Beijing traffic of 30 years

By yuan_zcen ( bbs.chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-10-31 09:19

1978, the equipment of traffic control was very outdated, all imformation had to be transfered by hands. Operators were very busy. They had precise memory for phone numbers and skillful hands for lines.

Zhang Qizheng, one of the first generation of traffic-leading volunteers in 1980s, was helping policeman leading vehicles in the center of road.

He liked playing chess in free time, and sold tea for living. He was a representative of the time full of selfless spirit. The pedicab in photo was taxi at that time.

Chang’an street with few cars, which is hard to see nowadays.

The photographer of this picture wanted to catch more cars, so he asked the centerbox to prolong the time of red light.

Traffic policeman used to be one of the hardest jobs. The people know the tiredness and hardship of policemen.

This picture was not posed by photographer. It’s a common scene at that time.

Beijing had 7.3 million bikes that year. If these bikes go out together, at 2 meters’ distance, they will be as long as 14,600 km which is longer than the distance between Beijing and Moscow.

The emerging of taxi made our traffic more convenient, but also brought some new problems. Several kinds of cars you’d better not follow, taxi is one of them. They may brake suddenly to pull on passengers.

The modern equipments enhance efficiency of traffic control. The real condition of roads was showed on the big screen, in order to maintain the fluency of traffic.

Somewhere in time, roads began to be blocked by increasing cars. The people in cars are anxious, for the waste of time and money.

A new weapon - radar speed tester in 2001.

We believe tomorrow will be better.