Cars on the Clock in China
- iSSUes Vol. 1
- Dec 18, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 5, 2020
License Plates Determine When People Can Drive
By Logan Mitchell
Chen Litianyi is from the city of Shanghai, China. This is her first semester at Salem State. When I asked Litianyi why she chose Salem State, she said, "I came here with a program with many students like me." She explained that her father prepared for her a list of schools. The schools were cities that Litianyi said her father considered "safe ... close to Boston." "I chose this school," she said. When asked if she likes it, she said, "Yeah, I like it; it's different than I thought ... people are kind. I studied [my] first year in China ... The teaching style is very different." She explained to me that the universities in China have much bigger classes, and that "students are not very likely to listen" there.
"When did you first hear about the climate crisis?" I asked Litianyi. "I think in primary school," she said, "in science class. It's also in the textbooks."
China is just beginning to do [garbage sorting], according to Litianyi. "[Shanghai] is the first to do that. Other cities are following. The government first wanted to do it in Beijing, but people didn't support it. There are forty-six cities doing this now. Why is Shanghai willing to try this, while Beijing is not? "Shanghai is different," Litianyi explained. "There are many people from different countries, different cities; it's a complex city."
In many Chinese cities, the smog is legendary. In a booming economy, "people are going to work; there is too much traffic," Litianyi said. "It will do harm to our environment." In big cities, cars with certain license plate numbers can only drive on the highway on certain days, and the rest can drive on other days. This helps limit traffic, as well as reduce China's daily carbon emissions. "Public transportation is very convenient," Litianyi told me. Unlike in America, it is very easy and fast to travel from place to place on bullet trains. It is affordable, too.
She went on to say, "I know that the government is planting trees, but I'm not sure where. [There is an app that] will record how many miles you walk, and it will tell you how much energy you saved [by walking], and then the people behind the app will plant a tree. If I have enough energy, I can choose a tree." I asked Litianyi if they used a lot of solar panels in Shanghai. She said, "Not really; in my middle school, they used solar panels for the lights in the school. They have some at the top of the building. I think some big cities may use some of them; there will be some new buildings using them."
I asked her what she knew about what the United States is doing to fight the climate crisis, and she said, "I don't know a lot about that, but you have paper bags to contain things in shops. In China, if you want a plastic bag you have to pay for it. My parents will reuse bags. Here, in the bathroom, you can take the paper and it's free. In China, you have to pay for it. People will bring their own and they will not waste it because it costs money." Paper waste contributes a great deal to the overall carbon emissions. "If I ask my mother what she thinks America is doing," Litianyi continued, "she will say people should do a lot to save the environment. We don't know a lot about what America is doing, but in our mind they are doing something, even though we don't know if it's right or not. Every country should do something," she added. "We only have one Earth. We can't live on Mars, now," Litianyi said. "I don't wanna be there, I wanna live here."
China is just beginning to do [garbage sorting], according to Litianyi. "[Shanghai] is the first to do that. Other cities are following. The government first wanted to do it in Beijing, but people didn't support it. There are forty-six cities doing this now. Why is Shanghai willing to try this, while Beijing is not? "Shanghai is different," Litianyi explained. "There are many people from different countries, different cities; it's a complex city."
When asked if everyone could do one thing to make a positive impact on the climate, Litianyi said, "When you leave the room, close the lights. When I leave the dorm I close the lights because [my roommates] didn't close [them]. It can save a lot of energy, I think."
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