Monday, February 16, 2009

Walking around Wuxi.

I normally take the #25 bus to school. The problem with it is always crowded and standing for forty minutes exhausts me. But it stops right by work.

Another bus I sometimes take is the #610. The problem with it is that it is twice the price of the #25 and doesn't stop near the school - I have to walk briskly for ten or fifteen minutes after deboarding to get to school. But, it is often empty when it comes to my stop and so I can sit and I need the exercise.

Today, I employed the #610 option. I am not sure where it goes past a certain point so today I decided to go a few more stops and find out. It turns out that it stops near our two previous apartments. Being in the old neighborhood, I saw the changes that had taken place in a year. There were new restaurants and the section of Renmin Road near the computer market has been renovated - it now has traffic barriers and new pavement.

Of course all this work looks like the local government trying to stimulate the economy through public works. Whether it works over the next few years remains to be seen. I keep reading that the Chinese economy is going down and so it looks like all this building is a sign of desperation.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I noticed the changes in Remin Road too, thought I was in a different place. This had all changed since May 2008 when I was last in Wuxi. It takes years to complete such projects here in the UK.

It will be interesting to see if it does have the desired affect, only time will tell.