www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
China / Top Stories

Beijing's green and pleasant bike ways

By David Blair (China Daily) Updated: 2017-04-10 07:09

In the springtime, a young (or old) man's heart turns to ... bikes. Wandering around Beijing on my bike restores me mentally and spiritually. My wife says it's my religion.

Visitors to Beijing often see it as a city of traffic. It certainly has too many cars for my liking, but it has large green spaces. And, it's getting greener.

To my surprise, I've found Beijing to be a great biking city. About 19 percent of the population of Beijing commutes by bike. Despite 15 years of biking infrastructure investment, my hometown of Washington has still only reached about 2 percent. Most Beijing streets already have protected side roads for slow-moving vehicles and the presence of many riders provides safety in numbers.

A few changes could help Beijing become even better. Give tickets and fines to cars parked in the clearly-marked bike lanes. The resulting local government revenue could be used for health, education and other social needs. And control left and right turning cars so pedestrians and cyclists can safely cross the streets.

Beijing's green and pleasant bike ways

Besides bikes, there are many other ways to get about the city. The government has invested in building one of the world's best subway systems, and I love the tuk-tuks, the small three-wheeled vehicles that would fulfill the needs and appeal to more residents if cars were not a threat.

A dream, for the whole world, would be to finish a 60-kilometer bike-and-walking path along the Grand Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. And, the mountains north of the city, where the Great Wall runs, are stunningly beautiful and could be made into a world-class area for bicyclists by adding a few road shoulders and bike paths.

The Chinese capital also has many great parks. The Olympic Forest Park rivals New York's Central Park, and there is a 13-km walkway and canal near the China Daily offices running across the north side of the city beside the ruins of the old Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) walls. You can discover just by looking for green on a map many such lesser known parks where tourists never go, but which the locals cherish. Many of them are open to bikes.

People need these parks. It's a joy to see grandparents walking with toddlers, young couples strolling hand-in-hand, parents teaching kids to ride bikes, families barbecuing, old men flying kites and old women dancing. The smiles are much bigger than you ever see on the street.

Like all cities, Beijing planners in the past made the mistake of becoming too car-centric. The 1950s destruction of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) city walls was a historic loss. Imagine a beautiful wall and park where the Second Ring Road now roars. That won't happen soon, if ever, but the city is moving ahead quickly to provide more great green spaces.

I recently stumbled across a truly magnificent new park - the Beijing Greenway. It's a car-free path running along the Wenyu river from Tongzhou in the east of the city, past the airport, into the north section of the city for, as of now, 54 km.

That's just the start. In March, the city announced that, by the end of next year, it will finish building four new greenways, running more than 500 km, mostly alongside rivers. In US cities, this would be considered a fantastic accomplishment - front page news. It has hardly been publicized here, but it should be celebrated as a great asset for the city's people.

This weekend, I'm going to enjoy the greenway.

Contact the writer at davidblair@chinadaily.com.cn

Highlights
Hot Topics

...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美性猛交xxxxbbb | 国产精品久久一区二区三区 | 天天干亚洲 | 国产成人v视频在线观看 | 欧美人在线 | 亚欧在线一线 | 一级毛片私人影院免费 | 国产日韩欧美精品在线 | 性色a| 男女午夜爽爽 | 欧美视频一区 | 国内自拍在线视频高清 | 老鸭窝 国产 精品 91 | 手机看片精品高清国产日韩 | 国产黄色自拍视频 | 国内精品免费一区二区三区 | 欧美在线a级高清 | 久久福利青草免费精品 | 性夜影院爽黄a爽免费看网站 | 久久综合久久自在自线精品自 | 亚洲欧美在线观看视频 | 亚洲在线播放视频 | 5x社区直接进入一区二区三区 | 99re6热视频精品免费观看 | 中文字幕一区二区三区 精品 | 成人欧美一区二区三区在线观看 | 国产欧美视频一区二区三区 | 精品久久久久久国产免费了 | 欧美在线黄色 | 久久九 | 日本三级香港三级妇三 | 日本wwwwwwwww| 俄罗斯黄色一级片 | 天天做天天爱夜夜大爽完整 | 免费一级毛片在线播放不收费 | 国产大片在线看 | 特级毛片免费视频播放 | 欧美xx在线观看 | 男人的天堂视频在线观看 | 在线成人欧美 | 九草视频在线观看 |