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So we’ve shown you where the big places in Beijing’s underground maze are located. Now it’s time to show you how to get around from A to B. Thing is — you need to go underground — and the only way in is with — a ticket. (Which, for too many of us, makes sense.)

Your Weapons: Play Your Cards Right

Beijing has officially stuffed its 38-year old paper ticket system in the paper bin. Beginning June 9, 2008, no amount of hollering to get into the station with an old, paper-based ticket will do the trick: the machines do only cards, which come in two forms: Single Journey Tickets (单程票) or the Beijing Super Pass (Yikatong, 一卡通).

If your trip in the underground maze is a once-in-a-lifetime experience — as in, if it’s a sole trip in your whole life — go for the Single Journey Ticket . Otherwise, though, go for the Beijing Super Pass. The thing is a lot easier on you — for one thing, you get spared the agony of waiting in line to get a ticket or being confronted with an automatic ticket machine that demands exact change only.

Getting A Single Journey Ticket or a Super Pass

“Oh, the agony of choice.”

Don’t get us wrong: Not only is choice extremely difficult for Blackadder (from whom we stole the previous quote with our sincere apologies), but with the Beijing Subway, card-wise, it’s a real pain-in-the-neck OR gate, not an AND gate, so to speak. You can’t exactly wave two cards over the faregate reader at the same time — nope, that trick won’t work. So you’ll have to settle for just one of the two: Single Journey Ticket or Beijing Super Pass.

• Single Journey Ticket (单程票, Dancheng piao): These are easy to get at a Subway station. You can get these either from an actual, living, breathing human being, or you can get them from a working but dead, lifeless machine. Human beings will hand you a Single Journey Ticket upon payment of the universal RMB 2 fee (Airport Express excepted); the machine spits the ticket out after you’ve paid.

• Beijing Super Pass (一卡通, Yikatong): You’ll have to find someone who can breathe (not something that only throws electronic messages at you) to get this baby. Then again, with the Super Pass, you’re not eternally condemned to getting them at your Subway station. Bus recharge spots (the famous “blue houses”) and a few banks, in fact (we know China CITIC Bank does Super Passes) will be pleased to hand you over a Super Pass. Here’s the thing: they require a RMB 20 deposit plus an initial top-up of RMB 20. You can throw a pink RMB 100 note (CNY 20 deposit, CNY 80 initial charge), and say this:

“Chong bashi kuai qian (充八十块钱)”

Man Meets Machine: Getting A Single Journey Ticket

OK, so you’ve decided that you want to abandon the world of touch-and-go Subway rides and settle for a once-in-a-lifetime (maybe!) Single Journey Ticket. And you want to get this thing from a ticket machine.

First of all, stay away from machines that have the words OUT OF SERVICE or MAINTENANCE on them (it’s too bad that was the only pic we could find). No amount of banging on the screen (or the machine, neither of which are recommended) will get you your ticket. Your odds increase at alarming rates if you find a machine that reads CHANGE, NO PAPER (insert coins only), NO CHANGE (does what it says on the lid), or, best of all, IN SERVICE. (RECHARGE ONLY is of no interest to you. )The machine accepts only RMB 1 coins and RMB 5 or RMB10 banknotes in good condition — if your dog ate it, the machine won’t eat it. (We know, we know: electronic indigestion sounds horrible.)Warning:

• Don’t buy return tickets at this machine. Tickets are only good for this very station — on this very day. (Yes, those are some seriously picky machines.)
• You need to hit confirm within 60 seconds, or your attempt at tricking tickets out of the machine (even legally) gets automatically nixed. (Some people miss this and end up causing massive queues in front of these machines.)
• Dead or disabled machines (ie those that give you no change, accept no paper, or are plain dead) are common currency on Line 5 stations in the evening, according to detailled research by your Beijingologist. You’ll need human-to-human interaction to get your Single Journey Ticket there.

Grab your change (if any), and your ticket. Head out!

Man Meets Machine: Topping Up Your Super Pass

First, the bad news: if you’re anywhere between Pingguoyuan and Fuxingmen stations on Line 1, as well as a few Line 2 stations, this trick simply won’t work. Automatic Super Pass Add Value machines (充值机) are on a permanent disappearing act at these stations. Seek human assistance instead.

Now, having said that, if you’re at any other station, you’re going to find at least one machine that does Super Pass top-ups. It’s often a machine that’s just slightly smaller thanAuto Ticket Machine. And it doesn’t have a coin slot.

Insert your card, choose English, choose Recharge, and feed the machine with RMB 50 or RMB 100 notes. Then choose if you want to recharge with a receipt (orange button) or without a receipt (green button). Life sure is great if you’re on at a Line 13 station, where just about all machines double as rechargers. And life is ninth heaven-ish in Line 5 stations, where you’re allowed to top up in increments of RMB 10 — not just RMB 50.

The Only Way In (And Out): The Ubiquitous Faregates

Probably the most important thing to remember about these faregates is how you use your cards — wait, play your cards right. This next bit is all you’ll need to know:

• Single Journey Ticket people, touch in and insert out. (There’s a card insertion slot — either integrated with the “touch zone” or as a separate part of the machine.)

• Beijing Super Pass people, touch in and touch out.

The other thing that’s of note: Stand outside the white line. (This is especially true for faregates on Lines 1, 2 and Batong.) There have been countless horror stories of people dipping cards while inside the faregate, only for the machine to beep in protest and the passenger getting just about no mileage at all. (We won’t even get into the mass crowds behind the guy.)

We Hope You’ll Never Need To Use This: Fare AdjustmentWe hope you’ll never have to use these guys, but just in case you lose your Single Journey Ticket or Beijing Super Pass, you’ll need to go through the Fare Adjustment counter. The fare will be RMB 3 (which is CNY 1 more than the standard charge, “to cover costs for the lost card”).If you lose your Super Pass — all hell breaks loose. Because Beijing’s Super Pass is not a registered card. If you lose a card with any charge on it, the extra charge, leaves you forever.And you’ll need to pay the CNY 3 to get out of the system.(Sniff.)

