© Jian Shuo Wang. Taken on the opposite side of the China World Trade Center
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Beijing impresses me so much every time I visit. This visit was a business trip. The only time I got was to take Metro back to where I stayed after a business meeting. I decided to take metro to experience the city and save some taxi fee for the company. Here are the new findings from this adventure.
More Signes in Beijing
I felt people in Beijing are more talkive/expressive in written tags. I found lots of interesting signs, which made me laugh. Look at this photo: the design of the Internet terminal (with a phone set and a large screen) had big usability problems that many people were fooled by this koisek. So they make it up by sticking a tag on to the glass.
© Jian Shuo Wang. Taken on the opposite side of the China World Trade Center
It reads:
I am not a public telephone;
I am not a ATM either.
Stairs of Beijing Metro were Deep
Look at the stairs - long and deep into the ground. It is the longest underground stairs I have ever seen.
The waiting hall of the Beijing Metro were huge too. The tall poles made so much difference than those in Shanghai. There is only one story in Beijing metro while in Shanghai, the undergrand space was seperated by two floors.
Beijing Become Modern
© Jian Shuo Wang. JianWai Sohu from outside
This is the JianWai Sohu, right to the south of China World Trade Center. The architect is moden and the groups of buildings are rarely seen in Shanghai. The city of Beijing is large and gives huge areas of space to accomendate building groups, instead of sing towers.
Beijing is Still Using Paper Metro Ticket
Why Beijing still uses the Paper Tickets in Metro?
© Jian Shuo Wang. Tickets of Beijing Metro No. 1 and No. 2
Beijing's Landscape
The difference between Beijing and Shanghai, the two largest and most important city, is becoming more and more minor. There are tall and modern buildings in Beijng and the roads of Shanghai became wider in Pudong. Here is Beijing's landscape.
© Taken from Millenion building at San Yuan Bridge.
Update Fast-Slow track in Beijing Metro Febuary 16, 2004
Isaac asked: Jianshuo ,did you notice the fast/slow track of Metro auto-lift? I think it's very humanity.
Yes. I do. I took a special picture on that sign:
© Jian Shuo Wang. Taken at Ding An Men Station of Metro Line #2
It reads (briefly): Stand on the right and walk on the left.
I saw the similiar sign at San Fransisco airport (SFO). To certain extent, Beijing seems more matched to the international traditions. :-D
Posted by Jian Shuo Wang at February 16, 2004 5:06 PM
Copyright: You are free to redistribute this work, as long as you keep this disclaimer
and this link: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20040216_beijing_impression.htm
The newer 'chengtie' lines don't use the paper tickets, they use little magnetic cardboard ones that are checked automatically by machine. I'd guess the other lines will start using them in the future.
Roddy
Posted by: Roddy (external link) on February 16, 2004 7:41 PMIn Shanghai, the line from XinZhuang to Minhang is using the paper ticket too:)
Posted by: henry on February 16, 2004 11:12 PMwhen i was in Beijing, i thought their metro station is really somehow like the old london train station. just the feeling :)
Posted by: tutu (external link) on February 17, 2004 9:31 AMJianshuo, very informative article & nice photos!
Can you please add the Simplified Chinese characters for JianWai Soho? Would you happen to know if it's for pure commercial or mixed residential-commercial use?
Posted by: WilliamW on February 17, 2004 9:53 AMIt is 建外Soho。 http://house.sina.com.cn/exhibit/1117.shtml
It is the combination of residential-commercial use. It was selected as the top real estate property in 2003.
Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on February 17, 2004 10:41 AMJian Shuo,
I think you mean "modern" and not modem. Modem is what I use to connect to the Internet. (I have a modern modem!) haha
Have been reading your blogs for almost a year now. Great stuff and I'm learning a lot about China. Thanks.
Janice, yes. I meant modern. I have changed it. Pardon me for the typos. :0D
Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on February 19, 2004 9:23 AMJianshuo ,did you notice the fast/slow track of Metro auto-lift? I think it's very humanity.
Posted by: Isaac (external link) on February 19, 2004 9:38 AMIsaac, Yes. I do. I take a picture especially for this. See the update inside the article.
Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on February 19, 2004 9:41 AMI don't know why, but I always feel a little negative about Beijing in my very few visits to the city. People are talkative, eager to show off their sense of humour, proud of the city, but not as capable/knowledgable as they sound/look. And they seems to care less about details, commitment and efficiency than Shanghainese.
Disclaimer: I am from Shanghai. My opinion is biased and I don't want to ignite any Beijing-Shanghai dispute.
Posted by: Li Jingyi on February 28, 2004 11:40 AMbeijing is the city i like a lot. impressed by its variety and also tolerance to variety.
compared with shanghai, and hongkong, beijing is more cultural, less commercial atmosphered.
many people complain about the little option for shopping and lack of night life there. that is partly due to lack of information and also a thin pocket.
I was wondering if anyone could tell me if Beijing has officially opened its thrid line or Line No. 13 which is to run from Beijing's Capitol Airport into the city and connecting to the Loop line at two stations. I have several conflicting reports.
Posted by: Mark O'Grady (external link) on April 7, 2004 5:22 AMThe line #13 is open but it does not reach the capital airport now.
Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on April 7, 2004 10:42 AMThere are at least to floor for Beijing Metro, "lane one" and "lane two" are in different levels, and we also building more lanes, which means more levels. The platform for lane one and lane two were build to match Russian style, but the new ones look all the same in order to save budget
Posted by: Songjie Li on November 30, 2004 12:54 PMMany of your comments,questions and pictures are wonderful. I was hoping if you can add some to BookChina.com forum. This would be a great help. Brian
Posted by: Brian Kaskie (external link) on May 12, 2005 6:04 AMJIANWAI SOHO! not "SOHU"
SOHO means "small office home office"
Posted by: Charles on May 23, 2006 4:33 AM