World's largest airport terminal opens

[Doctor Cynic]

Source: Globe and Mail

BEIJING – In the latest sign of its Olympic frenzy, Beijing has opened the world's biggest airport, an enormous dragon-shaped building 31/4 kilometres in length, built in record speed after the eviction of 10,000 villagers from the site.

The new terminal, almost 20-per-cent bigger than all five terminals of London's Heathrow Airport combined, features an ultra-modern baggage system and a Canadian-designed shuttle train to help people navigate its vast interior.

The first commercial flight, a domestic flight from Shandong province, landed at the new terminal at 8:37 Friday morning. Hundreds of Chinese staff, wearing red sashes as though they were beauty queens, roamed the vast building to help confused visitors.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080229.wairport29/BNStory/International/home/

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Anyone who's been to China can see the blistering pace of construction, and China has always been a nation of vast megaprojects (e.g. the Great Wall, the Grand Canal). As of now they are completing the Three Gorges Dam, a mass water diversion project, and the railway to Tibet. It already has the world's second largest expressway network (all paid by private investment, hence China has no freeways) and is set to surpass the entire Interstate network in the US within 10 years. It's building a massive high speed rail network, and Shanghai is completing the world's largest port so that Wal Mart can sell more toys faster. Beijing and Shanghai both have the ambition to build more subways and light rail than NYC, and politicians will continue to waste money on useless pet projects like the Shanghai maglev

Any wonder why the price of construction material in Podunkville, Kentucky is soaring?

Some of the construction projects will be beneficial to the Chinese people and environment (and the whole world), but far too many of them are useless white elephants that are disasters in waiting.

There's my ranting. :)

[izquierdista]

1. A capitalist boom?

They seem to have the boom part of the cycle down pat. Now how about when all the roads are built, Indonesia and Nigeria have cheaper labor, and there is no oil for them to buy?

They are setting themselves up for a fall that will make the Long March look like a walk in the park.

[JTFrog]

2. I wonder what happened to the 10,000 villagers they "evicted" so they could build it.

:shrug:

[DavidDvorkin]

3. I suppose we'll never know

Brutalized, vanishing peasants -- that's another old tradition, worldwide.

[physioex]

7. Ohhh yes we will.....

Watch the video on my post below.

[physioex]

6. Glad you asked that question....

Because we don't talk about topics like this enough. See the video below......


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3917027727063272369&q=secret+china%27s&total=2283&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[JTFrog]

8. Exactly what I was afraid of. Thank you for the link. n/t

[physioex]

10. Youre welcome.....EOM

[NYC]

9. Informative video.

Thank you for posting the link.

[physioex]

11. Isn't You Tube Great....:) EOM

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. See what you can do when you don't spend Trillions on illegal wars?

.
.
.

I'm not condoning their reported abuse of citizens,

But you have to consider that they have 1.6 BILLION people.

Junior is having a hard time tryna manage 300 Million . . . . .

China, with all it's "faults", IS progressing.

The USA?

I'm not sure anymore . .

[annabanana]

12. Sorry... this isn't what I call "progress". .Did you WATCH the video upthread?

This is dystopia writ large.

[amandabeech]

13. Some people in China are progressing materially, but not all.

China has huge problems with pollution of its air and water. There may not be many athletes hanging around the athlete's village this summer in Beijing because everyone will be training elsewhere due to the filthy air and hazardous water. Its aquifers are depleting at a rapid pace in part because the water is being used in secondary recovery efforts in its oil fields.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government censors the internet and other communications like crazy, corruption is rampant, and the government doesn't seem to take the manufacture of harmful products seriously.

They're making every mistake that the industrialized world made and has warned against from experience.

If oil prices continue to rise, this huge airport will end up as a huge white elephant.

Oh, and they may never be able to feed themselves again.

As to the relationship between the government and its citizens, in the U.S., it is the citizens' job to manage the government. If you want to be managed by your government, then I guess that China is the place for you.

[physioex]

14. Yea some "progress".....

Move the poor out of the way so the rich and powerful can take over.

[amandabeech]

15. No kidding. Not my kind of place. n/t

[H8fascistcons]

5. Hey America...

All of the billions in construction going on in China is your money!!! All the money you sent China from the purchase of your cell phones, TV's, cameras, tires, furniture, microwaves, computers, DVD players, toys, car parts, etc, etc.... All of that new construction could have been going on here in America if you were not so shortsided. Today after breakfast you will load up the kids and go to wallmart and send them some more of our US dollars, when will you ever learn the cause and effect lesson of free trade and cheap junk made in third world countries? Sadly we are the ones turning into the third world country, Fascism is on the march and Americans are the ones standing on the street corner cheering it on with our purchasing priorities firmly in place. 1 out of every 100 Americans in this country is in jail, each jailed prisioner costs about $35,000 per year, every year!!!
If we could only use a little imagination and ask the question how much better off as a society would America be if these people were not in jail but rather employed making the very items that we now buy from China? Think America, THINK!!!