Mom’s Hometown
By the end of 2017, the total length of China’s expressway network reached 136,500 kilometers, the world’s largest expressway system by length, having surpassed the overall length of the American Interstate Highway System in 2011. The medium area highway in the United States is pretty much wide grassland, but in China tons of anti-dazzling plates are setup along the isolation zone so you don’t need to worry about the light from opposite cars. This is my first time entering the rest area along Chinese highway, since most part of the Chinese expressway network is toll road, the service in most of the highway rest area is wonderful, you’ll find fresh fruit store, grocery store and even buffet restaurant (food is amazing!!!). Instead of using police patrolling on highway, they use high speed monitors covered pretty much the whole network to detect and record speeding or other illegal actions, and issue tickets to driver’s account. (Every driver’s license holder has an account for driving history checking and ticket payment).
I have to admit that I was shocked today. I came to this small town, my wife’s hometown, 10 years ago, and it was like a pure rural area, there was even no traffic light at the intersection, it was identified as a poverty town by the government.
I never believe President Xi’s speech about “to complete a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020” during the 19th National Congress last year until I hit my feet on land of China again last week. Everything changes so dramatically, maybe you think communism is bad but the Chinese Communist Party really does a wonderful job in economic development and infrastructure installation, unlike the democratic countries in which most of the national strategies and vision mainly focus on the next 4-8 years, Chinese government makes plan for the next 5, 10 and even 50 years, and one of the reasons most of the Chinese people strongly support the Communist Party is that, they never break their promise, and always fulfill in advance.
Pictures below show what my wife’s hometown looks like right now, these are what shocked me, I see clean street, tall buildings, orderly traffic, and most importantly, confident people. I can’t image what China will be like in another 10 years.
I was deeply impressed by the words from one of my friends, “I envied you 13 years ago when you left for the US, but I’m sure you envy us right now, you missed the best 10 years of China, and you’ll probably miss another one”.