(Want to keep one of those cheap Single Journey Tickets? Faking a loss will set you back an extra CNY 1. Be smart and buy an extra Single Journey Ticket before you head into the system. It’s up to you to make sure you keep your “souvenir” ticket away from your “in-use” ticket, unless you want to be confused at the exit faregates!

Don’t Try This At All: Fare Evasion

It’s not like the Beijing Subway wants you to ride without paying. Heck, they’ve gone to massive attempts trying to stop this.

• Subway staff police the faregates like mad. If they catch two people (not a kid and an adult, by the way) slipping in together, these guys yell and chaos breaks out. (Or nearly.)

• Line 13 faregates are super-smart. To save energy, faregates on Line 13 close only after 8 seconds of inactivity. Just you try to storm in to an open faregate, however; this thing called “infrared” instantly gets wind of your (unpaid) presence, and before you know it, the doors slam shut as you’re just about to head for your train.

• Even if you’ve gotten in without paying, you’re still liable for a penalty. The punishment for riding without paying: ten times the standard fare. Owch. Not cheap.

Olympics Special: Security Checks

Safety first: The Beijing authorities have made security that bit more pronounced. With effect from June 29, 2008 — all the way through to September 20, 2008 — if you’re doing the Subway, you’re also going to be doing Security Check.

A few pointers:

• Baggage of any kind is liable for an X-raying. If your bag is huge or massive in numbers, it goes in for the obligatory check-up.
• You’ve got to have a sip of any water you’re taking in. (Just to be sure the stuff is not — “terrorist”.)
• If you’re caught bringing in explosives, you could be in for — on-the-spot arrests. They actually have people from the police at the Security Check!

We suggest that you travel light to avoid the hassles an impromptu Security Check could bring you.

Please Get Ready For Your Arrival

Good stuff. You’ve picked your destination. You’ve gotten your ticket, touched in, touched out (or inserted out), and are at your destination.

That’s just about it — pick your exit from the platform (this is crucial, as some stations use those sinister side halls where a wrong exit will cost you another CNY 2 just to get back into the system — or a long walk), and — be on your way.

I don’t often start posts with quotes, but here’s one to kick off with:

In real life, we talk fake stuff with our real names. On the Internet, we talk real stuff with our fake names.

Although yours truly is an advocate of the Real-Name Blogging system (he uses real names on all of his blogs, as well as on other blogs including CN Reviews), he realizes that maybe not everyone wants to use their real names. Even for things as “non-polit” as the time-and-again-delayed opening of Beijing’s new Subway lines, there’s that bit of laoli laodao (唠呖唠叨), or yak yak yak, that is best kept anonymous (one of the recent comments, “the authorities fooled us again!”, is better kept anonymous — China Internet veterans would know why).

This is the funny bit about the Chinese Internet. On forums as diverse in topics as Mac and mass transit, the funniest or most thought-provoking posts are often started by The Mao Zedong Trainset or the Super Rascal Rabbit — yes, people with names that will never make it to the average Chinese ID card. Freeway forums ban people with names named after (pardon the pun) freeway cloverleaves. The heaviest criticisms of The Powers That Be are almost never signed with a true name — the thing coming to the “truest name” is probably a virtual John Hancock by “John Doe”.

Let’s remind ourselves of the fact that the Games are near — and that everyone’s getting on edge. As a result, if the Web gets jittery our side… we’d know why. Getting on edge with a fake name is probably safer than getting on edge with a real name.

Yet this very phenomenon is interesting in its own right. We’re beginning to see uncensored content in Chinese about things that appear closer to “the truth”. The funny thing is, they’re true — but the names of those who wrote the stuff are fake.

On the other hand, the moment a CCTV (or evening Beijing TV) microphone is spotted, many a citizen switch into “satisfy-those-above-us-who-are-watching-us” mode and say the kind of stuff that they know the guys “up there” — well, “want to hear”. Bad commentary is nearly always dumped — at least never shown on the mundane silver screen.

Want to know why this is happening? Go back to the quote at the start of this post.

Interesting.

Please Get Ready For Your Arrival

Welcome to our capital — Beijing: a confusingly huge capital. 5 ring roads. 16 freeways (with just a few more under planning). 4 major train hubs. This is not your average Chinese village. This is it. Shanghai, be very afraid of your northern rival.

And add to this — 8 Subway lines by the time the Games are here. The latest bit of news comes as three new lines — Lines 8, Line 10 and the Airport Express — are slated to open in mid-July 2008, just weeks before the Olympics.

And, taxis are expensive. So where does that leave us today? A trajectory underground into the Beijing Subway. As the station announcements so proclaim: The next station is Beijing Subway. Please get ready for your arrival.

Click the image for a bigger map (Beijing Subway Network)

A Little History Behind the Underground World in the Nation’s Capital

The Beijing Subway wasn’t there when the PRC was created in 1949. When Londoners first went underground in 1863, Beijing was still Emperor City, and people in “The Jing” (as it’s otherwise known) were still more interested in building things such as the Summer Palace and Yuanmingyuan — things that stood above ground, not hidden somewhere in the underground. Even when Mao came to power, the Subway was in “no-rush, no-hurry” mode; people thought of getting from A to B in buses or in corporate cars (which were a rarity back in the day). Going underground was virtually unheard-of.

Then, in the 1960s, something awful started to happen to China’s ties with the former Soviet Union. With tension between Beijing and Moscow nosediving with every passing day, Mao and Co thought of digging things underground so that the Soviets wouldn’t wipe out the capital in one fell swoop. The city went underground 1965, with Line 1 and part of Line 2 built — a quick, one-liner service linking the city’s railway station with the western suburbs.

At first, Line 1 went bit by bit to Gongzhufen (where the western 3rd Ring Road is right now) further west, before the whole line went straight west into Pingguoyuan, which to many a visiting foreigner is a never-heard-of place in far far away western Beijing. By 1969, the deep deed was done: Beijing’s first Subway line became reality.

When Deng replaced Mao, Subway fever continued with the reforms. A second line, the loop line, became reality, running underneath the Inner City Walls just inside of the 2nd Ring Road. By 1992, the Subway even went commercial, linking Xidan, a major shopping area in western central Beijing with the rest of the network.

When the People’s Republic turned 50, the entire Chang’an Avenue got Subway service from the western terminus to Sihui East, the point where the avenue turned into a city expressway headed for the eastern suburbs in Tongzhou. Tian’anmen and Wangfujing got Subway service, too. Things were looking good.

Beijing’s successful Olympic bid added Lines 5, 8, 10, 13, as well as the Airport Express and the Batong Line, into the whole mix. Pre-Games, Beijing now has just under 200 km of the underground world to offer to the incoming visitor.

The Subway Lines, Blow By Blow

Want a real detailed look at each line? We figured that this might be the bit you enjoy the most — a Subway line with a pic per line. Just to make sure you’re on the right line to the right place…

Line 1: The West-East Express (Color: Red)

Beijing’s very first Subway line, indeed, Line 1 is a straight, almost-no-curves link from western suburban Beijing right into the city center. It zips right along Chang’an Avenue from the western suburbs in Pingguoyuan through Gucheng, all in relatively industrialized Shijingshan District, and then rushes east, bypassing the Military Museum, all the way to Xidan, before zipping through Tian’anmen Square. Post-Square, the line heads further east to Wangfujing before diving nose first into the CBD and the eastern suburbs.

Stations of interest to the incoming visitor: Bajiao Amusement Park (velodrome), Wukesong (basketball venue), Military Museum (museum and link-up to Beijing West Railway Station), and all stations between Fuxingmen and Dawanglu (central Beijing).

Batong Line: Extending East into the Suburbs (Color: Red)

The Batong Line, despite it being colored red (like its bro, Line 1), is probably of less importance to the incoming visitor than Line 1. Unless you’re after a bit of the new suburban Beijing, you might find yourself away from this line to the extent that it remains a subterranean (OK, actually above-ground) mystery.

Stations of interest to the incoming visitor: Sihui and SIhui East (to head back city-wards after a long day out east), Baliqiao (the Baliqiao old bridge), and Tongzhou Beiyuan (for a look at the eastern suburbs — a bit of real modernized Beijing).

Line 2: Running Circles Around the City (Color: Blue)

Line 2 is probably one of those lines you’ll have a hard time keeping away from. The Subway Gods hear you. Fully aware that you, O Picky Incoming Visitor (as seen in the eyes of many a local — the way we hear it in the capital), don’t like travelling with clackety old trains with service gaps the length of the Great Wall, end-to-end, Beijing Subway now has all-new rolling stock on the rails (indeed, about 90% of the whole line now has new trains), and has shortened Them Gaps down to 2 minutes 30 secs during rush hour. Getting you from A to B faster — and in more comfy style.

Stations of interest to the incoming visitor: nearly all, but especially the interchanges to the other lines — Xizhimen (Line 13), Yonghegong Lama Temple (Line 5), Dongzhimen (Line 13 and Airport Express), Jianguomen (Line 1), Chongwenmen (Line 5), and Fuxingmen (Line 1).A little note as we speak: Beijing Railway Station (as in the subway station) is out of service until further notice. Get to the station either via Jianguomen or Chongwenmen stations plus a bus or taxi ride (or walk if you fancy doing so).

Line 5: North To South, Mozart Included (Color: Purple)

An October 2007 addition, the Mozart Line as we know it (so called because for the first few months, Mozart — and only Mozart — was played in the whole system) does the whole thing north-south, creating a real Subway network (lines hitherto were either all-circles or all west-east).

Stations of interest to the incoming visitor: Datunlu East (this is where your Olympic shuttle bus might take you), and Tiantandongmen (for the Temple of Heaven).

Line 8: The Olympic Express (Color: Green)
Coming mid-July 2008…

Line 8, also known as the Olympic Branch Line, connects the rest of the capital with the Olympic Green. Phase 1 is 4 stations — rather short — but by around 2011 or 2012, the whole line will be built, extending further north and south into the city. Most of the venues in the Green are served by this Subway line.

Stations of interest to the incoming visitor: Beitucheng (transfer to Line 10 and the rest of the system), and all stops in the Olympic Green (Olympic Sports Center, Olympic Green, and South Gate of Forest Park).

Line 10: The Zhongguancun-CBD Express (Color: Aqua)

Coming mid-July 2008…

Relief to the guys up north in Zhongguancun or east in the CBD, Line 10 finally links the two together in a semicircle. The arc line is mainly a massive connector with just about every line of Beijing’s 8-line Subway system except for Line 2 and the Batong Line. You’ll be on this one quite a bit, too.

Stations of interest to the incoming visitor: in particular the transfer stations — Zhichunlu and Shaoyaoju (Line 13), Beitucheng (Line 8), Huixinxijie Nankou (Line 5), Sanyuanqiao (Airport Express), and Guomao (Line 1). Also, Suzhoujie and Haidian Huangzhuang are for Zhongguancun people, while CBD-ers may like to note down Hujialou and Jintaixizhao, too. Especially if you’re after Them Big Pants (aka the new CCTV Tower).

Line 13: For Those Up North (Color: Yellow)

This line, which opened up in two phases — one in late 2002 and the other in early 2003 — is, like its Batong counterpart, of less use to incoming guests. However, Line 13 runs dangerously close to Wudaokou and Wangjing, where there are probably more Koreans than Chinese (as the whole thing might so appear). If you hail from Seoul and places beyond, this line is for you.

