news reporting

I was on the elliptical machine this morning and caught a BB C news about the launching of Shanghai-Hangzhou high speed rail. I laughed when the reporter said: "The cost is 20 dollars for first class and 13 dollars for second class which is a lot for most people.... ". His tone was like people here cannot afford to pay for the tickets. I beg to differ. The Chinese will spend on big expensive items to "show off". Sitting on a train cannot show it off to the world or their peers. How come this reporter did not do a piece on "how many LV, Channel, Gucci bags running around in China?".

The price for a first class seat is RMB 245 and 2nd class seat is RMB 149 and standing room ticket is RMB 80.00...(he forgot to report on the standing room ticket) One way. The time from station to station is 45 minutes. It's not that people cannot afford it. When comparing prices, we always convert an amount to our own country's and justify. That's ethnocentric. Has nothing to do with if the price is just. I always stress to visitors that when visiting a place do the local do and see from the local's eyes. RMB 245 one-way, I would think twice about it! Not that I can't afford it. I live here so I am compare price based on what I have been spending to this new price. The answer: it's more than double. And what does it buy me? A whomping 30 minutes saving in travel time from one station to another. Does it worth it? Specially when I have to take either a taxi to the new Hongqiao train station at a cost of RMB 70.00 through major grid lock on the elevated road (this means to leave home early!), or to take the number 2 subway line at a cost of RMB 4.00 and spend an hour to get there. Now, what kind of savings do I have?

What I am getting at is to take the report with a "pile" of salt not a "grain" of salt.

The reporter also failed to mention that, by launching of the new highspeed train, the normal fast train schedule has been "adjusted". "Adjusted" as in less frequent so people have to take the much more expansive highspeed train. That affects people's net income in the end. Also, the highspeed train stops at some far flung stations along the way. This means people are traveling more and more for the "high speed" to save what 30 minutes? Make senses?

Seems this reporting I saw on TV is not much in depth and just plain "thick head".

For a quick reference on train numbers, it always starts with "G", "D" or "K". G is the first letter in Pinyin for "Gao Tie". That's the highspeed train in Chinese. "D" is "Dong Che" in Pinyin that means electric powered. "K" is the good old train speed "Kuai" means fast. In scale, you always want to get on at least a "D" number train.