Summer in the collapse

Author: Zhou Jianing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: The subway is aging day by day, silent and monotonously traveling back and forth. Shanghai now has two subway lines: one runs north-south, passing through the city's bustling downtown, while the other crosses beneath the river, connecting the land on both sides. From 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., the city above ground wakes up and falls asleep, and the city underground does the same. In the early morning and evening, it is always crowded. Office workers with briefcases keep sending text messages, while schoolgirls have to tiptoe and hug their school bags to feel secure. As people walk underground, they guess what lies above—the water pipes, the roads, or the river. In fact, the subway station is a great place—silent and convenient. The small shops around sell imitation Oden, bubble tea, trendy horror novels, and comic illustration books. Advertisements for underwear and mobile phones crowd the area just like the people. Tourists stand in front of the ticket machines, carefully figuring out the complex routes and station names with their fingers. There are rarely beggars here, only newspaper vendors who sell the latest morning papers when the train cars are slightly less crowded.