Submitted by: BuckyHermit (from Vancouver, BC, Canada)
Country: China
Province: Municipality of Beijing
District: Haidian District
Location: Beijing Subway at Yuanmingyuan Park Station [map]
Status since photo:
The Beijing Subway is the oldest and busiest subway system in Mainland China (and 6th busiest in the world) and second longest (after the Shanghai Metro). It was first proposed in 1953 and was built with help from the Soviet Union and East Germany. It started operations in 1969 and, like the Soviet Union, was built with both civilian and military uses in mind. After the Sino-Soviet split, Soviet experts withdrew from the project in the 1960s and the subway's development was halted almost completely due to other economic difficulties from the Great Leap Forward. In the next few decades, the system was plagued by (occasionally fatal) disasters from both natural and synthetic sources. However, in the 1990s, the system began to expand; in the years leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics, it grew greatly in size as several lines were added. It currently has 9 lines and is planned to expand to 19 lines by 2015.
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