184 Days of the Shanghai Expo

Sunday saw the closure of the Shanghai World Expo, an event that the People's Daily has hailed as a "magnificent gathering of human civilizations".  Certainly, the figures speak for themselves.  The 6-month run has seen over 70 million people (many of them ordinary Chinese) visit the international showcasing event, with over 200 countries and organisations exhibiting on the site.

Since Shanghai first got the go-ahead to host the 2010 World Expo the subject has been given huge coverage and attention within China.  The face of the infamous Haibao can be seen on pictures, souvenirs and trinkets, symbolic of the desire of the Chinese authorities to ingrain the importance of the Expo in popular imagination.  In much the same way as the Beijing Olympics came to be viewed as representative of China's new role in the 21st century world, the goings on in Shanghai are a continuance of the same theme.  More than usual, this year's Expo was all about image and soft power, with China able to establish itself (temporarily at least) as a focus for international exchange.
 

The Ticket to Eased Congestion

In the run up to the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the Chinese government proceeded to ban around 50% of cars from Beijing's busy roads in an effort to reduce pollution in the city. As Reuters reported, drivers were banned on alternate days depending on whether their car's number plate ended in an odd or even digit, a move that cost city authorities around 189 million dollars in lost road and vehicle taxes. To ease congestion further, an additional 3 extra subway lines (the Olympic Branch Line, the Airport Express, and Line 10) were also added to the Beijing transport network in preparation for the extra visitor footfall, with estimates suggesting the improved subway system was able to accommodate an additional 4 million passengers each day.

While Beijing was able to generally cope with the visitor surge during the Olympics, since then the subway system has continued to get busier. With the Beijing government willing to subsidise its citizenry's travel (journeys cost Beijing residents only 2 jiao- the equivalent of about 2 British pence), using public transport is by far the cheapest option for travel in the city. Day after day, thousands of Chinese frequent the subway stations in the centre of the city and, while the experience is no worse (and perhaps better) than networks like the London Underground, at peak time overcrowding on trains can be a problem.

With this in mind, it comes as little surprise that this week an announcement by the Beijing Subway Construction and Administration Corporation detailed the opening of a new line linking Beijing's Fangshan suburb to the main subway network (as reported by Xinhua). The 25 km Fangshan Line is expected to be operational by the end of 2010, by which point the total track length of Beijing's subway network will be approximately 300 km.

This sustained investment by the city's authorities in public transport is sign that pollution remains a pressing concern for China's sprawling urban areas. With major traffic problems developing into a huge 100 km traffic jam earlier this week on one of China's main expressways, there are multiple signs that the development of the country's transport infrastructure has not kept pace with the rapidly rising number of cars on China's roads. As migration from rural to urban areas continues to swell the populations of cities like Beijing and Shanghai, further investment will be needed if traffic problems are to be prevented from becoming a major hindrance to the Chinese economy.

To find out more about Beijing's subway system, click here.