Comments on: CNReviews Mind the Gap Wednesday: The Trust Factor http://cnreviews.com/cnreviews_mind_the_gap_wednesday/cnreviews_mind_the_gap_wednesday_the_trust_factor_20080123.html About China blogosphere, travel, and entrepreneurship Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:07:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Kai http://cnreviews.com/cnreviews_mind_the_gap_wednesday/cnreviews_mind_the_gap_wednesday_the_trust_factor_20080123.html#comment-95 Kai Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:40:10 +0000 http://cnreviews.com/cnreviews_mind_the_gap_wednesday/cnreviews_mind_the_gap_wednesday_the_trust_factor_20080123.html#comment-95 Living in Shanghai, I can't exactly corroborate what David is saying about Beijing here. In my experience, there isn't much supervision at the entrance or exit turnstiles the vast majority of the time. During rush-hour when people are getting to work or home, there might be some supervision but even then, I've noticed quite a few people hop or duck the turnstiles to avoid paying fare. To a degree, the phenomenon of supervision does reveal that there are violators of rules in China. I reckon, however, that the powers-that-be who mandate such supervision aren't so much bothered by the inability to trust the masses as they've simply accepted that it will take a lot of hand-holding before you can socialize the society of a developing country into good public citizens. Living in Shanghai, I can’t exactly corroborate what David is saying about Beijing here. In my experience, there isn’t much supervision at the entrance or exit turnstiles the vast majority of the time. During rush-hour when people are getting to work or home, there might be some supervision but even then, I’ve noticed quite a few people hop or duck the turnstiles to avoid paying fare.

To a degree, the phenomenon of supervision does reveal that there are violators of rules in China. I reckon, however, that the powers-that-be who mandate such supervision aren’t so much bothered by the inability to trust the masses as they’ve simply accepted that it will take a lot of hand-holding before you can socialize the society of a developing country into good public citizens.

]]> By: Min Guo http://cnreviews.com/cnreviews_mind_the_gap_wednesday/cnreviews_mind_the_gap_wednesday_the_trust_factor_20080123.html#comment-93 Min Guo Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:12:06 +0000 http://cnreviews.com/cnreviews_mind_the_gap_wednesday/cnreviews_mind_the_gap_wednesday_the_trust_factor_20080123.html#comment-93 It was my second time to take Beijing Metro early this month when I was in Beijing. I have to say, if there is nobody standing next to the entrance, I won't know that is the entrance. And I bet people from countryside may also run into this problem or even don't know that ticket is required to take the subway. Ten years' ago, when the coin boxes were first set up in some buses in Shanghai, there was always a person sit next to the coin box to "supervise" people buying tickets. But now, most bus lines don't need the supervisors any more. It was my second time to take Beijing Metro early this month when I was in Beijing. I have to say, if there is nobody standing next to the entrance, I won’t know that is the entrance. And I bet people from countryside may also run into this problem or even don’t know that ticket is required to take the subway.

Ten years’ ago, when the coin boxes were first set up in some buses in Shanghai, there was always a person sit next to the coin box to “supervise” people buying tickets. But now, most bus lines don’t need the supervisors any more.

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