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I drove my car to Yang Cheng lake today with my friends. We have four cars today.
The Yang Chen Lake is the darker lake on the top to the characters Suzhou in the map below.
First Time on Highway
Thanks to the new transportaation regulation, I, as a intern driver, can drive onto the expressway now. In contrast, the old law requires driver to hold a driver's license for at least one year before he/she can use the expressway.
The Route
From the Yan An Elevated Road, driving westward, and I arrived at the A9 entrance.
© Jian Shuo Wang
Above is the hand drawn map of Shanghai Basic Highway Infrustructure.
Pictures
I am clearning the wind screen when I waited for others.
© Jian Shuo Wang. Photographed by Wendy Fan
Factories in Kunshan. Kunshan is a rising star in China's econimic zones. It is reported majority of Taiwan factories gather in Kunshan.
The Yang Cheng Lake. It is famous for the Big Crabs.
Below is the A11 from Nanjing to Shanghai direction. There are two lanes for single direction now. As you can see from the picture, contruction is unertaken to expand two more lanes.
Turning to the A11.
The other three cars in the same group to Yan Cheng Lake.
Turning to A9. It is good choice to name the Highways with numbers. It is much easier to remember A9 than the origional name - Huqingping Highway. The benifit is more obvious for foreigners who cannot read Chinese.
Posted by Jian Shuo Wang at July 10, 2004 11:15 PM
Copyright: You are free to redistribute this work, as long as you keep this disclaimer
and this link: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20040710_group_drive_to_yang_cheng_lake.htm
The major changes I noticed were the new highways around the whole country built in the 90s and still being built now. It's very much like the US building the interstate highways during Ike's era.
Posted by: btr (external link) on July 11, 2004 1:04 AMHey what car where u driving? I like the futuristic looking dashboard =)
Posted by: Frank (external link) on July 11, 2004 2:49 AMJianshuo, numbering is universal, naming is confusing. You're right !
What did you do at Yang Cheng Lake ?
Is it clean, and are there any activities or places to see there ?
By the way, this time you manage to take photos even if you were driving !
Posted by: Carsten on July 11, 2004 2:52 AMVery interesting & well-written article. Thanks for posting it, Jianshuo.
Presumably, the A30 is only an incomplete ring. Since the outer ring road is A20, is there a number equivalent for the inner ring road?
Posted by: WilliamW on July 11, 2004 9:53 AMhehe, why don't you use the windscreen spray to clean the windscreen than coming out of the car to clean the screen manually using a solution???
Posted by: James on July 11, 2004 2:59 PMLet me answer your questions one by one.
Frank, the Car is FIAT Siena HL http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20040316_fiat_siena_15_hl_pictures.htm It is very nice. I am very happy with it so far.
Carsten, we went there just to have lunch, then we returned. It is famous for the big crab. I grew up in North China and am not familiar with the difference between crabs. I don't know how different Yang Cheng Lake crab is with other crabs. However, people in Shanghai just like to drive 100+ km to taste the Yang Cheng crab.
The pictures were taken by Wendy. She sits besides me.
WilliamW, there is no name for the inner ring. Since the middle ring between A20 and inner ring is under construction. I guess it will be named A10.
James, I am cleaning the windscreen using Shell Windscreen washer - it helps to keep rain out of the windsreen. Shell has the worst corperate Internet. I searched but cannot understand its structure and cannot find a link to this great product.
Are all the highways / motorways free in China?
They look well designed roads and with so litle traffic on a delight to drive on. I remember when I was quite young - 10 ish - my parent's drove us on the first UK motorway for an outing and then when we had just learnt to drive we went to the motorway service stations for refreshment and entertainment. Now they are so bad - that's the motorways and service stations - we avoid them!
Posted by: George on July 20, 2004 3:48 PMGeorge wrote: Are all the highways / motorways free in China?
Answer, absolutely not. All toll highways. You pay when you get on and get off at certain stops.
Posted by: Lance on July 22, 2004 9:37 AMYou typically pay 15 RMB to 20 RMB at each toll gate.
Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on July 22, 2004 10:09 AMAny restaurant recommendations for lake Yang Cheng? Also, can you do other activities there like bike around, boat ride, walk around the lake, etc?
Thanks!
Posted by: Tiffany on October 17, 2005 7:21 PMHi!
I would like to ask if I'm living in Kunshan what's the nearest and the best school to study chinese? And if there's no available nearer school, can you please give me an option on where to study chinese in shanghai considering my location which cannot be changed.
Thanks and hope to receive your reply soon.
Posted by: Weng on October 26, 2005 10:07 PMGood work, clear and useful. I am returning to Jiangsu very soon and your page really made me feel at home again, seeing the familiar places and all. Even more, having the sketch drawn out by hand made the area clearer to me even though I have lived several years in Jiangsu.
Posted by: Todd Ying on June 10, 2006 6:43 PMJianshuo,
You seem to be the english authority on shanghai info which can't be found elsewhere on the internet... so I ask you this simple question, what is the fastest way to drive from Shanghai (Hongqiao Area) to Suzhou!!?? I have searched everywhere on the web for the answer, but in English, nothing comes up!! I suspect it is either the A9 or A11???? Grateful for your advice!
Posted by: Joe on February 9, 2008 8:06 PM