2007 Nov 20 Beijing by Numbers
2, 889, 900
Number of passenger trips recorded on Beijing's subway system last Friday, Nov 16. A new record for the swamped system whose load has increased dramatically since last month when line 5 opened for business and fares were reduced to 2 kuai. As we discovered recently when trying to take a train home from the Dawang Lu station, Fridays are the busiest days. Two weeks ago during the evening peak hour the station was closed for 20 minutes due to platform overcrowding.
We have People's Daily to thank for this prize quote from a Beijing Subway official:
"Passengers should go to work earlier and come back home later than usual, so as to avoid transport peak."
34.5
Percent of the city's commuters choosing public transport. This is the first time this number has exceeded the percentage of people driving a private vehicle to work (32) since figures were first recorded in 2001
6.27
The price Beijing motorists now have to pay for a liter of the premium #98 petrol. For those trying to work out what this would be equal to back home it’s about 84 U.S. cents/58 euro cents a liter or US$3.20/€2.20 a gallon
In related news the city government has decided to subsidize taxi drivers an additional RMB 110 a month, following the 10-percent price hike
70
Number of trainee drivers hired to man the new "driver-less" Airport –Dongzhimen lightrail system
88
Percent of people taking part in a survey organized by Sina who support one of the new recommendations that will see the number of official holidays increase from 10 to 11 days
100
The number of new emergency shelters to be built in downtown Beijing
208
The height in meters of the big wheel (don't call it a Ferris wheel) that construction began on in Chaoyang Park last week
1000
Number of Bank of China branches that will be selling Olympic tickets in the second attempt at a second phase come Dec 10
3,400
Number of illegal guns either seized or collected in a gun amnesty by the Beijing police that were recently disposed of at the Shougang smelter
50,000
The number of trees up for adoption at the Olympic Memorial Park in Badaling
430,000
number of boxes of fireworks expected to arrive in the city next month. The city will allow fireworks to go on sale outside the fifth ring road on Jan 1 2008 and between Feb 1-21
10,000,000
Amount in RMB that Beijing Guo'an Football Club offered as a prize to their players if they could manage to win premiership honors in the 2007 China Super League
China Wide
54,000
The average bid in RMB for private car license plates in Shanghai this month. This is the second consecutive month prices surpassed 50,000 yuan
2,040,000
Age of the fossilized human remains that Chinese archaeologists have found in the Three Gorges area of southwest China.
3,720,000
The number of tourist who traveled to Tibet during the first 10 months of the year.
30,460,000
The number of "illegal publications" confiscated in China during the past in 3 months
90,000,000
Amount in RMB that Lust, Caution has earned at the Chinese box office since it opened two weeks ago
Links and Sources:
The First:本周五地铁客流创新高 (image)
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Snowmen Battle a Shocking Rise in Obesity Rates
Officials fear this obesity epidemic could mean dire consequences for the snow people community.
The rate of obesity in Beijing’s snow people population has risen by approximately 95% in the last 5 weeks, government officials say.
Spring Festival Text Messages
Aside from feasting, watching Zhang Ziyi's poor attempt at lip-syncing on TV and letting off truckloads of fireworks, Beijingers were also busy sending off text messages to friends and family on Spring Festival eve. The official numbers haven't been announced yet, but China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) was forecasting that across the country more than 17 billion Spring Festival greeting messages would be sent via mobile phone over the holiday season. In Beijing alone 600 million text messages were sent on Chuxi (Spring Festival Eve), which works out at close to 38 texts per person. This number is up from 400 million last year.As in previous years, a contest aimed at discovery the best Spring Festival text message was held.
Get Ready for Grit
Spring is right around the corner, and with that comes the annual spring sandstorm season. For newbies to Beijing, this means a few months of dust and dirt blowing through town like a vacuum cleaner on reverse, and when it gets bad, conditions can be downright apocalyptic.2008 is looking especially grim, according to the Beijing Meteorological Station, which is predicting as many as 11 days of dust storms this year due to a warm winter and less rainfall in the desert areas surrounding the capital.
Xinhua reports that recent years have seen an average of 9.7 days of dust storms, though last year saw only three blow through town. But because 2007 saw 11 percent less precipitation than the average levels of previous years, spring is indeed looking like gritty.
Better dust off those facemasks now.
Holy Smoke, Beijing!
Break out the masks, folks!
According to the State Environmental Protection Administration, the brown haze that descended on our fair city hit a whopping 421 on the Air Pollution Index today. To put that in perspective, on a good day it hovers between 50-150. On a bad day, we're looking at 200 or so.
In fact, today's smog is so bad that the American Environmental Protection Agency rates it as Condition Maroon - or Hazardous. They even go so far as to advise "AQI values over 300 trigger health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected." Doctors recommend not undertaking physical exercise outside, and limiting exposure to the pollution.
Not a day to be leaving the house, if you can avoid it. And if you do, make sure you mask up!
Quickie Links: No Ban on Cars, Hatching the Bird's Nest, The "Happiest" City in China and more
The Guardian: Beijing's "bird's nest" stadium to open in AprilTest events at the Olympic stadium will start next spring in the run-up the Games in August.
AFP: Beijing rules out car restrictions during Olympics
City officials are hoping that “encouraging people to use public transportation” next August will be sufficient enough to keep road traffic down during the Olympics.
