Name

Unit 5 The Beijing subway Class

Date

Start thinking
1 Answer the questions.
1 Can you drive? If so, how often do you drive? If not, would you like to learn? Why / why not?

2 What’s the best way to get around your town or city? Why?

3 Which cities in your country have a subway system? How effective is it?

Comprehension check
2 Watch the video. Choose the correct answers.
1 The first settlement in Beijing was around … ago.
a 300 years b 3,000 years c 13,000 years
2 Travelling by bus in Beijing is
a comfortable. b fast. c inexpensive.
3 By 2025, the tracks of the Beijing subway will be over … long.
a 1,000 km b 465 km c 100 km

3 Watch the video again. Answer the questions.

1 What does the name Beijing mean in Chinese?
Beijing means .
2 Apart from the Great Wall, which important construction can be seen in Beijing?
Tourists can visit .
3 How big is Beijing?
The city has an area of nearly square kilometres.
4 How much does a bus ticket cost?
It costs about .
5 What’s the best way to get around Beijing?
The best way to travel is .
6 How long was the first line of the Beijing subway?
It was long.
7 What is the total length of the city’s current subway system?
Today, Beijing’s subway system has nearly of track.
8 How many subway lines in total does the city hope to have by 2025?
It hopes to have lines.

4 Complete the summary. Write a number in each gap.

For the majority of the past 1 years, Beijing has been the political and cultural centre of China. Until
2
, the seat of government was The Forbidden City, a huge complex built in the 3
century and now a UNESCO world heritage site. Today, Beijing is a vast metropolis with a population of over
4
. Around a quarter of the city’s residents own a car and many people get around using one of the
city’s buses, of which there are 5 in total. However, the best option is to use the city’s subway system,
6
which first opened in . The subway is used daily by around 7 passengers, but this
number is growing all the time. In Beijing, as in other cities, the subway system is being continually expanded,
and it is thought that the country will have nearly 8 of the world’s metro lines by the middle of the
century.

5 Work in pairs. Answer the questions.

1 Which other cities do you know that have problems with congestion?
2 What measures can governments take to solve these problems?
3 If money were no object, how would you improve transport in your town or city?

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 Vocabulary
6 Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions.
1 Istanbul is renowned its traffic congestion.
2 China is home many of the world’s longest bridges.
3 The best way to get Berlin is by underground.
4 London’s car drivers often get stuck traffic around Trafalgar Square.
5 Experts have warned that public transport cannot keep with population demands in Melbourne.
6 It has been estimated that poor traffic signalling accounts 5–10% of all traffic delays in the USA.

7 Read the text. Replace the words in bold with the synonyms below.
ceased congestion fortified metropolis opulent stroll trace traverse
With a population of more than twenty-four million, Shanghai is now the largest 1 major city in China. Situated on
the east coast, the city takes its name from the Chinese characters (shàng, above) and (hǎi, sea) and it can
2
track its origins to a fishing village that developed in the area around 1,500 years ago. At one time, Shanghai was a
3
walled city, but today only one small section of the defenses remains. Because of its location on the Yangtze River
Delta in East China, Shanghai became an important international port during the 19th century, but trading with the
West 4 stopped after the Communist Party takeover in 1949. However, the city with its 5 sumptuous buildings was
restored to its former glory in the 1990s, and today it is once again a global financial hub. As such, the city has major
problems with 6 traffic jams, although an extensive public transport system exists for those who wish to 7 cross the
city. Around 7.5 million commuters prefer to 8 wander to their nearest metro station each day instead of getting
into their cars.

Extension
Work in groups. Research a city with congestion problems and the measures introduced to combat
them. Make a proposal for solving traffic problems in one of your country’s cities.
1 Make a list of world cities renowned for congestion. Are there any in your country?
2 Research one of the cities and make notes on measures taken to combat congestion.
3 Bring your notes to the class and tell the other members of your group what you have found out.
4 Choose a city in your country with congestion problems. In groups, decide which three of the measures you
have spoken about would work best for the city.
5 Write a proposal for solving the congestion problems in your chosen city.
6 Make your proposal to the class. Use the expressions in the box to help you.

Useful expressions: Proposing solutions

If we were to … then it would …
The result of … would be (to) …
We advocate / propose / recommend / suggest … in order to …
The answer / solution to the problem would be to …
To deal with this issue, we should …
We have no choice but to …

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Unit 5 DVD teacher’s notes

Video summary
The video is about the city of Beijing and its subway system. It focuses on Beijing’s history and its traffic
problems, and predicts how the future subway system will look in China as a whole.
The video links to page 58 of the Student’s Book.

Background culture notes

With a population of just over twenty-one million, Beijing is the capital of China and the country’s second-
largest city – Shanghai (population twenty-four million) is the largest. The origins of Beijing go back to a walled
city called Ji that existed in the area from the 11th to the 7th century BC. For much of the past eight centuries,
Beijing has been the political centre of the country, and its art treasures and universities have made it a centre
of culture and education in China. The city has seven UNESCO world heritage sites: The Forbidden City, Temple
of Heaven, Summer Palace, Ming Tombs, Zhoukoudian (cave system), the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. The
Forbidden City was the Chinese Imperial Palace from the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) to the end of the Qing
Dynasty (1644–1912). It served as the home for emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and
political centre of Chinese government for almost 500 years, and now houses the Palace Museum.
Congestion is a major concern in Beijing, and drastic measures have been introduced by the authorities to deal
with it, including limiting to 20,000 the number of new cars that may be registered in the city each month and
banning cars with non-Beijing number plates from the centre during rush hour. There are also several bus lanes
which may only be used by buses at peak times.
The Beijing subway, which started operating in 1969, is the cheapest and the most comfortable way to get
around the city, with a journey on one line costing two yuan (about £0.20).

