You walk from your quiet, pleasant flat in Block 6 in Yue Xing Hua Yuan (translating somewhat bizarrely as the ‘Monthly Payment Garden Community’) through gardens set up with shelters, seats and exercise equipment for public use - sweet shades of communist planning. Old men bet on draughts and the old women are gossiping, minding the washhouse or the grandchild. Go past the outdoor food prep area for the restaurant on the corner, noting the wonderfully efficient double cleaver method, and step out into Hell on Earth, the blasting hornfest, that is the East Beijing Road, and the 10 minute walk to work.
Think transport in China, think rickshaws and bikes. The rickshaws have gone for the tourist trade and the expensive heritage wedding. As late as the 1980s and 1990’s China was described as the “country of bicycle wheels” but now most of these pushbikes lie rotting in the sheds outside our flat and the e-bike (battery powered scooter) has triumphed. Mopeds and e-bikes have become the most popular mode of transport in China. One out of 3 families own at least one and China is the largest producer and consumer in the world. “Sustainable, low carbon transport”; I hear the cry from the Geography textbook! But soft, they are creeping up silently behind you! Well not exactly creeping, more like 20mph up to a max of 40mph, on the pavement, or on the wrong side of the road or bikeway, weaving in and out of cars and people at a density of hundreds per minute, with riders aged 96 to 16 (probably much less outside the cities). You need take no test, hold no licence, make no handsignals nor warn anyone of your approach; no one wears protective headgear, and you can carry 1 or even 2 passengers of any age and size. Zooming at silent speed to their destination, riders are often oblivious to those around them, and their negligence means 6 out of 10 Road Traffic Accidents are related to e-bikes. On the pavement, it is commonplace to be faced with the rage of a negligent rider who finds you in his or her way, even if you are both proceeding in the same direction. Let the pedestrian, not the biker, beware, and make sure you look both ways - even on a one way route.
And the cars. The preferred private vehicle is a 4WD or at least, a large new saloon costing more than in the UK. Not sure how, when a quality restaurant meal is £2, a good professional salary is on £15K and house prices are fast catching up with the west. China’s love affair with the car is naturally following the same dismal trajectory as ours did, and these are bigger beasts, designed for the Chinese petrol head. The car industry is seen as one of the main domestic consumer drivers of the Chinese economy. It was the Nanjing Automobile Co. that bought up the sad remains of MG Rover Group in 2005 for a pound, employers since the 19th Century of many in my family (don’t forget British Leyland and BSA, its predecessor). But the UK industry is doing pretty well here too with BMW Minis, Range Rovers and Rolls Royces filling the morning car lanes.
Car drivers are much better trained than e-bike riders and follow sensible speeds despite a love of lane weaving. There are four tests to take: theory, basic driving, advanced driving, advanced theory. New rules of the road from Jan 2013 mean bus drivers have to stop at pedestrian crossings, and increasingly so do the many taxi drivers. However, with a jaw dropping lack of consistency, most car drivers have still to see the light. A disabled man, his carer, and myself narrowly avoided being ‘taken out’ while walking on the pedestrian crossing as a car sped over on the inside of the stopped bus and taxi. Post graduate Xue Min tells me the joke: The foreigner asks the policeman, “when is it safe to cross” – answer, “follow when the brave man does” For parking regulations, please see the photo.
There are 5.7m cars in Beijing, most of them seemed to be on the road to the Great Wall on the 9th September at 8am when it took our minibus 3 hours to cover 25 miles. China has one of worst RTA statistics in the world with 20.5 fatalities per year per 1000 of the population, slightly behind the truly awful African figures for Angola, Benin, and Burkino Faso. In China this translates into a minimum of 300 deaths per day, rising to a max of 700 per day – a planeload or three. One victim, in Shanghai on the evening of Friday 19th September, was the friend of John’s young colleague here. She was 26, recently married, played the violin at his wedding, and had an 8 month old daughter.
Back to the deferential 1930s rickshaw (huang bao che) driver. Because the customers were wealthy and educated, his ‘politesse,’ (though his life as an exploited and poor labourer was unenviable) was well renowned. The changes in transportation are reflected in people’s behaviour. My impression is of a gentle, hospitable, unaggressive Chinese race who bring up their children beautifully. We hear no tantrums, or wailing infants, despite the well known ‘little Emperors’ syndrome associated with single children. Yet in the public arena, away from family and friends, civic responsibility seems embryonic. China is the best placed of any country to move quickly into mass public transport systems: a new Nanjing metro line is being built 50 metres from where I write, recent enthusiasms for air pollution control can only be good and new regulations prohibit lorries from the cities.