Stations of interest to the incoming visitor: Xizhimen and Dongzhimen (transfer stations with Line 2), Zhichunlu and Shaoyaoju (transfers with Line 10), and Wudaokou and Wangjing West (Koreatowns — the latter is bigger).

Airport Express: City To Airport In A Quarter Hour (Color: Light Purple)

Coming mid-July 2008…

The Airport Express is probably only of interest if you’re headed to, or have arrived from, of course, Beijing’s airport. This is also the only line which is not in Beijing’s CNY 2-anywhere Subway fare network; a ride on this baby saps away CNY 25, over twelve times the standard fare. (Just you try fare evasion on this thingamajig: fines go up to CNY 250. Owch.)

Probably the only stations of interest to you are Terminal 2 and 3 stations, as well as Sanyuanqiao station (linkup with Line 10) and Dongzhimen station (linkup with Lines 2 and 13) — which is how you will enter The Jing.In Part Two Coming Later This Week: How to get your Subway tickets — and get mobile in the whole system.

Quick Guide to Super-Famous Spots Near Major Subway Stations

Line 1:

• Tian’anmen (天安门) and Forbidden City (紫禁城): Tian’anmen East station (地铁天安门东站)
• Wangfujing (王府井): Wangfujing station (地铁王府井站)
• National Center for the Performing Arts (国家大剧院): Tian’anmen West station (地铁天安门西站)
• Xidan shopping area (西单): Xidan station (地铁西单站)
• Headquarters of Apple Beijing (苹果中国北京办事处): Yonganli station (地铁永安里站)
• China World Trade Center (中国国际贸易中心): Guomao station (地铁国贸站)
• CBD stops: Yong’anli, Guomao and Dawanglu stations (地铁永安里、国贸、大望路站)
• Beijing West Railway Station (北京西客站): Military Museum station (地铁军事博物馆站)
• Wukesong Indoor Stadium: Wukesong station (地铁五棵松站)
• Laoshan Velodrome: Bajiao Amusement Park station (地铁八角游乐园站)

Line 2:

• Beijing Zoo (北京动物园): Xizhimen station (地铁西直门站)
• Deshengmen Arrow Tower (remains of Ming and Qing City Walls) (德胜门箭楼): Jishuitan station (地铁积水潭站)
• Bell and Drum Towers (钟鼓楼): Guloudajie station (地铁鼓楼大街站)
• Yonghe Lamasery (雍和宫), Guozijian Street (国子监街), and Beijing Confucius Temple (北京孔庙): Yonghegong Lama Temple station (地铁雍和宫站)
• Workers’ Stadium (工人体育场) and Gymnasium (工人体育馆): Dongsi Shitiao station (地铁东四十条站)
• Chaowai area (朝外): Chaoyangmen station (地铁朝阳门站)
• Beijing Ancient Observatory (北京古观象台): Jianguomen station (地铁建国门站)
• Beijing City Wall relics (Ming and Qing Walls) (清明城墙遗址公园): Chongwenmen station (地铁崇文门站)
• Tian’anmen Square, Qianmen Avenue (前门大街) and Zhengyangmen Gate (正阳门): Qianmen station (地铁前门站)
• Finance Street (金融街): Fuchengmen station (地铁阜成门站)

Line 5:

• Olympic Green (奥林匹克公园): Datunlu East station (地铁大屯路东站)
• Temple of Heaven (天坛): Tiantandongmen station (地铁天坛东门站)

Line 8:

• Bird’s Nest and Water Cube (鸟巢、水立方): Olympic Sports Center station (地铁奥体中心站)
• National Stadium (国家体育馆): Olympic Green station (地铁奥林匹克公园站)
• Forest Park (森林公园): South Gate of Forest Park station (地铁森林公园南门站)

Line 10:

• Zhongguancun (中关村) and Zhongguancun West (中关村西区): Suzhoujie and Haidian Huangzhuang stations (地铁苏州街、海淀黄庄站)
• Yuan Dynasty City Wall Relics Park (元大都城墙遗址公园): Xitucheng station (地铁西土城站)
• Women’s Street (Nurenjie) (女人街): Liangmaqiao station (地铁亮马桥站)
• CBD stops: Hujialou, Jintaixizhao and Guomao stations (地铁呼家楼、金台夕照、国贸站)
• CCTV Tower (The Pants): Jintaixizhao station (地铁金台夕照站)

Line 13:

• Great Bell Temple (大钟寺): Dazhongsi station (地铁大钟寺站)
• Wangjing community (Koreatown in Beijing): Wangjing West station (地铁望京西站)

Batong Line:

• Baliqiao Bridge (old bridge) (八里桥): Baliqiao station (地铁八里桥站)
• Tongzhou (new suburban center) (通州城区): Tongzhou Beiyuan station (地铁通州北苑站)

Airport Express:
• Beijing Airport (PEK, 北京首都国际机场): T2 or T3 stations

OK, so you’ve just landed at Beijing’s Capital International Airport (PEK). Welcome to China! So, what’s next? Into Beijing you go.

Wait. There’s got to be a way for you to get from A to B — in this case, from Beijing Airport into “the Jing”, as they say.

Beijing Airport used to be a remote outpost — far beyond the reach of any ring road until 2002. Just recently, the airport itself has been boxed up — by a ring expressway network. New towns are planned north and east of the airport.

How times have changed.

