What is the world coming to? Today I read in the paper that the US government may take stakes in the Big 3 Automakers, effectively making them government subsidiaries? (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122875608562688401.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_mostpop) And then there is the news on the China Communist Party and the Taiwan Nationalist Ruling Party sitting down for talks (http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/12/08/afx5795745.html ) …would never had thought as I was growing up that this would happen. And then in entertainment, I hear Jay Leno may be moving…to Prime Time> (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/business/media/09leno.html?em )

Sorry, slow news day and these just seemed interesting. But seriously, it seems so unusual that the US Government, after all the criticism we give others for supporting national airlines or banks, or other industries (ie airbus) now needs to resort to the same tactics because the upper management in these automakers are too far out of touch with reality and did not realize they were running their companies into the ground? Reminds me of the furni ture companies in places like North Carolina, which sadly, have closed factory town after factory town, leaving thousands unemployed in the past decades because they could not see past their own borders to realize they needed to innovate or die. Not saying any of these industries should die, or shouldn’t be supported. I just hope that the managers who are responsible for this mess are held accountable for their poor judgment over the long haul and for the suffering this will cause so many Americans, workers and stock holders alike.

And then there is this Taiwan China thing. Its been going on all my life and I still remember watching movies as a kid like “800 Heroes”, which incidentally portrays the battle for the Si Hang Warehouse along the Suzhou Creek here in Shanghai, where the nationalist troops are the heroes, and other war films and shows that portrayed the Nationalist (KMT) troops as the good guys, in clean polished uniforms while the Communist troops looked ragged. Then, fast forward to arriving here in China and watching TV and realizing on TV here, the good looking troops were all Communist with good looking women officers and such too, while the bands of rag-tag ones were the Nationalists. And now, some sixty years later, they are finally meeting to talk about their common interests. Both sides are patriots and probably have more in common than not these days. I wish them good luck.

And finally, prime time Jay Leno… need I say more? Obviously I am not in the States now, but I wonder seriously… CSI or Jay?

One more reason to watch your bags on the subway:

The Chinese bureaucrats who spent taxpayers' money on a $700-a-night Las Vegas hotel and visits to Hawaiian beaches and a San Francisco sex show might have gotten away with it if someone hadn't lost a bag on the Shanghai subway.

The dozens of documents and receipts in the bag, with officials' names and enthusiastic comments attached, were swiftly posted on the Internet, spreading like wildfire across Chinese cyberspace over the past week. That brought swift punishment for some officials involved — and another disgusted shrug from Chinese citizens all-too-familiar with corruption.

Scans of the documents appeared on my local BBS, but I was surprised to see this on the AP wire. Also on Xinhuanet.

Work on the Zhangjiang trolley line continues. The photo above of the cover on a utility well taken tonight outside my apartment complex, on Dangui Rd, reads 张江有轨电车, "Zhangjiang Electric Trolley".

Jonna describes how to make Shanghainese panic in less than 5 seconds:

Since some doors to the metro (including all of those in the front of the platform, where I was standing) weren't opening, people on the platform were panicking and running around to find another open door where they could enter from. This didn't happen in silence, oh no, people were screaming and shouting to make sure all their near and dear ones got into the same metro carriage. Same thing happened inside the metro where people were almost hitting others in order to get to another door.

Though if you ask the Shanghainese, they'll swear it was only the waidiren.

Susan Lang writes about her experience with the city's public transportation:

“I don’t do public transportation” was my motto back in the U.S., but that mentality literally won’t get me very far at all here in Shanghai as everybody relies on some form of public transit, whether it’s cabs, buses or the metro to get around. Even the lucky ones who have their own cars and drivers still must use one of these on the days their drivers are off.

Read on for the details of her first public bus "non-ride".

Ever since the "3 lines 2 extensions" opened at the beginning of 2008, I've been neglecting to cover much of the future of the Shanghai metro. I ran across an article today that reminded me of that, so I'll translate a relevant passage:

目前，本市轨道交通已有8条运营线路，总长度为234公里，共有161个车站投入使用。在建有7条线路的8个项目，总建设里程194公里，在建车站116座。

　　2009年计划建成4项：7号线、8号线二期、9号线二期、11号线北段；2010年世博会前计划建成4个项：2号线东延伸、7号线北延伸、10号线、13号线世博段；2012年力争建成4项：11号线北段二期、11号线南段、12号线、13号线一期。

　　至2010年，本市轨道交通将有11条线路，运营里程超过400公里，可承担日均客流达到580万人次，2012年达到13条线路，总长超过500公里，基本建成本市轨道交通网络，可承担日均客流将超过800万。

Currently, the city's metro system has 8 lines with a total track length of 234 kilometers and 161 stations. There are 8 construction projects buildings 7 lines for a total of 194 kilometers of new track connecting 116 new stations.

Four projects are due for completion in 2009: Line 7, Line 8 Phase 2, Line 9 Phase 2, and the northern section of Line 11. By the World Expo in 2010, four more projects will be completed: the Line 2 eastern extension, the Line 7 northern extension, Line 10, and the Expo site section of Line 13. By 2012, four more projects will reach their tentative completion date: the Line 11 northern section Phase 2, the Line 11 southern section, Line 12, and Line 13 Phase 1.

By 2010, the city's metro system will have eleven lines with a total 400 kilometers of track, and will be able to support a daily average load of 5.8 million passengers. By 2012, the metro will have 13 lines for a total track length of over 500 kilometers and will have taken on its planned final form. At that point, it will be able to handle 8 million daily passengers.

Very exciting. Also in the same article is the news that the Garden/Waibaidu Bridge is set to re-open to traffic next year in April of 2009.

A couple of subway items from outside of Shanghai. According to a news report:

SIXTY retired metro carriages from Beijing have been sent to Guangyuan City in Sichuan Province so they can be used as dormitories for students in earthquake-ravaged areas, Beijing Youth Daily reported today.

That's very creative, though I'm sure they're quite difficult to transport once they're off the rails.

A cool subway site is Ami Underground, a weblog of sketches done on the New York City subway system. Here's a sampling: