavy luggage onto and slowly move to your required departure gate.  Installing the conveyor belts at the subway stations gives a feeling of modernity and luxury, but is it really practical?  For one, most people are not carrying heavy luggage and they’re actually in a hurry, so the conveyor belts go way too slow.  Secondly, the subway system in Beijing is dealing with huge amounts of people, so do the conveyor belts have the durability to cope with this? 

It seems like my questions were given a strong answer today – the conveyor belt at the Chongwenmen Station was out of order this morning.  There have been too many people using the conveyor belt over the last week – it has been difficult not to bump into others and the conveyor belt has been crowded to the point of being dangerous.  If the conveyor belts really prove to be useless, then it will be another example of a lack of foresight when installing electrical facilities in Beijing.  There are many escalators in the city that are permanently turned off.  I am not sure why they are turned off, but climbing a non-moving escalator is much harder than climbing a flight of conventional stairs. In the case of the conveyor belts at the subway station, they are definitely not an efficient way of dealing with the limited space that needs to accomodate the thousands of passengers who take the subway every day.  Electrical facilities look flashy, but they are often not suitable for a sprawling city of 15 million, where things get broken very quickly. 

►It is one thing to give up your seat to an old person in need, but quite another to feel pressured to do so.  Instead of asking my wife directly, the old couple tried to make everyone feel sorry for them by acting in a rather obvious manner. 

► A lot of old people board the bus knowing that they have a very good chance to get a seat and they don’t mind flouting their ‘right’.  The problem is that Beijing is very competitive and you have to fight tooth and nail to get a seat.  A lot of old people board the bus with a smile and a knowing look and take seats away from the people who are part of the competitive grind that rules Beijing.  In fact, old people are taking advantage of being above the rules of the game. 

►My wife wasn’t feeling well after contracting the beginnings of a cold.  This brings another issue into play – old people get their seat because they look old, but what about the people who suffer from illness or other problems that are not immediately visible?

Finally, the Beijing Police are attempting to overcome the problem of minor car accidents causing major traffic jams.  Accidents as minor as paint scratches can often take more than an hour to resolve because the two parties need to wait until a member of the traffic police arrives to inspect the scene.  Beginning from July 1, drivers can fill out a form and take it straight to their insurance company without needing to consult the police.  It seems to be a great idea, but I wonder if it’ll be able to cut down on arguments between drivers.  On June 14, the China Police Daily published the following report: 

Beijing unveils a quick method of dealing with car accidents
China Police Daily, page 1, 14 June 2007

Beginning from July 1, people involved in minor car accidents on Beijing’s roads, such as bingles and scrapes, can fill out the Car Accident Rapid Handling Agreement and directly receive compensation from their insurance company.  If drivers cause a traffic jam by not immediately clearing the accident site, then they will be fined 200 yuan by the Public Security Traffic Department. 

The Beijing Public Security Traffic Administration Bureau and the Beijing branch of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission held a joint press conference on July 13, announcing that the Car Accident Rapid Handling Method will take effect from July 1.  The major change brought about by the new method is that drivers involved in minor accidents no longer need traffic police, but they can directly receive compensation from their insurance company by filling out the agreement. 

According to the statistics of the Beijing 122 traffic accident reporting service, 20 per cent of reported traffic jams were caused by traffic accidents. 

It was a rainy day and the traffic had jammed up like mud filling a gutter.  Instead of taking a stuffy neihuan bus, we took the cheaper waihuan one with fewer passengers.  It was a welcome change from our normal routine.  It was one of those bendy buses, except the metal bend of this bus had been left exposed, so I wasn’t able to lean on the side without hurting my back.  After getting on, I fumbled for a few minutes with the latch of the umbrella.  In front of us were two fat women.  The one sitting down was wearing the skin-coloured socks that foreigners in China love to hate.  To my left there were two women and one man standing in the middle of the aisle.  All three were shorter than average.  The man, who had a pug-face, stepped down onto the stairs that led to the backdoor of the bus.  Using the poles either side of him as a balance, he leant forward while chatting to the women.  I immediately thought that the man’s posture and facial expression indicated that he was trying to act ‘cool’.  The three of them rapidly chatted in hushed tones, which made them sound like they were gossiping.  I felt that they were looking at me and I braced myself to hear the word ‘laowai’.  I hate when people talk about me on the bus.  I tried to tune into their conversation, but they were talking too quickly. 

The waihuan traffic ground to a halt and everyone felt trapped.  Wondering whether our decision to catch a waihuan bus was wise, I looked out the window and tried to assess the traffic situation on the neihuan.  The windows of the bus had misted up so I had to lean forward and squint.  Apart from the chassis of a bus, I couldn’t really see much because the neihuan is higher than the waihuan.  After I finished squinting, I realised that the three short people were all staring at me.  ‘Gezi ai de ren,’ I haphazardly exclaimed to my wife.  I noticed that one of the short women had thin, curvy eyebrows, which naturally gave her an indignant look.  The other woman had snow white skin and looked like a mouse.  Their stares made my anger meter creep up a bit. 

