With the 08 Olympics approaching, more and more foreigners are coming to China.

Cole Marjorie's family flew from London, England to the capital of China early, and they planned to visit the ancient and mysterious China before the 08 Olympic Games.

In the impression of Cole Marjorie's family, China is a country with a large population, a vast land and a very long history.

In Marco Polo's "Oriental Observations", China was once an incomparably rich and powerful oriental country, and its richness even exceeded the limits of what Westerners could imagine at that time.

In the 19th century, however, China was reduced to a country that could be trampled upon by Western powers.

However, King Napoleon of France once said: "China is a sleeping lion, and when he wakes up, the whole world trembles!! ”

Now, China has done it, and since the reform and opening up, it has only taken 30 years for China to stand on top of the world and become the world's largest economy!

Cole Marjorie was curious about how China did it, and about Chinese culture and history.

When the plane landed at the capital airport, Cole Marjorie's family was shocked.

The modern large-scale airport that falls into the eye is like a phoenix with wings spread, and the interior is like a huge white tennis racket, with a high-end atmosphere and high grade. The airport is crowded and extremely busy.

Compared with the airports in the Chinese capital, London Airport feels much behind!

After getting their luggage, Cole Marjorie's family looked at the signs that they could leave the airport by subway, airport bus, airport express and other means of transportation, which was very convenient.

Cole Marjorie's family discussed it and decided to take the subway to the capital.

However, when they were about to buy a subway ticket, they suddenly felt a little overwhelmed.

Because they didn't find the conductor......

I saw many people walking straight to the subway entrance turnstile, and then took out their smartphones and scanned it, and the turnstile opened.

What's going on?

Why does the turnstile open door?

Cole Marjorie's family didn't understand and thought it was strange......

Soon, a subway worker seemed to see the plight of Cole Marjorie's family.

"Hello, do you need help? I'm a staff member in the subway. ”

During the Olympics, a large number of foreign tourists poured into China, and the subway department specially recruited many employees who are fluent in English.

At this time, the staff's fluent English immediately made the Cole Marjorie family feel more friendly.

"Hello, we don't know where to buy a metro ticket? We searched for a long time, but we couldn't find the conductor......" Cole Marjory asked.

"Oh, sorry sir, we don't have a conductor here, but we do have ticket vending machines so you can buy subway tickets with cash!" After that, the staff said that they could take them to the ticket vending machine.

Cole Marjorie's family expressed their gratitude. Of course, there are also automatic ticket machines in the UK, but the number is relatively small, and manual ticketing is still the mainstream. In the subconscious of Cole Marjorie's family, China is not as developed as the United Kingdom, and selling tickets still depends on manual labor.

In fact, China's side is much more advanced.

It's a bit of a slap in the face.

Soon, Cole Marjorie and his party arrived at the ticket vending machine, where the family had passed by before, but they didn't notice the place much.

While queuing, Cole Marjorie glanced at the screen and was relieved to find that the text inside was bilingual in Chinese and English.

Later, in his observation, he found that some people use cash to buy tickets, but there are also many people who take out their smartphones and scan the screen, and they can actually buy subway tickets!

As a developed country, Cole Marjorie was instantly stunned.

There is no mobile payment in the UK, there is no QR code payment, and he has no idea why that.

Of course, he can probably see that scanning the payment page with his smartphone is a new way to pay, and ask the subway staff what it is like later.

Soon it was Cole Marjorie's turn to buy a ticket, and according to the instructions of the ticket vending machine, Cole Marjorie quickly bought a subway ticket.

The subway ticket is a magnetic card in the shape of a coin, and he sees how other people use it at the subway entrance turnstile.

Cole Marjorie bought the ticket, then walked to the staff, thanked him again, and then asked his doubts.

"It's strange, why do some people buy subway tickets without cash, just take out their mobile phones and scan them on the payment page?"

Hearing this, the subway staff couldn't help laughing, their hearts were full of pride, and they thought to themselves, Britain is too backward, and there is no mobile payment......

He then explained: "It's a mobile payment method, and you can pay by scanning the QR code on the page with your phone. In our country, mobile payment methods have become very popular, and we now go out, including eating out, taking a taxi, shopping, seeing a doctor, etc., basically without cash, which is extremely convenient! For example, I haven't used cash in more than half a year! ”

As soon as the words fell, Cole Marjorie's family was stunned and felt incredible.

Oh! Oh, God!! Is China already so developed?!

They're all cashless anymore!

Cole Marjorie's original sense of superiority as the British Empire seemed to disappear in an instant at this moment, and he felt a little inferior.

"By the way, sir, I see that some people don't have tickets, they can also go through the turnstile at the entrance of the subway, why is that?" Cole Marjorie asked again.

When the subway staff heard this, they explained with a smile: "Because their mobile phones have downloaded the Capital Metro APP software, scan the Capital Metro APP when they enter the subway, and scan the Capital Metro APP when they leave the subway, and the system will automatically deduct money from the mobile phone." ”

"Oh~ I see, you guys are so advanced here!" Cole Marjorie sighed.

Just buying a ticket today brought a lot of shock to myself.

China is such an amazing country!

After a while, Cole Marjorie and his family passed through the subway entrance turnstile and followed the signs to the waiting area to wait for the train.

While waiting for the bus, Cole Marjorie and his party kept looking around, occasionally making exclamations from their mouths.

Soon, the subway they were waiting for came.

The "bullet" shaped subway train is streamlined, more than 120 meters long, and the length of a single car is about 20 meters.

The decoration style in the train is simple, fashionable and generous, focusing on fashion and modernity.

Compared with the old London Underground, Cole Marjorie is even a little ashamed of himself.

In less than two minutes, the train began to depart.

The subway train has almost no jolting and vibration, but it is very fast.

……

After more than an hour, Cole Marjorie and his party finally arrived at the hotel they had booked.

With check-in and luggage, the Cole Marjorie family can't wait to get outside.

In the city, there are not only high-rise buildings, busy traffic, bright lights, a very high degree of modernization, but also antique old capital alleys, where there are countless ancient customs, and the life in the market has a unique flavor, there are candy blowers, shaking empty bamboos and so on......

And Chinese food is a feast for Cole Marjorie's family......

Just one day before the Olympics, Cole Marjorie received a call from his British friend Paul Martin.

"Cole Marjorie, how's China going? I've already bought a plane ticket and I'm going to come to China tomorrow to watch the Olympics! Paul Martin asked.

"Wow, China is amazing! You can't imagine how good it is and how many surprises and shocks it will bring you! Cole Marjorie said excitedly that in the past few days in China, he has traveled to many places and experienced a lot of Chinese culture, but the more he learns, the more he feels that Chinese culture is broad and profound, and even every dish in China has an unusual history. During this time, he also learned to use mobile payments and learned to use the Meituan app to order takeout.

Cole Marjorie feels that China is a very rich and powerful country, not backward and poor as the Western media claims.

Moreover, China is a very safe country, and people don't have to worry about their personal safety when they go out at night.

Compared with Europe and the United States, it is simply a world of difference.

Cole Marjorie even had the idea of immigrating to China.

When Paul Martin heard this, he smiled disapprovingly: "In 1984, I went on a business trip to China. China is so backward that even the capital of China doesn't even have a decent high-rise ......"

Paul Martin's tone was full of disdain, and London, England, was already full of high-rise buildings.

Cole Marjorie's face was stunned as he looked out through the hotel's floor-to-ceiling windows, where dozens of exquisitely designed, towering skyscrapers were lit up and stunning......

(End of chapter)