2008, that magic year

Blocking the sun on a bus.

Riding a bus in Beijing during the summertime is not necessarily the kind of pleasant experience one expects out of mass transit. Even if you aren’t worried about tanning your carefully nourished white skin, it can get pretty uncomfortable under the blazing sun. Relief will arrive by 2008, when the remaining half of Beijing’s buses will have been fitted with tinted windows. Curtains, unfortunately, are a safety hazard.

On Thursday, Beijing’s Mirror printed a letter to the editor from a citizen asking why it would take two-and-a-half years to swap out glass or apply tinted film.

An excellent question. The Olympics in 2008 seem to provide a more tangible deadline for public projects; 2008 somehow feels more real than either 2007 or 2009. A comparison of Baidu search results for the string “北京xxxx年前” (“Beijing before xxxx”) gives 1350 hits with 2008 as the year, 117 with 2007, and absolutely none with 2009. 2010, a rounder, more pleasing number, turns up 180 hits. Other permutations of the phrase lead to similar results.

So what all is going to be completed before 2008? Danwei brings you eleven more projects, so including those tinted windows, we have a full dozen things to look forward to before the Olympics.

Before 2008…

• The Beijing subway system will have a unified ticketing system for painless interchange among the different lines. (The Beijing News, 2004.08.17)
• Mosquitoes and rats will be eliminated within Beijing’s Fourth Ring Road. (The First, 2005.07.01)
• Beijing will retire nearly 60,000 taxis, 88% of the total fleet. (Beijing Times, 2005.05.10)
• The four major waterways in Beijing will be thoroughly cleaned up. (Xinhuanet, 2004.12.09)
• Beijing will open up 8 million square meters of economical housing. (The First, 2005.06.03)
• All paths for the blind within Beijing’s Fourth Ring Road will be repaired. (Beijing Youth Daily, 2005.05.08)
• Beijing will have 5258 “garden work units” with over 70% greenspace, up from 3808. (Beijing Youth Daily, 2005.06.20)
• A second expressway will be built between Beijing and Tianjin. (The Beijing News, 2004.12.14)
• Beijing’s five areas at risk for sandstorms will be put under control. (Beijing Youth Daily, 2005.04.30)
• All non-coal mines producing fewer than 5 tons per year will be shut down. (Beijing Evening News, 2004.12.09)
• Beijing’s tap water will be drinkable. (Beijing Daily, 2004.05.31)

There is, of course, no guarantee that any of these will be completed on schedule.