I noticed that the fat woman with skin-coloured socks was examining my wife from head to toe.  She was doing so with a rather sceptical look on her face.  I found it strange that a woman was checking out another woman.  The traffic had been trickling forward and we came to the next stop.  The bus became crowded with countryside workers.  A particularly miserable worker shuffled past me and stood on the stairs leading to the backdoor (the pug-faced man had moved back to the centre of the aisle).  The man clung to the left pole like it was his mother.  He wore a yellow hardhat and a bandaid hung loosely from his left cheek.  When he walked passed me, I had noticed that the cut on his cheek was still red and sore.  I remember that his eyes were soft and lonely - they would have been more suitable for a shy child.  From his position leaning on the pole, he was directly facing my side.  I could feel him looking at me, but I didn’t worry too much. 

The problem with people who stand on the stairs is that they block others from getting off the bus.  It was now our turn to get off the bus so my wife asked the miserable worker whether he was getting off.  He said ‘no’ and promptly began to adjust his position to accommodate our leaving.  At that moment, the three short people burst out in high-pitched laughter, seemingly because they had been making fun of the miserable worker.  I think I overheard one of the women recounting the time she had to sit next to one of ‘them’.  ‘Them’ was seemingly a reference to countryside workers. 

We got off the bus and began to walk across the wet concrete of the street.  I glanced back at the bus stop and spotted the woman with curvy eyebrows standing next to a sign.  Her natural look of indignation had been heightened because her open mouth formed an ugly sneer as her ignorant eyes stared at me. 

On my way home from work, I pass Weiduomei, a bakery that specialises in making sweet things.  Similar to the tradition of roast duck restaurants having their kitchens partially open to their patrons, the front window of Weiduomei lets you see its employees icing delicious-looking birthday cakes.  The bakery also makes a selection of sweet breads and baked cheesecakes.  I am often tempted to buy a cheesecake on my way home, but I rarely succumb to the fattening habit of having a cheesecake for dessert.  I am able to avoid too many cheesecake purchases not because I am blessed with a rock-solid source of willpower, but because the queue in Weiduomei is often discouragingly long.  It's strange - I usually pass Weiduomei at about 6pm, so most people should be on the verge of having dinner.  However, the customers in Weiduomei are usually buying up a vast amount of cakes, thus leading me to the suspicion that they are eating the shop's sweet pastries for dinner. 

Weiduomei's sign. 

Bakeries in China are very different from bakeries overseas.  Most Chinese breads contain sugar and  pastries are often sprinkled with a meat substance called rou song.  My educated guess is that Chinese breads don't contain much nutrition, so it is a bit worrying if people start having Chinese bread for dinner.  I can appreciate the possible reasons why people have Weiduomei snacks for dinner.  Who wants to cook after sitting in traffic for more than one hour?  Bread is quick and cheap, which makes it perfect for white collar workers who are working long hours and not earning much.  Of course I could be totally wrong about this - people may be buying bread and pastries for breakfast the following day.  One day I'll have to overcome shyness and ask someone: Why are you stocking up on sugar-filled bread?

This week an accident that occurred during the construction of Beijing's new subway line was widely publicised in the Chinese media.  Thankfully, Reuters provided a brief summary of the accident and it was published in newspapers around the world, including The Age.  Accidents such as this are a black mark against the 2008 Olympic Games and fly in the face of the many reports that praise China's Olympic preparation.  This is already the third time that this blog has reported on accidents involving the construction of the Beijing subway.  It is clear that a part of the 2008 Olympic Games' opening ceremony should be dedicated to the construction workers who have been killed during Olympic construction.  Of course this won't happen, but it is good to see that the foreign media has finally reported on this matter. 

One of my biggest concerns with the dangerous construction of the Beijing subway is that it is setting a bad precedent for the construction of other subway lines in China.  It seems that the subway has already become part of the Chinese guidebook on how to build an up-and-coming city.  Nanjing and Guangzhou have both built subway lines, while I believe that Xi'an and Chengdu are also planning to join the club.  With its ancient history, the development of a subway line in Xi'an could destroy many historical artifacts that lie buried underground.  But of even greater concern is that construction companies may continue to flout safety regulations and risk the lives of the poorly-paid construction workers.  If even Beijing cannot ensure safe subway construction, imagine the dangerousness of construction in second and third-tier cities such as Xi'an and Chengdu.  The accidents that have occurred over the last year are a disgrace for China, Beijing and the Olympics. 

Previous China Machete posts about the construction of Beijing's subway: 

• Olympic Sacrifices
• How many lives will the Beijing Subway cost? 

