Taipei and Beijing

張貼日期：Mar 31, 2012 9:57:1 AM

Taipei and Beijing

Sandy Li

Taipei and Beijing are the capital cities of Taiwan and China both have abundant exciting things worth observing. Though both of the cities are in Asia, there are still big differences between them in terms of environments, transportation, and humanity’s accomplishment. Living in Taipei for almost five years is the best thing that I have ever chosen. Because I had been to Beijing for ten days in my last summer vacation, it gave me an enormous shock which still deeply affects me. I could not use words to clearly describe how nervous I was at that moment.

First, the environments of Beijing and Taipei are different. When I went to Beijing the first time, I was just like the newborn baby and everything attracted me. While I walked on the street with my friends, I found each time when I got back to the hotel there were lots of tiny sand on my body. It was so awful. The weather is very dry there and sometimes there is dust wind, too. On the contrary, Taipei is not as dry as Beijing. The air in Taipei is much fleshier than that in Beijing and it rains a lot so my clothes are often moist.

Second, there are a variety of transportation means in both Taipei and Beijing. We can see metro, bikes, cars and motorcycles everywhere in the two places, but I only see tricycles in Beijing. It was an incredible scene when I first saw it. The street was just like an old movie scene which played in front of me. Another special transportation in Beijing is Magellan train. Magellan train can move 500 meters in an hour. It is faster than Taipei’s high speed rail. Such a super convenient city Beijing is!

Third, humanity’s accomplishment is the main point which absolutely changes my view at once. Take Taipei’s metro for example. People always line up and patiently wait for entering or exiting; however, people in Beijing do not always follow the rules. They are just like a swarm of bees crazily pushing and bursting into the exit. When I took the metro the first time in Beijing, I could not move my feet and head. All people were squeezed as in a can. When I was in the railway carriage, I found that Beijing’s people were so impolite and often shouted and spoke loudly even if their partners were just behind them. My ears were almost deafened and could not stand loud voice anymore.  

From those three points, I learn that each country or city has his own characteristics. No matter they are good or bad, we have to respect their culture and unique features. Though Beijing has a well developed transportation system, Taipei is still my first choice of the city where I want to live. Maybe it’s because people who live in Taipei can obey the rules and consider others.