As I write this blog,
we are a few days into our taste of China tour and we are aboard a Bullet Train travelling from Beijing on our way to Xi'an our second destination. Given I've not got a great deal to do for the
next few hours I thought I'd give my assessment of the cars and driving
conditions etc. that we encountered whilst in China's capital.
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| Beijing Bullet Train |
The fact I'm writing
this on a vehicle travelling at 298 km/hour seems apt and entirely juxtaposed to
some of the remarkable, if more basic, ways of getting around we've seen.
Let's talk about the
mainstream cars first. Modern Beijing has many good quality cars. Too
many in fact which help to create the dense smog and traffic jams the city is known
for. Although car ownership is a powerful symbol of success, the harm it's
reaping is something they should seriously consider and try to remedy.
Most cars are Asian
brands such as Mitsubishi, Kia, Honda and Nissan as you might expect. There are
quite a few VWs, Fords and some Buicks too, which is a make we don't see
that much in the UK. Most are familiar models but have different names. A Nissan Micra for example is a 'March' and a
VW Passat is a 'Magotan'.
There are some Chinese-made cars
with names you can't read or have just a model number. In some cases, you can
actually discern the car they've ripped off to make their version.
One exception here is
the almost ubiquitous VW Santana used widely as a taxi in the major cities.I wondered what this is
called in the west and it turned out there's no equivalent. They are in fact the
outcome of a joint initiative between the Chinese government and Volkswagen to
develop a VW badged car that is made and used exclusively in China.
When we first arrived
and were picked up from Beijing airport our driver joined well-made motorways and roads that were congested
but very orderly with discernible rules that everyone seemed to play by. I was
therefore optimistic of easy, carefree travel.
Unfortunately, once you leave the major roads the driving degenerates into something much more free form. Other vehicles soon join the mix: buses, scooters, electric bikes, bizarre three-wheelers and strange micro-cars. All come together in a beeping, shouting mélange especially at major intersections where everyone, including pedestrians who causally wander into the traffic, all jockey for position.
Unfortunately, once you leave the major roads the driving degenerates into something much more free form. Other vehicles soon join the mix: buses, scooters, electric bikes, bizarre three-wheelers and strange micro-cars. All come together in a beeping, shouting mélange especially at major intersections where everyone, including pedestrians who causally wander into the traffic, all jockey for position.
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| Electric Microcar |
Let's talk about some
of the weirder cars. The ones you'll see
everywhere are like three-wheeled 'filing cabinets'. Very basic vehicles, with
unpainted slab-sided aluminium panels and based on a motorcycle drive train.
Originally issued as vehicles for the disabled, the owners worked out with some
modification they could also work as unofficial local taxis. Apparently,
they're illegal but tolerated as they offer disadvantaged people a chance to
earn some money. Suffice to say they are also death traps of the most efficient
kind. Utterly unstable, offering no
protection in collisions and the only guarantee you get with them is high
likelihood of serious injury or death.
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| Filing Cabinet? |
We saw many versions
of this conveyance, some more modern than others, but all a throwback to a
China when these would have been the equivalent of the eastern European Trabant
for example: a cheap to make people's car that doesn't really like people.
They do seem to like
trikes here. Maybe the cost savings of no fourth wheel made for better use of
state funds. We have seen many three-wheelers of
varying size and configuration: making deliveries, carrying people or doing
building and agricultural works all with perfectly acceptable efficiency it
appeared.
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| Bizarre Trike |
Many of the smaller
vehicles are electrically powered.
Indeed, some of the ubiquitous road users were on electric scooters and
trikes. I suspect this is encouraged
because of the prodigious problems Beijing has with smog and, to be fair, they
did look like a pretty good way to get around the urban environment.
Unfortunately, none of
this is helping. Beijing is gridlocked on
most days, choking in its own emissions and as the country prospers and more
cars are introduced it will get worse, much worse.
In fact, if you want
to come to Beijing and enjoy the tourism my advice would be to do it soon. A few years down the line, you'll be lucky to
get to the Great Wall from down-town Beijing let alone get to climb up it. If
you can see it that is.
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| Industrial Three-Wheeler |
Yet here I am sitting
on one of the most advanced and speediest passenger trains on the planet. The
ride is smooth, it's running exactly to time and it's going really fast. It's
just as good as anything a western economy can produce and much cheaper. This six-hour
journey in the first class carriage of a super-advanced train costs just
£97.00. Let's get Richard Branson on the phone and see what he's got to say
about that.
China really is a
land of contrasts and, despite some dubious aspects to their culture, their
dodgy vehicles or their ropey driving; I hope you'll think about visiting
sometime soon.
You can read more of our adventures in China at:
