This Day, That Year
China’s first subway runs through the heart of Beijing after it started operations in 1971.
An item from Sept 19, 1992, in China Daily showed construction crews busy working in Xidan subway station in Beijing.
By the end of last year, Beijing had 22 lines and 370 stations in operation.
The city had 608 kilometers
This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy.
of subway tracks, the world’s second-longest after Shanghai, which didn’t have a subway system until 1993.
Shanghai had 732 km of subway tracks by the end of last year.
The capital’s subway network carried 3.78 billion passenger trips last year, or an average of 10.35 million per day.
By 2021, Beijing will have
The newspaper and beyond
almost 1,000 kilometers of subway tracks, according to the official plan.
In the years that followed the capital’s subway construction, subway expansion across China has been accelerated to meet the increasing commuting demand brought by the country’s rapid urbanization.
Authorities in many cities want to ease traffic congestion through building metro networks.
Nationwide, 34 cities operate subway systems with a total operation length of 4,642 km.
So far, the National Development and Reform Commission has approved metro construction projects in 43 cities.
The total length of urban rail transit under operation in China is expected to reach 6,000 km by 2020.
China’s railway companies have also been helping to upgrade subways abroad.
China Railroad Rolling Stock Corp has won bids to build carriages for several countries, including Ukraine, Malaysia, Nigeria, India, the Philippines and the United States.
The US was frustrated at not having shaped China in its own image, despite bringing the country into the World Trade Organization and helping to enable its economic takeoff.在加入世贸组织、实现经济腾飞后，中国没有按照美国规划的路线发展，美方对此感到失望。
In fact, China has maintained social and political stability and followed its own economic path and has contributed to global economic growth, especially after the 2008 financial crisis.事实上，中国维持了稳定社会发展和政治制度，并成功走出了一条符合自身国情和经济发展的道路，为全球经济增长做出了贡献—这在2008年金融危机之后尤为凸出。
Taking advantage of the globalization promoted by the US and Europe, hardworking Chinese gained access to global capital, technologies, expertise and markets, all of which facilitated the growth of industry.借以美欧推动全球化带来的机遇，勤劳的中国人开始运用国际资本、技术、经验和市场，以促进自身工业化进程。
Hundreds of millions of Chinese came out of poverty, and living standards in the country have risen substantially.数以亿计的中国人摆脱了贫困，人民生活水平取得巨大提升。
But it’s important to remember: China’s gains have benefited the US as well.但需要清楚的是：中国的发展同样惠及美国。
According to Oxford Economics,
China is not adopting a more confrontational stance toward the US.中国并非试图以更加对立的立场解决中美贸易问题。
Its current attitude is part of its overall foreign policy, which is aimed at ensuring a sound environment that facilitates effective cooperation with the outside world to serve China’s development goals.因为对美政策是中国整体外交政策的一部分，而中国外交政策的目标是维护一个和平的外部环境以有效促进国际合作，以支持国家的发展目标。
Many in China believe that the root causes of US troubles lie within — and therefore need to be solved by Americans themselves. We can see that the US system requires a major overhaul to overcome deep sociopolitical divisions and economic disparities.在许多中国人看来，美国困境的源头根生于美国内部，需要美国人自己去解决。不难看到，美国社会在决裂和转型压力上正面临严竣挑战，需要进行全面调整。
But that doesn’t relieve China of the responsibility to engage in dialogue, to find out where the two sides can and can’t agree, and to seek solutions or at least ways to manage persistent disputes.但同时，中方有责任坚持对话，逐步澄清双方的一致点和分歧点，寻找渡过中美关系的险滩激流的方案或方法。