Bike Beijing, Green Olympics

如果无法播放，请点击此处在新窗口打开

China is known as the "Kingdom of Bicycles", with a world-record 470 million bicycles on the road.
As the nation pushes towards a "green" Olympics for next summer's Games, host city Beijing is trying to get more of its residents out of cars and onto bikes.
At China's prestigious Tsinghua University, you can bike anywhere for a couple of yuan in deposit.
A staff of Bike Rental Center said, "It just costs five yuan per hour, 20 yuan for a whole day, and 100 yuan for a year."
Besides the small cost, it's also convenient!
Six bike rental centers have been set up in Tsinghua's 400-hectare campus.

                               
登录/注册后可看大图

They are all linked with 50 centers in the renting-network scattered around Beijing.
That means the bikers don't need to go back to the campus to return the rented bicycles.


And outside Tsinghua, and along the roadsides of Beijing, the winter-chill hasn't slowed the "two wheel" business.
"It's good exercise and environmentally-friendly. I don't need to own a bike,I can just rent it. It saves a lot of time and work." said a bike renter.
But for the "two wheel" market, supply is not meeting demand.
So far, Beijing has about 70 bike-rental centers, mainly located in the downtown areas and tourist spots.
Wang Yong, manager of Bejing Bike Rental Program, said, "At an ideal level, we need 400 or 500 rental centers to cover main public transport terminals, including both bus and subway stations."
The Beijing municipal government is seeking public bids to run the bike rental network. Before the 2008 Olympic games, 200 service-centers are planned to be set up, with 50 thousand bicycles put into use.
bike-rental center:自行车租赁中心
(Source: cctv.com 英语点津姗姗编辑)

melu

I can't agree with this reports.
We Chinese media always report the bright side

melu

Mimi Kuo-Deemer for The New York Times
Vehicles jammed a road as a thick morning haze covered Beijing during a recent morning rush hour.

By JIM YARDLEY  Published: December 29, 2007

BEIJING — Every day, monitoring stations across the city measure air pollution to determine if the skies above this national capital can officially be designated blue. It is not an act of whimsy: with Beijing preparing to play host to the 2008 Olympic Games, the official Blue Sky ratings are the measuring stick for whether the city’s polluted air will be clean enough for the competition.


Thursday did not bring good news. The gray, acrid skies rated an eye-popping 421 on a scale of 500, with 500 being the worst. Friday rated a 500. Both days far exceeded levels of pollutants deemed safe by the World Health Organization. In Beijing, officials warned residents to stay indoors until Saturday, but residents here are accustomed to breathing foul air. One man flew a kite in Tiananmen Square.

For Beijing officials, Thursday was especially depressing because the city was hoping to celebrate an environmental victory. In recent years, Beijing has steadily increased its Blue Sky days. The city needs one more, defined as scoring below 101, to reach its goal of 245 Blue Sky days this year. These improving ratings are how Beijing hopes to reassure the world that Olympic athletes will not be gasping for breath next August.

“We’re definitely hoping for the best,” said Jon Kolb, a member of the Canadian Olympic Committee, “but preparing for the worst.”

For the world’s Olympians, Beijing’s air is a performance issue. The concern is that respiratory problems could impede athletic performance and prevent records from being broken. For the city’s estimated 12 million residents, pollution is an inescapable health and quality-of-life issue. Skepticism about the validity of the Blue Sky ratings is common. The concern is whether the city can clean itself up long after the Games are over.

Beijing has long ranked as one of the world’s most polluted cities. To win the Games, Beijing promised a “Green Olympics” and undertook environmental initiatives now considered models for the rest of the country. But greening Beijing has not meant slowing it down. Officials also have encouraged an astonishing urbanization boom that has made environmental gains seem modest, if not illusory.

Beijing is like an athlete trying to get into shape by walking on a treadmill yet eating double cheeseburgers at the same time. Polluting factories have been moved or closed. But auto emissions are rising as the city adds 1,200 new cars and trucks every day. Dirty, coal-burning furnaces have been replaced, lowering the city’s sulfur dioxide emissions. But fine-particle pollution has been exacerbated by a staggering citywide construction binge that shows no signs of letting up.

China’s unsolved riddle is how to reconcile fast economic growth with environmental protection. But Beijing’s Olympic deadline means the city needs an immediate answer. The ruling Communist Party envisions the Games as a public relations showcase and is leaving no detail untended. Scientists are cross-breeding chrysanthemums to ensure that flowers bloom in August.

Now Beijing is also going to try to manipulate air quality. For months, scientists have treated the city like a laboratory, testing wind patterns and atmospheric structure, while pinpointing local and regional pollution sources. Olympics contingency plans have been approved for Beijing and surrounding provinces. Details are not public, but officials have discussed shutting down factories and restricting traffic during the Games.

“We are determined to ensure that the air conditions meet the necessary standards in August 2008,” Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games, told the International Olympic Committee’s executive board this month.

Beijing residents overwhelmingly support the Games and understand that officials will do what is necessary to ensure clean air. Last August, the city removed a million cars from roads during a four-day test intended to gauge pollution and traffic. But people also know that any emergency measures have a limited shelf life.

“Yes, I heard about it,” said an engineer at one factory that may temporarily be shut down. “It is like you invite some guests to your home, and hide all your children underneath the bed to make the house look nicer. If all the polluting factories are shut down for the Olympics, there will be a major pollution outbreak afterward when all the factories restart, right?”


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/2 ... gewanted=1&_r=1

阿来

这还得依靠一个城市的交通系统是否成熟，

melu

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/pac ... ing_translation.pdf

This link is for Chinese Edition

雨吻花

yeah
Green for the Olympics
left or right?

melu

Beijing is totally out of rescue, and then control later (very soon).

We Chinese make so many efforts just for a short eyesight thing, “FACE”

And I can foresee we will eat the evil result in future (being coming), at that time what we can do is just suffer, and couldn’t complain even say a word. Because we invite the trouble.


One third of Chinese will suffer the water shortage till 2020, which means 12 years later, they do not have the clean water to drink! Maybe you, or your parents will be one of them! Actually, many people are suffering the drought and seriously pollution and various miserable diseases, you just do not know.


I believe our earth will die out if we continue to do so much CONTROBUTION to the nature, few people care it, less people take action, only a very very small amount of people fight for the earth, speak for the earth

雨吻花

引用第6楼melu于2007-12-29 12:32发表的 :
Beijing is totally out of rescue, and then control later (very soon).

We Chinese make so many efforts just for a short eyesight thing, “FACE”

And I can foresee we will eat the evil result in future (being coming), at that time what we can do is just suffer, and couldn’t complain even say a word. Because we invite the trouble.
.......

恩， 对阿