I have traveled on the Beijing Subway every day since I arrived in the city. From a technical point of view, it's brilliant: 20p per journey wherever you go, air conditioning, clear English signage, smooth travel and no delays. Most of the network was built in the last 15 years and, as one Beijinger put it to me, "We learned from other cities' mistakes". The people element, though, is harder for a Westerner to contend with. There is little concept of queuing in China and this is very evident when getting on a Subway train: no one waits for anyone to get off or for the people waiting in front of them to move, so boarding a train is like being in a scrum. Everyone gets stuck in the middle, pushing against those moving in the
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