Beijing Beijing

So called "once-in-a-lifetime" rainstorms have too often visited Beijing recently. Landlocked in Northeast China, Beijing always surprises its residents with unpleasant ocean views in storm seasons. Since yesterday, Beijing - including the main city area and its satellite towns - was flooded again after a continuous torrential rain. Cars, buses and pedestrians were trapped on the road; lower floors and basement of apartment buildings were inundated and their residents became homeless; and manhole covers were washed away, leaving hundreds of holes scattered across streets. Some people were drowned in the basement - the only housing that they could afford in Beijing, some died in disaster relief, and some of other accidents. The death toll is still increasing.

Though not an expert in this field, I'd assume drainage systems are important in urban planning, specially for a metropolitan located in a monsoon region. When I was living in Beijing, I didn't get caught in floods, but there were always some pondings along streets after heavy rains. Sometimes I had to wear rain-boots to wade across those pondings and my dresses were always spotted with mud when cars rushed by. Raining days always got me down. But at least there was no casualties at that time (or not released by media.) Now the obsolete drainage system couldn't meet the challenges of more frequent and heavier rainstorms likely brought by climate change, and failed to function well. This flashy-looking city pays its price for disregarding fragile interior infrastructure.

Some people made fun of London, the 2012 Olympics host city, jeering at its upcoming open ceremony and claimed that London is embarrassing itself by hosting Olympics right after Beijing, who did a splendid job in squandering billions in 2008 for appearance's sake. Beijing did look glorious at that time with neon lights shining along streets at night, green belts surrounding the Olympic village and brand new subways running around. Now most stadiums built four years ago are closed to the public and overgrown with weeds due to the lack of maintenance. Some Olympic events, like baseball, cycling mountain bike and beach volleyball, are not popular in China. Their stadiums were hardly used since the end of Beijing Olympics. Some stadiums cost so much, like the "Bird Nest" and the Water Cube, famous as they are, couldn't cover their initial cost and maintenance fee by collecting tickets. Beijing Olympics Committee probably believed all this window dressing could earn Beijing face in the international community, and thus became a miserly provider of high-quality infrastructure in the unseen side - like the underground drainage system. Then we cheered for Olympics, and felt good about ourselves as the capital of the biggest emerging power. So we indulged the government to spend tax payers' money extravagantly and build all the face-saving projects. 


Misplaced government expenditure has disastrous result. Car owners, who finally bought a car after saving for years and winning a license lottery draw out of thousands of applicants, could do nothing but watching his own car submerged in the flood. Businessmen who are seeking fleeting commercial opportunities here, and families who have traveled thousands of miles to this city for reunion, were trapped in the Beijing Capital Airport for hours, accompanied by tens of thousands of anxious travelers. Employees have to spend more than three times of the normal commute time to reach home after a long day, let alone those migrant workers who can only afford a basement - they don't even have space to sleep over tonight. People are paying the cost of government incompetency in addition to their taxes.


Across the Pacific, California is sunny all year round and there may be no way to test the drainage system in San Francisco. I don't know how the Beijing Government will explain to the public about the flood, which may not even happen with better infrastructure. They will blame the weather for sure, and global warming probably, and honor some people for their bravery in saving people from the flood. But nothing will change until they reflect their habitual decision-making process, and remedy the faults done by them before.