Transit and the Hangzhou Family

Savanah James

Research Question:

How does the high speed train change the family dynamic in Hangzhou?

Goal of Research Question:

In 2014, TIME magazine published an article using numbers from the United States census and came to the conclusion that there is statistically no longer such thing as a "typical" American family. This, they said, was due to a continuously changing culture that included more employed women and cohabiting parents. Gender equality, open-mindedness, less manual laboured jobs, amongst other social changes were contributing factors to the shift in families. When the high-speed train opened in Hangzhou, this led me to wonder whether or not social and cultural changes were the only variables could impact families; whether or not physical, geographical connections could also change the dynamic. My research question hopes to tackle the relationship between transportation and the Hangzhou family. To see how they continuously continue to affect each other, and draw conclusions on the place of transportation in a growing society.

Summary of Selected Interviews:

INTERVIEW NO. 1: A young man in his late 20s. He was travelling alone while waiting for a train to Shanghai to visit his Grandparents. He believes that the high speed train is closely linked to the recent financial growth of Hangzhou. Regarding families, he predicts that the high speed train is too expensive for most families to afford, so young people still may not see it as a way to work abroad and maintain close relationships with their families. He said he would not be surprised if he learned that the family dynamic of families living in villages wouldn't change from the opening of the high-speed train.

INTERVIEW NO. 2: An extremely dirty and shabby older woman. She had just come from worshipping with her daughter in Ningbo to Hangzhou when they informed her that she had been bumped off her next train from Hangzhou to her district. She'd been waiting for the past 24 hours for another train to come. Throughout the interview, she expressed her annoyance at the Hangzhou high-speed train system, complained that they were incompetent, and even went as far as to call them 「小芝麻」(xiâo zhī má), which translates to "insignificant sesame seeds", an insult in many parts of China. The high-speed train makes it easier for her to maintain her relationship with her daughter, but the poor quality of service makes her unlikely to.

INTERVIEW NO. 4: A small, shabby older woman. She took the high-speed train one in her life when she was transferring jobs from Hunan to Hangzhou. She says that in Hangzhou, her bosses treat her with more respect and are nicer to her, as she is a "foreigner". Her family all lives in Hunan but she came here to make more money working in construction to pay for her daughter's educational fees. She says she could've come to Hangzhou through any means of transport, not just the high-speed train. The high-speed train made travelling to new places easier, but it is still unaffordable and other forms of transit also 'get the job done'.

INTERVIEW NO. 6: A young woman in her early 20s. She came to Hangzhou from Hubei to study. She believed that the high-speed train was relatively cheap and that most families could probably afford it. She herself travels back home frequently even though she has her university and her job here. In her opinion, the high-speed train should open up in more parts of China, not just the well-developed cities on the east coast. She thinks that if China is all linked together, not only will transportation be more convenient, but China will feel more unified and be able to stand as one. For her, the high-speed train let her and her family consider sending her to university outside of their hometown and she chose Hangzhou for its beautiful views, advanced technology, and connections to the rest of the world.

INTERVIEW NO. 7: A young man in his late 20s, early 30s. He was at the train station picking up a friend and when the friend's train was delayed, he decided to go into the mall beneath the station and get a massage. For him, the high-speed train doesn't really change his relationship with his family, but it allows his friends to come visit more often and lets him stay in close contact with them. He predicts that the high-speed train has similar impact on the Hangzhou family. When more job opportunities open up and become accessible, the breadwinner is no longer just the father, the mother can work too.

How does the High-Speed Train Affect Family Relationships?

Out of the 7 people we interviewed, 5 of them were present at the train station that day because of something to do with their families. Whether they be travelling with their families, visiting grandparents, or returning to connect with children, all of them seemed to hold the opinion that the high speed train has been beneficial to them and improved their family relationships.

However, even though most of them seemed to hold the opinion that the high speed train is beneficial to their family relationships, many of them gave contradicting evidence to their claims. For example, interviewee no. 7 predicted that with the high-speed train opening up, more job opportunities became accessible to people. Both mothers and fathers could now afford to take the train during the day and return home to spend time with children at night; as opposed to before, when mothers had to stay home to watch after kids while the father came home late from travelling. On the surface this sounds like a great scenario, children spend more time with both parents and the family income doubles. But upon further thought, the scenario is as much unrealistic as it is impractical. If both parents want to return in time to spend the afternoon with their children, they would need to arrive back home around 3pm to pick their kids up from school. Since no reasonable job would allow its employees to get off work at 2pm, the family would have to hire a nanny to look after the children. The price of hiring a nanny and the expensive daily train tickets could easily cancel out the additional income generated by the mother. In reality, the family does not get additional money and the children now spend more time with a nanny than they do with their parents. The impracticality of a suggested scenario from a local shows that many people have disoriented, 'fluffed up' views of the high-speed train.

