D - Levitation without Meditation

C and I returned Friday night from a visit to Shanghai, in south central China. We arrived Tuesday morning and spent 3 nights and 4 days. From a pure tourist standpoint, that's too long for Shanghai. It has often been noted that up until the 20th century Shanghai was a tiny fishing village. Then, the decline of the Qing dynasty and its concessions to Western powers began radically transforming the city into a hub of commerce and banking for southeast Asia. Britain, France, and even the US setup various operations in the city. With the end of World War 2 and the rise of the Communists, the foreigners were kicked out of the country and Shanghai again became a quiet place (albeit with European architecture and buildings). In the next stage of Shanghai's history in the 1990s, the PRC's government chose Shanghai as a place to demonstrate the new power of China's opening economy. Billions have been invested turning Shanghai into a world class city. Thus while Beijing can be considered the cultural capital of the country with its Forbidden City and Heavenly Temple, Shanghai is China's economic stake in the post-modern world of the 21st century.

Perhaps most symbolic of Shanghai's most recent transformation is the Shanghai Transrapid Magnetic Levitation (maglev) train that runs from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to suburban Longyang station on the Shanghai Metro (subway in NYC terms). Maglev technology has been around for 60 years but there are few implementations of it. It allows for incredibly fast speeds but is currently extremely expensive to build. To China's undemocratic government however, cost is no barrier to demonstrating her entrance on the world stage. Like a model on the runway, China struts her stuff with all the confidence of the emperor's new clothes. As C observed on our trip, the maglev is a colossal waste of money - but it sure is fast. Reaching a top speed of 431 km/h (267 MPH), the maglev scorches the 30km distance in 7 minutes. Compare this to a Boeing 747 which needs a take-off speed of only 180 MPH. Despite my distaste for huge government projects (and China's heavy-handedness at pushing them through), I have to say that the technology itself is impressive. As a child, one of my favorite books was called "Trains". I loved the different kinds of cars and locomotives. To ride on something like the maglev (which I've read about longingly for years) was in many ways a dream come true. The train is fairly smooth at top speed, but getting there takes more vibration than I expected. Additionally, the train is rather loud while it's accelerating. It's not any louder than a jet engine during takeoff, but doesn't sound effortless. I should note that despite the adrenaline rush of traveling so fast, it's not particularly practical from location standpoint. Longyang Metro station is on the far east side of Shanghai in the Pudong development area, far from any tourist hotel. Once you arrive there, you need to take the Metro into the city, or a taxi to your hotel. We took the taxi, which was about 35 RMB to the Bund area. Cost wise however, depending on where your hotel is, the maglev may make sense. It's 40 RMB one way if you have a same-day airline ticket. Add in 30-40 RMB to your hotel and you're looking at 80 RMB. This is compared to a likely 140-150 RMB taxi ride if you go straight to the airport.

So without further ado - here are two crude videos I filmed while on the maglev. The first shows the train getting up to speed, and the second is a brief one showing the top speed of 431 km/h. No doubt if you have further interest in the subject you can search YouTube and get a more professional take.

Ramp-up:




Top Speed:



I will continue my thoughts on Shanghai in a future entry of IM. Don't forget to check out our web photo album for a sneak preview.