So goods to shops are often transported in by – guess what – an e-bike!
Think transport in China, think rickshaws and bikes. The rickshaws have gone for the tourist trade and the expensive heritage wedding. As late as the 1980s and 1990’s China was described as the “country of bicycle wheels” but now most of these pushbikes lie rotting in the sheds outside our flat and the e-bike (battery powered scooter) has triumphed. Mopeds and e-bikes have become the most popular mode of transport in China. One out of 3 families own at least one and China is the largest producer and consumer in the world. “Sustainable, low carbon transport”; I hear the cry from the Geography textbook! But soft, they are creeping up silently behind you! Well not exactly creeping, more like 20mph up to a max of 40mph, on the pavement, or on the wrong side of the road or bikeway, weaving in and out of cars and people at a density of hundreds per minute, with riders aged 96 to 16 (probably much less outside the cities). You need take no test, hold no licence, make no handsignals nor warn anyone of your approach; no one wears protective headgear, and you can carry 1 or even 2 passengers of any age and size. Zooming at silent speed to their destination, riders are often oblivious to those around them, and their negligence means 6 out of 10 Road Traffic Accidents are related to e-bikes. On the pavement, it is commonplace to be faced with the rage of a negligent rider who finds you in his or her way, even if you are both proceeding in the same direction. Let the pedestrian, not the biker, beware, and make sure you look both ways - even on a one way route.
And the cars. The preferred private vehicle is a 4WD or at least, a large new saloon costing more than in the UK. Not sure how, when a quality restaurant meal is £2, a good professional salary is on £15K and house prices are fast catching up with the west. China’s love affair with the car is naturally following the same dismal trajectory as ours did, and these are bigger beasts, designed for the Chinese petrol head. The car industry is seen as one of the main domestic consumer drivers of the Chinese economy. It was the Nanjing Automobile Co. that bought up the sad remains of MG Rover Group in 2005 for a pound, employers since the 19th Century of many in my family (don’t forget British Leyland and BSA, its predecessor). But the UK industry is doing pretty well here too with BMW Minis, Range Rovers and Rolls Royces filling the morning car lanes.
Car drivers are much better trained than e-bike riders and follow sensible speeds despite a love of lane weaving. There are four tests to take: theory, basic driving, advanced driving, advanced theory. New rules of the road from Jan 2013 mean bus drivers have to stop at pedestrian crossings, and increasingly so do the many taxi drivers. However, with a jaw dropping lack of consistency, most car drivers have still to see the light. A disabled man, his carer, and myself narrowly avoided being ‘taken out’ while walking on the pedestrian crossing as a car sped over on the inside of the stopped bus and taxi. Post graduate Xue Min tells me the joke: The foreigner asks the policeman, “when is it safe to cross” – answer, “follow when the brave man does” For parking regulations, please see the photo.
There are 5.7m cars in Beijing, most of them seemed to be on the road to the Great Wall on the 9th September at 8am when it took our minibus 3 hours to cover 25 miles. China has one of worst RTA statistics in the world with 20.5 fatalities per year per 1000 of the population, slightly behind the truly awful African figures for Angola, Benin, and Burkino Faso. In China this translates into a minimum of 300 deaths per day, rising to a max of 700 per day – a planeload or three. One victim, in Shanghai on the evening of Friday 19th September, was the friend of John’s young colleague here. She was 26, recently married, played the violin at his wedding, and had an 8 month old daughter.
Back to the deferential 1930s rickshaw (huang bao che) driver. Because the customers were wealthy and educated, his ‘politesse,’ (though his life as an exploited and poor labourer was unenviable) was well renowned. The changes in transportation are reflected in people’s behaviour. My impression is of a gentle, hospitable, unaggressive Chinese race who bring up their children beautifully. We hear no tantrums, or wailing infants, despite the well known ‘little Emperors’ syndrome associated with single children. Yet in the public arena, away from family and friends, civic responsibility seems embryonic. China is the best placed of any country to move quickly into mass public transport systems: a new Nanjing metro line is being built 50 metres from where I write, recent enthusiasms for air pollution control can only be good and new regulations prohibit lorries from the cities.
So goods to shops are often transported in by – guess what – an e-bike!