My recent review of events in 2006 included the red banner campaign against heiche (illegal forms of transport).  I was further reminded of the campaign this week when I glanced through an academic report that analysed the whole affair.  The report confirmed my suspicions as to what are motivations behind the campaign.  It claimed that heiche are a danger to social order and a loss of tax revenue.  This may be true, but like the blatant copyright infringements that occur in China, heiche are actually the lifeblood of the Chinese economy.  China has minimal welfare – basically people need to make a living, rely on relatives or die hungry. 

Heiche drivers should actually be lauded for their survival skills, even if it means taking part in something illegal.  The report I glanced through said the same thing – the majority of heiche drivers are the unemployed and peasants who have lost their land. 

According to the report, there are 80,000 people who are employed by the heicheheiche drivers.  I don’t expect any new powers will be forthcoming, so expect a few more red banner campaigns in the future.  industry in Beijing.  That’s a lot of people who are making money off their own bat and not waiting around for government assistance.  No wonder attempts to clamp down on this illegal industry have been half-hearted.  The report noted that the authorities have little power to intercept and punish

In a recent post, I wrote that Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan lamented publicly in Hong Kong about Beijing’s poor traffic conditions, especially in regards to public transport.  Wang talked about the disparity of people taking air-conditioned buses compared to the majority of citizens who prefer to take buses with a monthly ticket.  This has proven to be a harbinger of things to come. 

Last Wednesday the Beijing Traffic Committee announced a bunch of initiatives to take effect from the start of next year, including the cancellation of monthly tickets.  The government will compensate the lost of the monthly ticket by offering greater discounts for people using IC cards.  Discounts for some buses currently stand at 20 per cent, but the government will open up 60 per cent discounts for some buses, presumably ones that previously accepted monthly tickets.  According to The Beijing News, a monthly ticket for adults costs 45 yuan.  If a person catches the bus 140 times per month, then each ride will cost .32 yuan.  The usual price for a bus without air-conditioning is one yuan.  Following the cancellation of monthly tickets, the 60 per cent discount will allow passengers to catch buses for .40 yuan, only slightly more expensive than monthly tickets. 

The Beijing Traffic Committee also announced that lanes for the exclusive use of public transport will be introduced to both the second and third ring roads.  This is a move that I welcome with open arms.  Most car drivers arrogantly push in front of buses and slow their progress down.  One problem with introducing exclusive lanes will be enforcement.  On the Third Ring Road, many cars illegally drive down the emergency lane, so if the authorities have trouble enforcing this, then how will they enforce exclusive lanes for public transport?  This action is an encouraging sign though that the government is finally moving to solve Beijing’s transport woes.  Unfortunately, it is probably coming several years too late. 

I have been meaning to write about the Beijing Car Show for over one week.  I attended the car show on a Thursday and had a good squiz at the models, cars and the huge crowd that was there. I don't really have much to say about it – it's obvious that cars represent a lifestyle that thousands of Chinese are clambering to attain.  This lifestyle, however, isn't really conducive for the 'harmonious' running of society.  For one, the traffic is already unbearable here - Beijing has reached its limit.  It was ironic that people were warned not to drive their cars to the car show because of the bad traffic around the Beijing International Exhibition Centre.  I think Sanlian Life Weekly succinctly wrote about the car show in their Week 44 edition: 

Attendees were probably not that professional – they didn't go to see engines or car parts.  They went to see Maserati and Lamborghini.  They also went to see Chana's Benben and Chery's QQ.  More often than not, they went to see an abstract version of the 'car', a gauge and tool of a prosperous life. 

The car show was a combination of both domestic and foreign car manufacturers.  The section of the car show with domestic manufacturers was fairly easy to navigate, but in the Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley sections, the crowds were suffocating.  Perhaps it was only because the best-looking models were working in those sections, but it was probably more because attendees wanted to come closer to an unattainable dream. 

A foreign model at the Beijing Car Show

Sanlian Life Weekly also had some interesting things to say about Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan: 

On the eve of the Beijing Car Show's opening ceremony, Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan was in Hong Kong saying that Beijing's traffic congestion was serious, with the key problem being that problems with public transport had yet to be resolved.  If public transport isn't good, people will all drive private cars and the city will be hard to manage.  Statistics show that in recent years, despite Beijing's strong development of public transport, a constant rate of less than 30 per cent of the city's population use public transport.  Mayor Wang said:  "Despite having televisions, air-conditioned buses don't carry many passengers.  On the other hand, buses with monthly tickets are always crowded.  This is not harmonious and needs to be changed." 

Buses with monthly tickets are much cheaper.  I am always amazed at the difference one kuai can make.  A bus with a one-kuai ticket is always much more crowded than a bus with a two-kuai ticket, even though a two-kuai bus is more comfortable and equipped with a television.  Click here to see a previous post about Beijing's traffic problems. 