Throughout the interviews, we see that many people believe that the high speed train makes family separations easier to deal with and relationships easier to maintain. But what many people don't consider is that the separations may not have even existed in the first place had the train not opened. When making life plans, many young people stop prioritising their families, using easy transportation as their justification. Even though people are still taking measures to maintain relationships and keep families tight, we have to consider the implications and effects of transit. When the family stops being at the centre of life plans, what does that mean for people? Does the value of a family decrease? Do traditional values and traditions loose their appeal? Transportation connects places that weren't connected before and allows lifestyles that weren't even imaged previously. When one of the most important parts of society, the family, looses its value because of more attractive opportunities, what replaces it?

As Hangzhou continues to grow at the rapid rate it does today, what place will public transport have in peoples lives in the future?

Jack Openshaw

Analysis of question:

As the development of Hangzhou’s public transport continues to grow at amazing speeds, it is thought it will only have a beneficial impact to the residents of Hangzhou. Currently, China is struggling with a major air pollution problem. Although it is not as bad in Hangzhou as it is in other major cities in China, it is still not great. The introduction of a greater number of transport links in and out of the city will reduce the amount of cars that residents will buy, as they will be using a cheaper alternative and a more eco friendly alternative. Also, if more people are on public transport instead of cars, there will be substantially less road accidents.

As for the social aspect of a more advanced public transport system, it will impact on the decisions people have for jobs. Say you are a labourer in Hangzhou looking for construction projects, you could also look to Shanghai and its other satellite cities for job prospects. An example of this is our very own principal, Mrs. Zhang. Her husband lives in Shanghai, and they meet every week or so. Had Hangzhou and Shanghai not been connected by a 45 minute high speed rail, perhaps Mrs. Zhang would not have taken the job in Hangzhou because it would take a couple of hours to get to Hangzhou before the high speed rail.

Additional Links:

Map Blurbs

Recordings of Interviews

Photos with Interviewees

Citations:

What place will transit have in the daily lives of people in Hangzhou?

Maxwell Dubow

Transit in Hangzhou is expanding really fast. Every year, new metro lines and High Speed Rail (HSR) lines are opening. Cars are slowly becoming obsolete, as buses, metros, and HSR become ingrained to the lives of people in Hangzhou. In the future, it is likely that Hangzhou will become one of the first cities to not have any private cars on the street.

The Hangzhou metro opened up its first line in 2012, and the next in 2014. Currently there are only three lines, but plans for expansion state that by 2022, there will be 13 lines that our as far as the tea plantations in the south west to the Zhejiang University international campus in the far north east. People in Hangzhou that live near metro stations are starting to use them a lot, since the system provides an easy and affordable way to commute and travel in Hangzhou. With over quadruple the number of lines in just 4 years, the amount of people taking the metro will rocket upwards. If the Hangzhou metro can’t accommodate the influx of citizens riding the trains at rush hour, then the metro system will fail. However, if cleanliness, efficiency, and convenience are all maintained, the Hangzhou metro will likely become the main method of transport in Hangzhou.

The metro system will also make Hangzhou a “greener” city. Combined with the expanding shared bike system, and the bus systems eventual conversion to only electric vehicles, Hangzhou will become a very environmentally friendly city. This can cause a boom in tourists visiting Hangzhou from other parts of China, and possibly even from Western countries. Emission free transport is likely a goal of the Hangzhou government, and with the expanding Hangzhou metro system, this is even more likely.

The HSR network is already ingrained into daily life in China and Hangzhou. It is now easy and affordable to commute between cities. Now, people in Hangzhou are able to find job opportunities in neighbouring cities such as Ningbo and Shanghai. In the future, this complicated rail network will be even larger, linking the far western parts of China to the developed commercial hubs in the east, such as Hangzhou, allowing for people all over China to be able to easily come to Hangzhou to look for work. The Chinese government is slowly incorporating western technologies into the HSR to create more efficient and environmentally friendly electric trains. This would be a great economic boost for Hangzhou, but customer service on the HSR would have to improve to attract more passengers.

All in all, the development that is planned for the HSR and Hangzhou metro will be a huge boost to environmentally friendliness for Hangzhou. The people will also be able to have more convenient ways to commute farther distances. If the development of the HSR and Hangzhou metro don't sacrifice customer service, quality, or reliability, it is highly likely that private cars will disappear and Hangzhou transit will be ruled by the metro and the HSR.

Reflection

This was a fun and eye opening experience for me. Before visiting the train station and interviewing the people there, I had no idea that Hangzhou, or any city, could be evolving that fast. I now feel more interested in transportation in Hangzhou, and I hope to do further study in the future.