Danwei TV

Choice Cuts-Beijing Jam

Danwei Choice Cuts brings you work from up and coming Chinese filmmakers and DV documentary producers. This time we present Beijing Jam, a short film by Lois Xiang about cars, traffic jams and road rage.

It's a visual essay that starts from historical footage showing the changes on Beijing's roads and ends with interviews with a parking attendant who was nearly run over by an enraged motorist who refused to pay the parking fee.

The video is also viewable on Tudou, which should be faster if you're in China. All Danwei TV programs are also archived at Danwei.tv.


There are currently 11 Comments for Choice Cuts-Beijing Jam.

Comments on Choice Cuts-Beijing Jam

Whoa! That boss made a suprise appearance there at the end!

Yeah Beijing traffic is crazy. I just had a flash back of riding around with my cousin out of my mind in at crazy Beijing traffic, being paranoid about the future of China (pollution and insane traffic). LOL. Fun times.

Gas lines are crazy too, especially when the price of gas is going up the next day… LOL.

I imagine that China needs new ways of doing things. Can anyone imagine Beijing in 20 years? Upon China reaching current U.S levels of consumerism along with equal rise in unrestrained waste then it’s over, IMHO.

Beijing is very polluted. It’s much worst than southern China, Hang Zhou for example.

Dalian is really nice.


nice short, especially the historical footages, where did you guys get them? from a library?

People who think that Americans commit road-rages or that Asians are reserved, quiet law-binders need to watch this video. Chinese rages dwarf those of New Yorkers. I think the traffic condition and people's attitudes in general are products of a combination of poor law enforcement, corruption, peer pressure, and over-population. Most Chinese admit that the population has overall "low quality". And I tend to agree with Gauss&Euler that China is on a dangerous track right now if something is not done. The question is what. I personally am not sure what the effective solution would be.

Perhaps having everyone achieve ego death? HAHA, kidding, that's some crazy talk.

There isn't a solution in sight. At least I don't think there is enough willpower yet to really do the necessary things to achieve change. Perhaps if there was some sort of world wide movement for change. I'm not really an expert on China, and the problems mentioned are a world wide phenomenon

Yeah I agree there are a lot of ignorant Chinese people. Low 'su zhi.' They're like people every where else.

Anyway, it's 3:00am I really don't have a clue about anything I'm saying...

Good night.

kind of hoping for a little more art, more story... ho hum, beijing has lots of cars today. ho hum, parking attendants get harrassed. ho hum. oh my, China is changing so fast. hey, look at this, myrtle, they got cars in Beijing.

The title says it all... You don't want to interview me and I certainly would like to visit China again in the future...I'm don't think the general public is ready for my type of pollution, acid corrosion, and mathematical induction. I will corrupt the brain of youth. Destroyer of cultures. Watch out! I'm the red pill brah. It's all about the headiez...At ease...

Journey_west what are you implying brah? That Beijing traffic is not bad? Oh you think the doc. is played out? Good, at least I know one guy in Beijing who knows secret to handshakes. The top dog of the beggar clan, 48th generation disciple to the AK's.

Personally my cousin harasses parking attendants all the time. It's really sad. My cousin that is... He is a bastard.

I noticed some Beijingers look down on migrant workers... I hate that.

Actually I'm hoping that in twenty years China will be developed enough to start serious efforts in protecting the environment.

The West can afford better environmental standards as they are industrialized. I sometimes forget the fact that China is still a developing country.

The U.S needs to take the lead IMHO. Instead of wasting away on some retarded war.

Let's hope for the best. I for one look forward to a better world, where all humanity are living the good life.

Wishful thinking? I hope not. I want to live in a happy world...

F&LInBeijing:

China has the money and expertise to clean up its mess, the gov't would rather build weapons to pound Taiwan, harass India and grease African warlords, as well as each gov't person treating themselves to luxury cars, girls, boys, good booze and designer clothes.

If China would actually enforce its environmental laws, nature can clean up quite a bit of pollution on its own, but that would mean putting big factory bosses, foreign corporate managers and their government friends behind bars and applying huge fines.

Is this DieCommie? It is you! No?

Yeah, that's why I said if the Chinese government has the will to do what is right, but they don't have the will.

It's not even a will thing I suppose, like you said, it has more to do with lining up the pockets of these governmental fat cats and their friends.

On the other hand, benefits do trickle down to the common people, however small they may be.

The hope is that it will get so bad that the environmental problem will start to hurt their profits, cascading into a change for the better.

I doubt it. This basket that we're riding in feel like small doesn't it?

Personally I despise nationalism of any kind. Be it American or Chinese.

My head hurts… Too much thinking about this pile of bullshit called earth.

Time to do some more drugs…

Ahhh… better…

What were you saying?

Horray for U.S, that's what we need... U.S will save us all! I know they will...That shinning beacon of democracy... That bastion of freedom and brotherly (and sisterly) love...

Do you feel the love?


Post a comment

All comments are moderated and subject to review by Danwei contributors and editors, but well-grounded and articulate comments will be published regardless of which way they lean. Because comments published on any website ultimately contribute to the character of that website, we may decline to publish comments that are irrelevant, redundant, or that do not adhere to generally accepted standards of courtesy; if you are looking for a fight, there are plenty of other venues available online.


Some useful html: <b>bold</b>, <i>italic</i>,
<a href="http://www.danwei.org">link</a>

Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
laomo2008fpA.jpg
Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
AXL100219hktales.jpg
Tales of Old Hong Kong: The new Tales of Old Hong Kong compiled by Derek Sandhaus is available at Earnshaw Books.
Diamond Hill by Feng Chi-shun: Feng's memoir Diamond Hill describes an era of gambling and gangsters, Suzie Wong and squatter villages, fires and food stalls, and the Kowloon Walled City and its white powder. "A time when people were poor, but life was rich," he says. The world that he grew up in no longer exists, but his book - the first ever on the Diamond Hill refugee settlement, in either Chinese or English - offers a candid picture of what life was like for most Hong Kong residents in the 1950s.
William A. Callahan's China: The Pessoptimist Nation: China: The Pessoptimist Nation shows how the heart of Chinese foreign policy is not a security dilemma, but an identity dilemma. Through a careful analysis of how Chinese people understand their new place in the world, the book charts how Chinese identity emerges through the interplay of positive and negative feelings in a dynamic that intertwines China's domestic and international politics.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Yu Dan: defender of traditional culture, force for harmony (2007.05): Yu Dan (于丹) gets criticized by 'real scholars'. He Dong (何东) writes in her defense, saying that TV program hosts are the ones who ought to be upset. Zhao Yong in Southern Metropolis Daily writes that she upholds the mainstream government line.
+ Slow, polluting seniors removed from Beijing city streets (2007.01): Zhang Rui writes about a Beijing plan to ban seniors from the city's streets, with the goal of reducing gridlock among pedestrians.
+ Migrant worker blues: Who cares? by Bruce Humes (2006.09): Bruce Humes reviews two recent books about migrants in China: 'I Shall Shed No Tears' (我的眼泪不会掉下来) by Wang Lili and 'La Promesse de Shanghai' by Stephane Fiere.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30