The Olympification of the Capital City – China News

Beijing will add 21 new subway lines by the year 2020, according to a new urban traffic program issued by the municipal government Thursday.

By 2020, there will be 30 subway lines and 450 stations in Beijing, reaching 1,050 kilometers in distance. Residents within the Fourth Ring Road can walk to a station in 10 to 15 minutes, according to the program plans.

The "security theater" found in a number of subway stations in China seems more capable in stopping balloons than bombs. In at least 2 cities, scanners were operated without proper radiation checks.

Beijing authorities have been working hard to rid the 2008 Olympic host city of beggars, stray cats, bad English signs, polluted air, rundown hotels, and foreign students who are seen as a political threat to the Games. Now that hand-foot-mouth disease has once again reared its ugly..

Passengers were up in arms in Beijing when they were suddenly told they would have to remove their shoes and belts in order to pass through Level 2 security checks at the capital's airport. At Shanghai's Pudong and Hongqiao airports and other airports around the country the story was the same.

On Sunday, July 5th at around 9:30pm Beijing time, a riot began which has crippled Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang province. Many Uyghurs have taken to the streets, overturning cars and smashing windows.

Beijing has changed so much, and yet remained the same since we lived there two years ago. New high-rise apartment buildings are changing the skyline of our old neighborhood, our subway stop has been improved and new lines have been added to the maze the Beijing Subway is becoming.

Below we have presented a rundown of some of the bigger business stories to hit Tianjin this week. Included in the rundown are news about Foxconn, a new steel merger, the Summer Davos, a new hotel, and the arrival of one of Europe's largest cruise lines.

Beijing subway's line 2 was closed to passengers on the morning of July 21. The closure coincided with the introduction of a new system whereby cars are only allowed to drive on alternate days depending on their license plate numbers.

Because of the coming World Expo in Shanghai, stricter security measures have been implemented in the metro and also as far as the Beijing Railway Station. Expo volunteers suddenly appeared too, apparently to make commuter’s lives easier.