This looks real, or else it's a great job of using a greenscreen. I don't think that I would ride in this contraption. I got this from a link Kaiser Kuo posted on his Facebook page.

Luke @ 12:01 | .(2855) |

Three additions to Beijing's urban transport network opened over the weekend. The new line 10 connects Beijing's Central Business District with the city's high tech area in Haidian, running for a long stretch under the third ring road. A short spur runs north from Line 10 for 5 km into the heart of the Olympic venues. Also newly opened is an airport train that starts at Dongzhimen, then stops at Sanyuanqiao before heading out to both terminals of the new airport. I took a ride on Line 10 on Saturday and it is quite similar to the recently opened Line 5, which Mia Lee reported on for the Hard Hat Show late last year.

In addition, yesterday (July 20) was the first day of Beijing's odd-even traffic policy. Those with license plates ending in an even number, can only drive on even-numbered days, while those with plates ending in an odd number can only drive on odd-numbered days. According to a Reuters article in the Guardian, extra commuters on the subway caused a partial closing of subway Line 2 today.


Beijing's new airport train station

Luke @ 18:23 | .(1634) |

In the last couple of months I started noticing a lot of Smart cars -- the Mercedes-built mini car popular in European capitals -- popping up on the streets of Beijing. But upon passing by a parked one the other day, I realized they are not actually Smart cars, but a Chinese knock-off known as the Shuang Huan Xiao Gui Zu (双环小贵族).

These Hebei-province built cars differ a bit from the Smart Fortwo, despite the fact that the exterior styling is almost identical. The Xiao Gui Zu features a microscopic back seat and is front wheel drive, while the Smart Fortwo is a rear wheel drive two seater. The interior is also different and the prices are very different: a fully outfitted Xiao Gui Zu retails for 50,000 RMB (US$7,250) in Beijing while the imported Smart Fortwo could easily approach three times that price.

Shuang Huan is trying to use these points of difference to argue that there is no intellectual property violation happening despite the fact that there obviously is. And, predictably, Mercedes lawyers have been on the case, blocking the Xiao Gui Zu from showing at the Bologna auto show last year and threatening further legal action to keep the car out of the European market.

Shuang Huan is no stranger to copying German cars. One of their other cars, the SCEO, is a knock off of BMW's X5 SUV.

Luke @ 16:43 | .(1152) |

There is no shortage of filmmakers in Beijing. In our effort to bring some of that great talent together, we organized a night of film at the Stone Boat bar in Ritan Park--thanks to bar owner Jonathan Ansfield. The night included short films by: Zhao Chunliang, A Gui, Selena Hsu, Mr.Bombdi, Hong Feng, Zhang Lu, Rachel Dubuy, Tian Chaoyu and Sexy Beijing.

Here's a City Weekend blog post about the event.



Beijing filmmakers




Rachel's Jaba and Jecka




Sufei, Zhao Chunliang and Zhou Long

Sufei @ 16:57 | .(2329) |

This episode is the second in a four-part series we produced with the radio program All Things Considered, on National Public Radio. The radio version aired July 4, 2008 on stations across America. You can listen online here.

Sufei @ 14:01 | .(300) |