Don't know if I've mentioned it on the blog, but one prominent feature in these parts is construction. Specifically, construction of a new high speed train line, from Chengdu northwest to the small(er) city of Dujiangyan, about a two hour bus ride northwest of here. Dujiangyan, home to a 2,300 year old irrigation system, was hit very hard by the 2008 earthquake.
The government thus decided to build a high speed train line there to help revive the region, which brings up a big difference between the U.S. and China: in China, if the government decides to do something, it Actually Gets Done. In the case of the train line, done in less than two years! Since there is a stop next to our campus, we should be able to get into Chengdu in 15 minutes, instead of the hour + bus ride that we now take to get to the outskirts of town.
Or at least that's the theory, anyway. We heard that the train line would be open in time for the May 12th anniversary of the earthquake, which was this past Wednesday. We've been busy teaching, so we haven't gotten out to the train station to check it out. Will the station be open? Will there be a train waiting to whisk us to Chengdu past the still existing piles of rubble and holes in the road? Will it cost us only 4 RMB each, or twenty? I'm going out to check this afternoon - will keep you posted.
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