Start thinking
1 Read the questions with the class and elicit answers from individual students. Encourage students to give a
personal response and use their suggestions to start a class discussion.
Answer key
Students’ own answers.

Comprehension check
2 Answer key
1 b  2 c  3 a

3 Answer key
1 north capital 2 The Forbidden City 3 17,000 4 20 pence 5 by (the Beijing) subway / metro 6 24 km
7 465 km 8 twenty-six

4 Answer key
1 800 2 1912 3 15th 4 twenty-one million 5 25,000 6 1969 7 ten million 8 half

5 Students’ own answers.

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 Vocabulary
6 Answer key
1 for 2 to 3 around 4 in 5 up 6 for

7 Answer key
1 metropolis 2 trace 3 fortified 4 ceased 5 opulent 6 congestion 7 traverse 8 stroll

Extension
Stage 1: Preparation before the class
• Ask: Which world cities do you know with major congestion problems? Write the answers on the board, for example:
Mumbai, Shanghai, Delhi, Moscow, Istanbul, Los Angeles, Bangkok, São Paolo, London, Brussels, etc.
• Tell students they are going to research one of the cities on the internet to discover the measures being taken to
deal with the congestion. Tell them to bring their notes to the next class.
Stage 2: Procedure in the class
• Divide students into small groups of three or four. Ask them to move their desks together, if possible.
• Ask students to take out their research about a world city.
• Ask them to present their research, in turn, to their group.
• Explain that students must now together choose a major city in their country which has congestion problems.
They must make a proposal to solve these problems using three of the measures they have spoken about.
• Tell students to write their proposal. Explain that they are going to present their proposal to the class.
• Ask each group, in turn, to present their proposal. Finally, have a class vote on the best proposal.
Extra ideas
Tell students they can find out basic information on a city’s transport system on Wikipedia by searching for the city
and scrolling down to the transport section. Here they will find references they can explore further to find out more
detailed information about traffic problems and their solutions.
Ask students to search online for the best subways in the world and make a list of the top five, for example:
Montreal (each station has a different design by a local artist), Madrid (some stations are big enough to hold public
events, even festivals, and in one of them there is a museum), NYC (trains run twenty-four hours a day), Hong Kong
(free Wi-Fi in many stations), London (the world’s first underground metro), etc.

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Unit 5 DVD scripts The Beijing subway
The city of Beijing can trace its history back three millennia. It’s one of China’s four ancient capitals and, for most
of the last 800 years, it’s been the country’s political and cultural centre. Based in the north, the city takes its name
from the Chinese characters bei, which means north, and jing, which means capital.
The city is renowned for its opulent architecture and historic monuments. As a place of huge political importance
for hundreds of years, the city was heavily fortified. Today, it’s one of the best places to see the Great Wall of China
– arguably one of the most famous landmarks in the world.
The Forbidden City covers 180 acres of central Beijing. It was built in the 15th century and, for most of the last 500
years, it was the seat of power in the country. Generations of emperors lived here, and the complex is named from
the fact that nobody could enter or leave without their permission. The city ceased to be the seat of government
when China became a republic in 1912. The entire area became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1987.
Not only is Beijing one of the wonders of the ancient world, it’s also an ultra-modern metropolis. The city covers
almost 17,000 square kilometres and is the country’s second-largest city after Shanghai, with a population of over
twenty-one million. It’s home to most of the country’s biggest businesses, as well as most of its government
buildings. So busy is the city that no matter where you look, there are people.
As an enormous city with a huge population, Beijing can be a nightmare to travel across. Rarely is the entire city
traversed on foot, because it’s just too big. Driving can be even more complicated. There are over five million cars
registered in the city, so congestion is a constant issue. Taxis are cheap and comfortable, but they face the same
issues as privately owned cars and while a ticket for one of the city’s 25,000 buses is exceptionally good value, at
around 20 pence, they’re often overcrowded and frequently get stuck in traffic.
So, what’s the best way to travel around Beijing? Most people leave the car at home and stroll to their nearest
subway station. The Beijing subway is the oldest metro system in China. The first line was built in 1969 and it was a
mere 24 kilometres long.
Today, it comprises sixteen lines with almost 465 kilometres of track and is one of the busiest subway systems in
the world.
Around ten million passengers travel on the metro every day and, thanks to the city’s ever-increasing population,
this number is only likely to grow.
In order to keep up with these growing demands, the subway is rapidly expanding. It is hoped that by 2025 at least
another ten lines will have been built, with over 1,000 kilometres of track.
Beijing isn’t the only city in China expanding its metro system. All over the country, cities are building or improving
their subways.
By 2050, the country will probably account for almost half of the world’s metro lines, but Beijing will still be one of
the busiest in the country, offering residents and visitors a modern way to get around this ancient city.

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