Beijing

Beijing Replacing Gas Taxi Fleet with Electric Taxis

- Adam Clare

small car

Smog and Beijing go hand in hand due to the explosive growth of car ownership and poor environmental management. That’s starting to change. China’s capital city has mandated that when any new taxi hits the street that it has to be electric. This follows their efforts to replace their buses with an all electric fleet, which included putting 100,000 electric busses on the roads. This electrification will make huge strides in better air quality and advancing the electric car market.

All newly added or replaced taxies in the city of Beijing will be converted from gasoline to electricity, according to a draft work program on air pollution control for Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and surrounding areas in 2017.

This is expected to create a market worth nine billion yuan (1.3 billion US dollars).

One expert says that such plan will not only make great contribution to environmental protection, but will drive the development of the new-energy vehicle industry.

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Bookstores are Still Places for Change

- Adam Clare

In Beijing there stands a bookstore that does more than just sell books – it’s bringing more culture and more discourse to the city. Books are an invaluable way to share ideas and as a result bookstores tend to create a culture around them that encourages critical thinking.

However, the Bookworm is more than just a bookshop with a library, bar and restaurant: it’s a hot house of discussion, creativity and ideas in one of the world’s most happening cities.

Its big book-lined rooms, free Wi-Fi, hip music and good food have made it a magnet for expats and young, English-speaking Chinese alike.

But it’s the Bookworm International Literary Festival that has put it on the map for top international authors curious about China: Americans Dave Eggers and David Sedaris were here for events in January. This month, Toronto’s Emma Donoghue and 70 other writers from 19 different countries celebrated the festival’s fifth year, which wraps up Friday.

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Beijing Closing Gas Stations

- Adam Clare

Beijing is admitting that it is a dirty place and is trying to clean itself up. Because they are hosting the olympics this year, they’re trying to improve their image. To reduce the amount of air pollution in the city officials are closing gas stations and retrofitting others. I have no idea why they didn’t do this earlier, but better late than never.

By the end of May, 144 will shut because they are not expected to meet higher environmental standards, according to state media.

The remainder are to be fitted with devices to reduce the level of fumes which escape when vehicles fill up.

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