Click the image for a bigger map (Airport transit network relative to central Beijing)
Click the image for a bigger map (Airport freeway network).Destination: Central Beijing (e.g. CBD & Wangfujing)
Route: Airport Freeway or 2nd Airport Freeway This is the path the great majority of you will take. Most of you probably aren’t heading to the Great Wall next to the reservoir in northern Beijing — yet; you’ve got, instead, a hotel room waiting for you. We hear you.If your destination is somewhere more CBD-ish or near eastern urban Beijing (around the eastern 4th Ring Road 四环), you might be better served with the new, sure-not-to-be-clogged-up 2nd Airport Freeway (机场第二高速). It’s actually supposed to be called the Airport East Freeway, geo-wise, but there you go anyways. This new freeway opened fresh on Summer Solstice 2008, which for those of you who prefer nitty-gritty figures actually turns out to be June 21, 2008.
If your destination is more a la central Beijing — Tian’anmen, Wangfujing, Chang’an Avenue — you’ll be served by the oldie-but-goldie Airport Freeway (机场高速). The Airport Freeway is a tad more crowded — the thing’s been there for about the best part of 16 years — but it’ll get to your destination in central Beijing. If you’re staying in the hotel cluster on the northeastern 3rd Ring Road, take the Airport Freeway; it’s closer to the whole cluster.Destination: The West, Northwest, or North (e.g. the Great Wall)
Route: Airport North Freeway (机场北线)If, however, your first destination, as a matter of fact, is the Great Wall next to the reservoir in northern rural Beijing, your ticket is the Airport North Freeway (机场北线) . The Airport North Freeway links you to the Jingcheng (Beijing-Chengde) Freeway, which heads into northern rural Beijing’s Huairou District. (Not a lot of five-star hotels there.)

If you’re heading further west, you’ll need to switch on over to the 6th Ring Road heading counterclockwise when the duo (Jingcheng Freeway and 6th Ring Road) meet. This is the direction for you if you happen to be going to western Beijing’s Mentougou District. No idea where that is? Tanzhe Temple — anyone? This is supposed to be the temple in Beijing that predated Beijing.

And if you’re living next to the Great Wall (as in the Commune by the Great Wall), you’ll take the same route, except that you’ll head onto the Badaling Freeway (八达岭高速) a bit after getting on the 6th Ring Road. The Badallineing Freeway is true to its name — this is the freeway that gets you to The Wall!Access to the Airport North Freeway is a bit complex at best.

If you’re coming in from Terminal 2, you’ll need to head via Terminal 1 to connection roads to the freeway. If you hail from Terminal 3 — you’ll need to reach Terminal 2 and 1 (in that order — to the shock of mathematicians) before you set flight on the Airport North Freeway. If you’re landing in Beijing’s Terminal 1, you’re all set. Just follow the signs for the Airport North Freeway. Life sure is easy for T1-ers.

Destination: The East or Northeast (e.g. Pinggu District)
Route: Airport South Freeway followed by Jingping or Jingcheng Freeways

So what if your arrival in the Chinese capital sees peach-picking in eastern Beijing’s Pinggu District as the first must-do item on the agenda? Or where should you head to (freeway-wise) if you long to see the Great Wall at Simatai (think: mountain + Great Wall on top)?

In this case, you’ll be served well by the Airport South Freeway (机场南线). Head further east until Litian Bridge. This is where you’ll have to make up your mind.

Continue, by all means, further east if you’re headed to peach-populated Pinggu District (does this thing sound too close to the Swiss penguin comic series Pingu? Then again, we digress.) You’ll be on the Jingping (Beijing-Pinggu) Freeway before long.

But make a turn onto the 6th Ring Road headed north and head onto the Jingcheng Freeway later if you’ll be making it into Miyun — and the Great Wall at Simatai. (Actually, there are about a million and one more great scenic spots in the northeast, but we’ll leave that for another day.)

Destination: The South (e.g. Daxing)
Route: Airport South Freeway (机场南线) followed by 6th Ring Road

Got an invitation to Panggezhuang, Daxing, aka Watermelon Heaven? Or what if you’ve been invited to that great big Beijing Economic Technological Development Area in Yizhuang (亦庄)? (This actually could happen to you — especially if FDI + biz = your trip to the Chinese capital.) All those wonders are in southern Beijing.

And you’ll need to get to these places. Right. It’s time to head onto the Airport South Freeway and head further east. Once again, before long, you’re confronted with this massive Litian Bridge.

The trick here is to turn right and head clockwise onto the ringway. Before long (a la a couple dozen kilometers or more), you’ll be in southern Beijing.

Zukunftsmusik: The Airport Express (轨道交通机场线)

Click the image for a bigger map.All right, we hear you. All you want to do is to get into Beijing — downtown Beijing — nothing more, nothing less.There is an incredibly easy way to reach central Beijing straight from the airport. (Note, however, that this will not get you to “outward” places such as the city suburbs. But that’ll be good for about 90+% of you anyways.) It’s called the Airport Express (轨道交通机场线), and by the time July 2008 rolls around, you’ll be able to take this express train into Beijing. This special, airport-optimized line of the Beijing Subway network will be reality pre-Olympics. Think of it as the airport-to/from-central-Beijing train.

Fares haven’t been finalized for the service — it’s not going to be cheap (RMB 25 or RMB 30 are on the table). But at the end of the day, it’ll be the only way into Beijing where you are absolutely guaranteed that you’ll be kept out of Beijing’s best road export: jams galore.The Airport Express will link central Beijing to Terminal 3 within just 16 minutes, and Terminal 2 from Dongzhimen (东直门), central Beijing is no more than 25 minutes away. The distance between Dongzhimen and Beijing Airport is 23 km by car. It presently costs RMB 16 for airport express bus and RMB 70 by taxi.

Trains leave pretty frequently (about 8 to 10 minutes is what we’re hearing, although we’re not too sure yet). Into Beijing, you get to change at Sanyuanqiao for Line 10 bound for Zhongguancun and the CBD or at Dongzhimen for the inner city loop line (Line 2) or the outer suburbs loop (Line 13).

There are 4 stops along the express rail link: Terminal 3, Terminal 2, Sanyuanqiao (三元桥) and Dongzhimen. Dongzhimen will be the final city terminus. The Infrastructure Powers That Be, fully recognizing the current transport mélange at Dongzhimen, are putting the touching pieces to the Dongzhimen Transport Hub. The Airport Express will come into the hub on Basement Level 4, with Lines 2 and 13 a few floors above. You’ll actually be able to follow the signs and complete the interchange without ever seeing a ray of light (sun or moon). After the Games, you’ll even be able to check in your bags from Dongzhimen.And when it opens, this will be one sweet service.

Now before you daydream your way into the Airport Express — get packin’! Come to Beijing! (I know, we have a sub-optimal visa policy, but if you’re prepared in full — we should be able to see you in the capital!)

Beijing’s Subway Line 8 is nearly reality. With a wait of less than a month to go — Line 8 is reality with Line 10 and the Airport Express — the new Subway lines will open up in early July 2008. (Note that they once said “late June 2008″, but they moved it back…)

Don’t, by any chance, discount Line 8. Without Line 8, you won’t be able to get to the Olympic venues. This line is about a million times more important than Lines 1 (running underneath Chang’an Avenue), 2 (running in circles inside central Beijing) or any other Subway line.

Line 8 — The Olympic Branch Line

When Beijing won the Olympics in 2001, the world was already watching. Beijing had to find somewhere to entertain the world in seven years’ time; in 2003, the Olympic Green was chosen as the place. Situated at the northernmost end of Beijing’s 25 km long north-south axis, this bit of Beijing is sandwiched between the northern 3rd Ring Road and the northern 5th Ring Road (part of the Forest Park, in fact, spill out over the 5th Ring Road) and is big — coming in at a handsome 1,159 acres.

So it soon dawned upon the Subway people that they had to serve the 1,159 Olympic Green. No sweat: The Subway Powers that Be cooked up Line 10, running a semi-arc from the Zhongguancun (中关村) tech hub in northwestern Beijing and went east into the Beijing CBD. The really smart thing was that they added an interchange halfway through the northern part of Line 10 — to link with the future Olympic line.

The Olympic line was originally designed to be part of Line 10 — and was supposed to be this tiny bit that jutted into the north. There wasn’t really much use for the line, apart from two months of Olympic fever in 2008. The 4 km-ish Line 8 has every potential to become a real Subway dragon, with all extensions in place.

Ah. Here’s the good bit. The Olympic line was renamed Line 8, stripped of its Olympic-only name, and became a separate line. The newly-renamed Line 8 then took a life of its own — with extensions further north and south to come long after the Games were finished.

Fellow riders will be pleased to know that the flat RMB 2 fee for all lines (except for the Airport Express) will work very well on Line 8.

Click the image for a bigger map.Getting To Line 8: Getting to Line 8 is not the easiest thing you’ll be able to do — the only direct way to Line 8 is if you’re taking Line 10. (Line 10 runs from Zhongguancun, the tech hub in northwestern Beijing, all the way through to the CBD in eastern urban Beijing, but does an arc more than a straight line service.)
Line 8 entrances look very different from other Subway entrances in Beijing From a few “big” places in Beijing, this is how you reach Line 8 in 2008:

• Tian’anmen Square ( 天安门): Take Line 1 eastbound to Pingguoyuan; change at Dongdan for Line 5. Take the Line 5 train northbound to Tiantongyuan North, and change again at Huixinxijie Nankou for Line 10. Take the Line 10 train to Bagou, and finally exit at Beitucheng (two stops). Change at Beitucheng for Line 8.
• Beijing Capital Airport (PEK) : When the Airport Express opens in early July 2008, exit at Sanyuanqiao (三元桥) and change to Line 10. Take the Line 10 train to Bagou (巴沟), and change at Beitucheng for Line 8.
• Beijing Railway Station: Take Line 2 for just a stop further west (to Chongwenmen). Then change at Chongwenmen for Line 5. At Chongwenmen, take the Line 5 train northbound to Tiantongyuan North, and change again at Huixinxijie Nankou for Line 10. Take the Line 10 train to Bagou, and finally exit at Beitucheng (two stops). Change at Beitucheng for Line 8.
• Temple of Heaven (tiantan,天坛): Take the Line 5 train northbound to Tiantongyuan North, and change again at Huixinxijie Nankou for Line 10. Take the Line 10 train to Bagou, and finally exit at Beitucheng (two stops). Change at Beitucheng for Line 8.Wangfujing (王府井): Follow the instructions for Tian’anmen Square.
• CBD (Chaoyang Guomao area): Take the Line 10 train to Bagou, and finally exit at Beitucheng. Change at Beitucheng for Line 8.
• Zhongguancun: Take the Line 10 train to Jinsong, and exit at Beitucheng. Change at Beitucheng for Line 8.

Stops And Sights

Here are some good sights near the main Line 8 stations:

• Beitucheng (北土城): Just west of Beitucheng is the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park (a.k.a.China Nationalities Museum 中华名族博物馆/园), where all of China’s 56 ethnic groups are showcased. You’ll get to see buildings representative of different ethnicities — a good chance to immerse yourself in a bit of Chinese history. See, the Han majority (at about 92%) doesn’t really tell the whole story about China — ethnic-wise. The remaining 55 have equally interesting stories to tell.

• Olympic Sports Center (奥林匹克体育中心) and Olympic Green (奥林匹克公园): These stops are close to the major venues, including the Bird’s Nest, aka the National Stadium, and the Water Cube, aka the National Aquatics Center. Exit at the first stop (Sports Center) for the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube; exit at the second (Olympic Green) for the National Indoor Stadium and other venues in the park.

Cliché already? If you must… the Bird’s Nest…• South Gate of Forest Park (森林公园南门) : Enter the Olympic Forest Park through its south gate here. We’re talking about a forest park covering over half of the entire area of the Olympic Green. Spanning 680 hectares (the whole Olympic Green is “just” 1,159 hectares), the Forest Park is huge — and is all green. There’s even a pedestrian-only bridge over the 5th Ring Road — they didn’t do “Green Olympics” just for the heck of it! All of these sights should be open by the time the Games are in Beijing.

