Husker China Blog Day 10: Traffic Stands Still in Beijing

Day 10: Planes, Trains, and Buses
Beijing traffic is LA traffic times nine.  After an overnight express train from Xian to Beijing at 250 kilometers an hour, the Husker bus inched its way to our hotel and then lunch and then the Beijing Sports University and then Tiananmen Square and finally back to the hotel.  Bring a paperback or a laptop if you're on a bus in Beijing.

Nebraska throttled another university team today: 25-11, 25-13 and 25-16.  Nebraska hit .520 and had eight service aces against Beijing Sports University. Allison McNeal and Morgan Broekhuis continue to be especially impressive. Gina Mancuso played well, firing a few Q balls - a family tradition - down the line for some kills.  Brooke Delano also played her best match of the trip to help the Big Red improve to 4-1 on the trip.

All the players sense the team is playing really well, but these undersized university teams make it difficult to judge.  We have four more matches versus paid pro teams before our departure next Friday.  The players can't wait.

The players loved the 11-hour train ride last night.  There were four people per room: two bunk beds separated by a row in between.  The players laughed and even danced 'the noodle,' a new team favorite, before settling in to read, write in their journals, and get some sleep.

The train flew through the night, but the dawn revealed life in rural China - acres of fields often tended by individuals using hoes or other garden tools.  The old diesel trucks - so common in 2000 when the Huskers were the first American college volleyball team to tour China - are still common on rural roads.  Residents typically live in dilapidated single-story brick dwellings, often sharing a wall with their neighbors.  Modern vehicles and buildings are still rare in rural China, partially explaining the exodus of tens of millions from the country to the cities.  The main reason, of course, is economic opportunity - the manufacturing jobs are primarily in or near cities along the eastern seaboard, close to shipping ports for export.

The Beijing suburbs arise suddenly - tall residential buildings overseeing busy streets with modern cars and well-used horns.  The government grants land leases to private developers, who raze shanty-town areas and replace them with 15 to 45-story residential towers.  The old Beijing is nearly gone, replaced by aluminum and glass office and residential buildings, though not as tall as the skyscrapers of Shanghai because of the earthquake risk here.

China is connecting its major cities with 250 kilometer or 155 miles per hour express trains - we made no stops during the trip from Xian to Beijing.  China is also developing magnetic train technology between Beijing and Shanghai and Shanghai and Hangzhou. Magnetic trains can reach 420 kilometers an hour or 260 mph.  This country is in a hurry. 

Though only the third-most populous city in China, Beijing still has 17 million inhabitants, making Friday traffic a parking lot. And this after the city adopted its 'car elimination policy' for the 2008 Olympics, prohibiting cars from use one day each week.

Friday evening meant an evening at Tiananmen Square, still an evocative place more than 20 years after the student uprising there.  We watched the guards take down the Chinese flag in a moving ceremony at 7:25 p.m.  The misty rain all day has made for cool, 60-degree conditions.  We train tomorrow morning before visiting the Summer Palace and the 2008 Olympic Venues.

I'm John Baylor, describing what I see.  To ask questions of the players and coaches or to provide constructive critique, please email John@JohnBaylorTestPrep.com.