Shanghai Metro Line 16: Dishui Lake Station
March 27, 2014
L16 Dishui Lake station exit #2
The new subway Line 16 in Shanghai inaugurated this earlier year. How interesting it is to see Shanghai’s rapid expansion of Metro system across the city. This Line 16 extends to the tip of southeast of Pudong Shanghai, about 15 miles south of the Pudong Shanghai International Airport. I took an hour-ride on L16 from the origin station of LuoShan Road station. Seats are plastic-made but different seat arrangements compared to ordinal trains, which run into the city. When I moved up the escalator to show up myself out of the subway exit, it was nothing. Dishui Lake is an artificial lake, shaping like a pizza (you can check this by simply hitting the Google Map). It is such a huge lake that you don't realize the lake was nicely rounded. There is Crowne Plaza hotel besides the Lake but unless you have any conventions to attend (there are big convention halls in this town. I once attended the WHO events in winter 2012), you would not spend a whole day there.
Empty streets in Dishui Lake area
Streets were purely empty and you can count how many cars running up on the streets while sightseeing. Plus, you see many modern buildings along the streets but you will see these are all empty and quiet. You will not find any modern convenience stores, KFC, or Starbucks. Is this really an unnecessary investment for China? Probably but to maintain China’s economic growth, the government keeps up with massive investment like this while personal consumption declines. These rapidly built buildings and transportation systems will later depreciate and their returns on capital investment will become doubtful if they are still in no use. China clearly heads into a difficult era and this Dishui Lake is one of the good examples. It is no reason to travel to Dishui Lake; however, it is sometimes a good idea to discover how China’s investment-driven economy really stands up right now.