A Yikatong card

Yesterday I saw on BTV (Beijing Television Station) that the company responsible for Yikatong has been taken to court by a second-year university student for excessive profiteering.  Yikatong is the card people use to pay for public transport and has become widely used in 2006.  To buy the card, people must first pay a ‘deposit’ of 20 yuan and then pay an adjustable amount of credit to cover public transport costs.  The use of the word ‘deposit’ is a bit strange because there is no clear indication that consumers can return the card and receive their money back. 

According to the television report, the production cost of each card is four yuan.  That means for each unit sold, the company responsible (a company associated with the Beijing City Government) will make an immediate profit of 16 yuan.  Considering the huge amount of people who use the card (at least one million), that stands for a lot of profit.  One of the other companies involved in Yikatong is CITIC, a large government-owned investment bank. 

The profit does seem excessive, so I hope the court action will prove fruitful.  During the television report, the journalist interviewed several members of the public and most seemed to think 20 yuan wasn’t too expensive.  I guess that may have been the genius of the plan, make it cheap enough for the average punter to stomach, but sell it in huge numbers to maximise profits. 

Report by China Youth Daily

Last night my fiancee and I were riding home from the gym when we came across an interesting sight.  In the lane near our home, there was a long convoy of young-looking security guards slowly riding bikes.  The guards were wearing long grey overcoats and white helmets.  By helmets, I don't mean bicycle helmets because no one in Beijing wears those.  I actually mean that they were wearing the kind of helmet that riot police wear when they go to control a protest.  At the back of each bike, the security guards had stuffed a long and thick stick.  Obviously, these guys were prepared to do some heavy-duty enforcing.  I thought that the sticks looked particularly crude, but my fiancee argued that all police brandish some type of stick.  My argument was that police batons are actually a more sophisticated type of weapon, being that they are made out of metal or plastic and that they are fashioned to fit snugly into the policeman's uniform. 

Sticks aside, I wonder what these 'riot guards' have been assigned to accomplish.  Are they trying to ensure that no violence occurs in the district?  Who employs them?  I think it's pretty sad when the Beijing police force needs a bunch of stick-wielding boys to enforce law and order. 

The following advertisement bears the slogan 'be a foreigner's landlord'.  The advertisement lines the western part of Dongzhimenwai Da Jie.  I find the advertisement's use of the word laowai a little bit offensive, although I don't know why.  Perhaps foreigners are meant to be better tenants and have enough money to rent expensive 'boutique' apartments.  It is strange because this year the government announced plans to curb the ability of foreigners to invest in Beijing real estate.  There was an inkling that the record high prices in Beijing could be attributed to foreigners who breeze in and out of the market and buy up big, thus pushing the prices up.  Obviously the plan doesn't include local buyers who rely on foreigners to pay back their investment.  Meanwhile, the much feted laobaixing are still struggling to buy a decent house to suit their needs. 

On 30 June I wrote a post entitled How many lives will the Beijing subway cost?  The post was based on a report in the Beijing Times about an accident that occurred during the construction of the subway’s No.10 line.  Two men were killed.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time that a tragedy has occurred during the construction of this line.  Yesterday Beijing Times reported the following:

Those responsible for the No.10 line accident sentenced

The Beijing Times previously reported on the death of three men due to construction being carried out on the subway’s No.10 line in an unsafe environment.  The Chaoyang Court recently meted out sentences to five people responsible for the accident.  The sentences varied from eight months to two years imprisonment. 

The people responsible for this accident were: Li Yingping, Zhang Yuefa, Yang Shukai, Xiang Shan (all lower-level managers) and an underage person called Mou who operated the crane. 

The court discovered that despite not checking whether a crane had any hidden safety dangers, Li Yingping signed a document that verified the machinery’s safety.  In addition, the other four people knew that this machinery had some hidden safety problems, but they did not prevent it from being used.  The accident on 27 February 2006 was caused by the misconduct of these five people.  At the time, Mou was using a fake crane operating certificate to operate the crane.  The crane’s steel cable broke and fell on and killed three workers. 

Below is a sign on the Third Ring Road in Beijing.  It says: 19 people have been injured and 9 killed because they crossed the motorway.  Please take the overpass. 

20 metres away from the sign someone has taken away the rails that prevented people from crossing the road and taking a shortcut to the bus stop on the main part of the Third Ring Road.  Originally, people had to cross a bridge to get to the stop, but now they can go directly to the bus stop by crossing a three-laned road.  Below is a photograph of a woman going through the missing rails to take the shortcut. 

The following photograph shows the usual result of this shortcut - lots of people waiting to cross a busy three-laned road.  Despite the inherent dangers in taking the shortcut, its lure is irrestible to many commuters.