Traffic Jam in Beijing

I guess people who ever been to Beijing would be surprised by the traffic there. Twenty years ago, there were "nine million bicycles" in Beijing as the song by Katie Melua. But now, it's an awful auto-city with smog-filled traffic.

Personally, I wish we could go back to that age. At least, we'll be healthier while living in such a metropolis with regular exercises everday and without severe air pollution. According to Simon Elegant from TIME.com on Nov. 13, 06, "The capital remains a standout among Chinese cities in that it has no restrictions on the number of new cars hitting its streets. Every day about 1,000 new vehicles boost the approximately 2.8 million total in the city."

I remember when I prepared my TOEFL exam in Beijing, it's actually a 20-minute driving distance from my home to school, but I had to start off an hour eariler everyday. As Luo Xin wrote in his blog, three primary factors contribute to today's situation: 1. unsystematical city planning; 2. poor designed civil engineer; 3. undeveloped public transportation system. And I will add two more: 4. no restrictive regulations on new car sales and 5. emergence of economical cars in Chinese auto-market led this "upgrade" from bicycles to cars affordable by more Chinese families.

I love my country. But everytime when I flew back to China, the skyscrapers could be glimpsed only through a veil of noxious smog, I was so sad. I don't know what I can do to mitigate this situation, but I do hope that I can awake more Chinese people to care more about our environment and sustainable development instead of acclaim only by the growth of our GDP.