Archive for August 21st, 2008

Change for taxis

Beijing, China | Posted by Terence
Aug 21 2008

Yet again I ride a taxi in Beijing and find the taxi driver without sufficient change to break a ¥100 note; the fare was ¥20.

80RMB in this day and age is not a lot of money, even for a taxi driver, and it annoys me that in Beijing they carry around such little change. In Hong Kong should that happen (which it rarely does, even if you present a $500 bill) the driver would be most apologetic and you might even find yourself riding for free. It’s their responsibility to give change. Over here, lots of people in retail / services can’t even break a note. Yet with ¥100 being the largest note in China – meanwhile businessmen and the middle class are walking around with bags full of cash just to buy a car or make that down payment on a flat. It’s pathetic.

The good news is that Beijing taxi’s now accept payment with the transport smartcard (北京一卡通). This is a good starting point… now they just need to make it easier for you to topup.

Side note: All these pre-Olympic reports that Beijing taxi drivers are being forced to wear uniforms are somewhat misleading : I have yet to see a single one wearing a tie, most not even wearing a collared shirt. This may have been true, but the enforcement has just been dismal.

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Open media Olympics?

General | Posted by Terence
Aug 21 2008

More on China’s (questionable) media freedom during the Olympic period – BBC’s Panorama have aired a program a couple of weeks ago titled “China’s Olympic Promise“, presented by John Sweeney and showing that media openness is still somewhat lacking despite the assurances of the central government. Yet again, this instead merely portrays the authorities making complete twits out of themselves, in particular the young minder who surely should be doing something more useful to society like driving a bus. Panorama will air again on BBC World this weekend.

On other news, ITN’s John Ray is bundled into a police van for merely doing his job and reporting protests – something he is entitled to do under the new rules stipulating press freedom. Clearly the police did not get the memo, and instead were being typically intrusive – yet another embarrassing scene for international television. But did it stop us from seeing the protests? No.

As for the local media? Obviously there has not been much change there, with the news being as orchestrated as ever during the Olympics period. Change is taking pace, slowly, but so far it doesn’t look like the Olympics has had much immediate impact on the local media.

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