5/29/2014 Development and Problems

I was born and grew up in Chengdu, the largest city in western China. I have seen the development of this city for many years. In my opnion, the proudest development is that of public transportation for more than ten years, especially in the past two or three years. Chengdu was backward in the past, but now, it becomes an International city with convenient transportation. There was always some surprise waiting for me each time although I just left for several months. For example, the new wide roads, the latest metro line that has a station close to my house, or the longer bus route. Chengdu completed the most revolutionary construction before I left for the US two months ago, that is city viaduct. It is no doubt that we should develop our public transportation in order to become more convenient, but on the other hand, the rapid development has brought to us many problems. Construction in entire city has affected air quality and environment.

When I was a child, my father took me to the kindergarten everyday by bicycle. I loved sitting at the back seat of the bicycle and listening to the story from my father which is really one of the best memories in my childhood. Private cars are not very popular at that time in China, especial inland city just like Chengdu. People had no choice to take bus or bike everyday, taxi is too expensive for most of people. Each time we went to my grandparents’ house, we must took a long time to transfer bus on the way, because there were only few bus routes in this city and no direct route between this two streets until I graduated from primary school. Beijing, the capital of China, has compeleted the first metro line in 1969, but Chengdu didn’t have metro until recent four years. The first time I took the metro was five years ago when I went to Beijing to see the Olympic Games. Metro used to be very fresh for people who lived in Chengdu. Chengdu is a plain located in the Sichuan Basin, it was difficult to get in and out of the basin since ancient times. In the past, Chengdu only had few highways and railways to another cities or provinces.

The quantity of private cars has becoming more and more in Chengdu since the 21th century because of the increasing of salary. Almost each family has their own car that makes people go out more convenient. The government invested large sums of money on the City Bus System. Now, I can spend less than 30 minutes from my house to my grandparents’ by bus. Franking speaking, the bus network has covered the whole city. Chengdu used to be a big city without metro, but now, everything is changing. The metro network is developing and we already have 3 metro lines, the others is under construction. People have more choice when they want to go out such as bus, metro, taxi, bicycle or private car. If you want to go another city or province, you can choose not only highways, but also high-speed rail. In 2013, Chengdu compeleted the city viaduct which greatly shorten the distance between two place.

In the past, the undeveloped public transportation led to the undevelopment of business. But on the other hand, Chengdu had the best ecological environment and air quality even called the most livable city in China because of the low price of house and daily life at that times. At present, I feel sad that the air quality of Chengdu can not be optimistic because of construction in the whole city even though it has already become a highly developed commercial city, the price of house and daily life is not low any more. 

    Changes happen in Chengdu everyday, maybe it would have a great surprise when I back home next summer vacation. The development of public transportation makes Chengdu become an international city especially after hosting the Fortune Global Forum. I am really happy for my hometown’s achievement, but I think the government must take some measures to solve the environment problem at the same time. It is no doubt that we should develop our public transportation in order to become more convenient, our living environment is also important.

5/28/2014 The Car as a Status Symbol

        Recently, I am planning to buy my own car. Because I move out of campus in this month, if I have no car, it is very inconvenient for me to go to school. So I think much about this transportation in my free time. 

        Car is very important in our daily life. I used to read an article named American on Wheels told me that American is a country on wheels because people can’t leave their car wherever they are. In China, there are more and more families own a car or more. It is very convenient to hang out when you have car. You can go anywhere you want and no need to worry about you will miss the train or bus and then wait for a long time. Otherwise there are more and more people get rich now. The cars are not like before that only a few people can afford. And some people used to think get a car is a sign that you are one of the rich guys. Maybe the car is not a sign of richness recent years, but a premium and luxury cars still could be the status symbol especially for men. 

        I don’t know much about America, but I know China and some other Asian countries such as Korea well. Sometimes we can judge the level of a man's income and status by his car. Although private car is very common in modern society, the guy who has a better car would be more popular. Society is cruel because almost all the girls prefer to date with the guy who has a better car. If he wants to marry, he must have his own car and house firstly.

        Many Chinese students have their own car at Troy University. As I know, most of the students who have premium car already have girlfriend and be active in Chinese students’ social circle. All of the abroad Chinese students’ social circles are the same. One of my friends told me that sometimes the car is more important than a man’s look. To be honest, I think this society is morbid. But this is reality. The car is a status symbol though I don’t want to admit. 

        The car is playing an important role in our daily life. In my opinion, it just a means of transport that we don’t need to regard it as a burthen or status symbol. Ability is the most important thing for men.