P L A & the voice

So finally the Expo has started in Shanghai after an eight-year wait
or whatever it was. There were a few things in the weeks leading up
to it that was deserves mentioning. I love the Shanghai metro
system. It's way more convenient than anywhere in the US (NYC?), way
cleaner than anywhere else I've been to in the world (haven't been to
Tokyo), and way cheaper than any big city anywhere (except Beijing,
but that city and the metro system sucks shit). I used to take the
subway everyday, but ever since I started my current job (an 8-minute
walk from home to work), I don't take it nearly as often.

Two weeks before the Expo, I decided go to the gym after some heavy
weekend partying. Right before I enter the station, there's two P L
A (P eop le's Lib era tion Ar my) so ldie rs standing out front
"guarding" the entrance. I first thought something was wrong, so I
asked them if I could go in. No response, but other people were going
in. Anyways, I find out that every Metro station entrance in Shanghai
has two P L A so ldi ers out front. Think about it. I'm not sure
how many metro stations there are. There are 12 current subway lines,
with about 20 stations on each line, with on average 5 exits per
station. That's a lot of P L A so ldie rs. I guess they have to do
something, since there's no current conflicts or wars that the country
is in. Might as well be providing a false sense of sec ur ity to the
good people of Shanghai.

Two more things I noticed about the metro. The automated voice used
to say "The next station is People's Square. Please alight from the
left side." As someone fluent in American English, it used to bother
me that the voice said "alight". I mean really, who the fuck says
alight? But after awhile, I just stopped noticing. Recently, the
voice changed "alight" to "exit". Ahhh... makes much more sense. The
other thing the voice changed was "interchange" to "transfer" as in:
"The next station is Changshu Lu, transfer station to Line 7. Please
EXIT from the left side."

Maybe these changes were made to appease (yeah right) the large influx
of foreign tourists to the Expo that wasn't made for them. More about
that later..

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