Good Connections

The main transfer point on Line 8 is the massive interchange at Beitucheng. South of Beitucheng, the Olympic Green is no more.If you’re heading on to Line 8 from Line 10, follow the signs and enter a T-shaped interchange — down the stairs you go into the green Line 8 (distinguished from the (what must be) Mac OS X Aqua Line 10).

You’ll be pleased to know that Lines 8 and 10 all use central platforms — so use the full width of the entire platform, and don’t just crowd yourselves at the far ends of the platform.There is also good signage for those making their way back to Line 10. Unlike those heading to Line 8, you’ll have to pick your destination if you’re transferring back to Line 10.

Zukunftsmusik

Line 8 is, by all means, the measliest of all Subway lines as we have it right now. However, the whole line should come with a huge WATCH THIS SPACE line, as up to three extensions could see this being the line through all of Beijing.

In the first extension, Line 8 will expand further north to Huoying North and south through to Meishuguan East Street, near the Art Gallery. The northern extension will bring Subway services to Huilongguan, which is a massive community in the northern suburbs. Meanwhile, the southern extension will bring services to Houhai, not far from the Houhai Bar Street in central Beijing, and finally end near the Art Gallery — just northeast of the Forbidden City.

When that’s all said and done, Line 8 might make a further extension further south to somewhere near Nanyuan Airport. This, though, isn’t likely to start until 2015 at the very earliest. The southern link will bring services through to Qianmen in the heart of Beijing (just to the south of Tian’anmen), as well as Yongdingmen Gate, and finally all the way to Nanyuan Airport, which is the second largest airport in Beijing (although it’s measly if compared with Beijing Capital).

Finally, Line 8 is almost certain to head into eastern urban Changping, in northern suburban Beijing. This part is north of Huilongguan, and is to be a university area in the north. The northernmost extension still has no timetable, but is pretty much a near-done deal.

So there you have it — Line 8 of the Beijing Subway. Not really big when you take a look at it in 2008, but hey, this guy’s got room to grow!

The Chinese Internet is abuzz with “Runner Fan”(Fan Paopao, 范跑跑), aka Fan Meizhong (范美忠). This guy, in short, was a teacher and was supposed to save kids when the Sichuan earthquake struck — but chose to run outside and even had the nerve to blog about the event. In the blog entry, he went to great lengths to — well, dig himself into a deeper hole rhetoric-wise, by means of resorting to language such as “I’d rather save my daughter than my mother” (which does you no favors in China, where filial piety is high on the agenda — in fact, it makes you look really, really bad).

“Runner Fan”, in fact, has won himself very few friends and a whole host of — well, maybe not enemies, but in Chinese thinking, “people who have a lot to say about ‘Runner Fan’” (对“范跑跑”很有意见的人 in Chinese). China isn’t exactly a place to throw off heavy, fight-inciting language (especially if at 7 PM every day we are told that we live in a “harmonious society”), despite it coming out with Sun Zi’s The Art of War, but then again — how can you song the praises of someone who dumped their students just for self-preservation?

The 7 o’clock news and public newspapers of record are now talking about those brave men and women who have given in to save people from the quake area. This is quite the opposite of “Runner Fan”, who is now spared no bit of Web rhetoric.

Today is not the time to bridge the gap. Rather, it’s time to take a look at the gap from different angles — and see if you can agree on what angle you take. In no particular order, here are a myriad of different angles on the issue…

• “Runner Fan” did something illegal: Chinese law requires teachers to save kids first, and he didn’t.
• “Runner Fan” didn’t exactly sin on running out of the classroom, but to blog about this tripped “Runner Fan” over the line.
• “Runner Fan” apologized, but the damage has been done.
• It’s all about instincts. “Runner Fan” did no wrong. This is an earthquake. Lives are precious. (You only get one go in life…)
• Criticizing or even talking about “Runner Fan” actually advances the Chinese — this is a first for China, and China has to experience a lot of things in due time.
• This is about extremes — and “Runner Fan” took to this extreme that put the individual above all else.
• Remember, China is a 5,000+ civilization deeply rooted in what’s called “collectivism”. This is nothing new (a la since 1949). The group has always overshadowed the individual in importance long before Mao’s People’s Republic.
• “Runner Fan” did wrong? Well, only the individual can come to conclusions…
• Fan Meizhong — a Chinese failure, a person truly missing a brain. China has spent so much on him — only to raise a mere animal!
• Out of all those shameless people, I’ve yet to see one as shameless as “Runner Fan”.

What do you think of Fan Paopao?

Being part of the new OpenWeb.Asia Workgroup, I’d like to do my bit to help not just readers of techblog86, but the entire Asian Web 2.0 world.

Right now, Asia is still — unreachable to the masses. The main problem here has something to do with language. Except for in probably Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, English is not what they speak locally. This creates the odd and yet totally understandable situation where the local Web is abuzz with — well, buzz, pardon the pun, and yet the outsiders are left totally clueless as to what’s happening on the inside. Regardless if it’s in Beijing, Bali, Busan, or Bangor Seri Begawan.

There’s also this thing about stereotypes that we might want to — you know, demystify. China is shrouded mystery — our exports are more a la Mao, Great Wall, farmer hats than Xiaonei, the Mozart Line in the Beijing Subway System, or indeed, the stuff you use every day (look out for that increasingly ubiquitous refrain MADE IN CHINA). Japan is still very much a bullet-train, nearly-robotic nation with kids going crazy on mobile phones. To the Chinese, even we have local stereotypes of the Koreans (those in the south, that is): a bit too much Da Chang Jin and a showering of Korean pop star ads on bus stops has gotten China into hanliu, or “Korean heat” mode.

For “tech nations” in Asia, it’s probably only Japan coming out with anything “big”. Xiaonei is very big in China, but nowhere else. Daum is a Korean household name, but outside the Korean peninsula, it’s probably mistaken for Daim, a brand of chocolate in Europe.

This world we’re living in is increasingly wired up — more and more. It’s time for people to dump stereotypes and look at each nation in close-up, and at face value. I think OpenWeb.Asia has what it takes to get people excited about real developments in the Asian Web 2.0 arena.

Tweeters, bloggers, and Web 2.0-ers in the People’s Republic unite! David Feng’s unannounced disappearance from that Great Big Internet out there was not totally unexpected: beginning from last Thursday, David was meeting blogger after blogger. You got that right: Not a single day without a new blogger (almost) from Thursday through to Monday.

A very 2.0 weekend, then. Here’s an overview plus my two cents about the Chinese blogo/Twittersphere, and whom he met:

• Isaac Mao (@isaac): He’s not a pioneer in the Chinese blogosphere for nothing. Humorous, witty, smart and damn-sharp, I found that it was almost impossible not to befriend Isaac. Open, insightful and always one to hold his own unique viewpoint, the “Chairman Mao of the 21st Century” (to use a 2007 Chinese Blogger Conference slogan) weighs in on issues weighty and obscure, and enjoys a laugh, but is also ready to tackle weighty issues. If there’s a big blogger conference and the Chairman’s missing, the conference would be missing a huge chunk of “something”. Isaac is more than just Twitter feed and his site; the extra something (his humor) makes a face-to-face with Isaac all that more valuable.

• Kaiser Kuo (@kaiserkuo): His Twitter ID puts him as the “Guitar-playing, blog-writing, digital strategizin’ daddy in the ‘Jing”, but this brief intro merely scrapes the surface of the man. Kaiser’s wit, humor and insight made him very much on a league of his own. Niubility, Zhonglish and a host of new hybrid Chinglish was made in no time with Kaiser at the table.

• Shizhao (@shizhao): I knew the name “Shizhao” back in my hidden mission at the Wikipedia in 2004 and 2005. So when I blew the lid off the secret that most Wikipedia articles about Chinese freeways around Beijing were a David Feng thing, both Isaac and Shizhao were like — oh my God! At the dining table, I followed Shizhao almost immediately. (I admit I was tweeting in excess at the table.)

• Christine Lu (@christinelu): My, my, was it great to meet the living legend in real life. Christine’s tweeting was taken offline at the table, as the tweeting came out in real life (as in talking), and she was just as humorous offline as she was online. Christine was an incredible breath of fresh air. Insightful, witty and always in the know are just a few words that come to mind when someone mentions Christine Lu to me.

• Tangos Chan (@Tangos): Tangos is an old friend; we met for the first time at the December 2007 Mobile Monday (shortly before “blognation China” tanked). Humor and knowledge add well to what Tangos co-does (so to speak) with Luyi Chen — which is the China Web 2.0 Review. The site is so good that even our techblog86 checks in quite often, and the mutual linking is the icing on the cake.

Part II comes in a tad later. We just saved you from what must be miles of commentary. In the past few days, I’ve also been fortunate enough to meet @simpsonsparadox (our very own Meg), @fuzheado, @pdenlinger (we’ve met before), @awflasher, @winserzhao, @Chinkerfly, @herock, @DaDing, @frankyu and the rest of the gang.

By the way — if I didn’t mention you — I’m sorry! Please don’t take it personally! If David Feng is indication, you will be mentioned — sooner or later!

Elliott’s note: I’ll be posting separately on my impressions of these meetings as well. Apologize for the redundancy in advance.  But uber blogger David Feng beat me to break the story! 

It’s official: China will enter into three days of mourning beginning Monday, May 19, 2008 through to Wednesday, May 21, 2008. Recreational facilities will be suspended as citizens from around the nation remember their compatriots hit by this recent tragic earthquake.

At 14:28 on Monday, sirens and horns will sound for three full minutes to remember the victims of this terrible tragedy. The Olympic Torch Relay has also been halted for three days, this, too, to remember the recent disaster. On Twitter, we also hear news that CRI (China Radio International) may be planning something of a very different nature — instead of their regular music and lively chat. Things will, indeed, look somber, even over the airwaves.

Yours truly will be observing the nationwide period of mourning, too. All Twitter accounts (@DavidFeng in particular) will have their icons changed to a black square to indicate the period of mourning, and the davidfeng.com website will also change so that a message of mourning and grief takes the place of the normal web site. New projects which are slated to start this time will be pushed back for at least three days, and reduced updates will be the norm as everyone around us remembers those who lost their lives in this recent tragedy.

Recently, the earthquake has been virtually the sole topic all around town, in particular in one of yours truly’s gigs (the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall), but also, more significantly, around Twitter. Of somewhat of an odder note is the fact that the quake has somewhat disappeared from the (more…)

Special times prompt special — well, special specials, pardon the pun. This week has been an extraordinary one, with the earthquake halfway through Monday shakings up.

First of all, a first-hand account about how things turned out in Beijing, at ground level. (The posts I quote were all written on Tuesday, a day after the quake.) As Kaiser Kuo recalls:

At 2:28 yesterday afternoon, I had stopped off at home in Beijing’s Central Business District after lunch and was writing an email to a VC friend of mine when I suddenly felt dizzy. For the first few seconds, I thought it was all in my head, but then there was the distinct sensation of physical movement. I asked my wife, “Is this an earthquake?” She was incredulous at first, but then found she almost lost her footing and held a wall for support. “It is an earthquake,” she said. I looked out the window toward the new office towers going up south of my building, and could have sworn I saw them swaying. We talked for a couple of seconds about what we should do–whether we should get under a doorway, or get downstairs. Then it all stopped, about 35 seconds afterward.

Nearly immediately after the quake, I myself got a flood of messages, all from people I knew, who were concerned with how things were in Beijing. As I wrote on my blog in the form of a letter to all my friends: (more…)