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author | cheng zhenbiao

editor | li guozheng

my country's total car ownership (336 million vehicles in 2023) and growth rate are both the highest in the world.

in many cities, apart from tall buildings, densely packed buildings and bustling crowds, the most prominent landscape is the cars that are everywhere. everywhere you look, there are either cars in motion or parked cars - cars on the streets, cars parked on both sides of the roads, and cars parked on bicycle lanes and sidewalks.

many residential communities were originally relatively spacious, and it was safe and secure for the elderly and children to walk on the roads within the community. however, in the blink of an eye, the situation has changed drastically, and all the ground space has been filled with cars. the elderly and children are even afraid to enter and leave their own homes, fearing that they will be hit by a sudden car.

in the past, the relationship between neighbors was very harmonious and peaceful, but now, quarrels or arguments occur from time to time due to competition for parking spaces. no wonder some underage children also know that "it's the cars that are the problem."

a friend of mine recently told me that there are more than a dozen three-story townhouses in the community where he lives, and each household is equipped with a garage or a parking space in front of its house. in recent years, each household has added a new car, and the neighbors have at least two cars each. there is a family of three with a total of three cars. as you can imagine, parking has become a big problem. for this reason, many residents violated the rules and privately destroyed the green space and shrubs and flowers in front of their houses and converted them into private parking spaces.

this friend lamented the disappearance of green plants, saying that too many private cars have made the community space narrow and depressing.

▲cheng zhenbiao

on march 8 and 13, 2017, people's daily reporters conducted random interviews on the streets of beijing about the problems of the automobile society. the subjects were 50 adult citizens over the age of 20, 50 of whom drove. among the interviewees, 46 citizens were most concerned about traffic jams; many citizens said that their biggest worry was "too many cars." some people said frankly that traffic jams not only waste time, but also affect the quality of life. the city space is occupied by too much cars, which makes people feel very depressed.

it’s not surprising that big cities cause a lot of trouble because of the large number of cars, but now many county towns are also "troublesome" because of the large number of cars.

nowadays, if you chat with city dwellers and ask them what are the "urgent, difficult, and anxious" issues in their lives, many people will answer: "i have a car but no place to park it." "buying a private car is not a problem of money, but the difficulty is parking space, which is not only expensive, but often unavailable, and there are no quotas." the actual situation is indeed so. the number of cars is like a wild horse running away, running too fast, and no parking facilities can keep up, not to mention that many places simply have no extra land to use.

according to a national parking lot analysis report jointly released by amap and tsinghua university's institute of transportation in early 2022, there are currently more than one million parking lots built across the country, but compared with the huge number of cars in the country, there is still a demand gap of about 80 million parking spaces.

if we follow the common practice in western countries where cars were first popularized, a car should be equipped with at least four parking spaces, such as parking when commuting to get off work and parking in various public places, then my country's 336 million cars need more than 1.4 billion parking spaces. obviously, this demand gap is far more than 80 million.

it is not difficult to imagine that the main difficulty in building so many parking facilities lies in whether there is enough land area. 1.4 billion parking spaces require tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, which is beyond the capacity of my country's land resources. otherwise, cars will compete with food for land and break the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land - this is almost impossible.

at present, my country should get rid of the urban car problems and bad car culture as soon as possible.

urban distress

beijing, the capital, is often jammed due to the large number of cars and their concentration. it is often nicknamed "the capital of traffic jams" by outsiders. if you want to have a meal with friends in beijing, you have to leave at least one hour in advance to leave time for traffic jams. however, after a few years, outsiders found that their own cities were also "congested" like beijing.

before the 2023 national people's congress and the chinese people's political consultative conference, wuhan's research institutions and media went to communities and related places for field research and interviews in order to provide materials for the city's npc deputies and cppcc members to make suggestions to the conference. the following is what the media reported, which is widely representative of the situation across the country.

first,there is a battle for parking spaces in the community every day.

parking difficulties are a hot issue that people in both the old and new urban areas of wuhan are generally concerned about. in many residential areas, due to the lack of parking spaces, the battle for parking spaces is staged every day.

at 21:30 on march 3, 2023, ms. wang, who lives in century caicheng community in wuchang district, drove into the community and turned around twice but couldn't find a parking space. in desperation, she spotted a slightly larger space and parked the car in. before getting out of the car, she habitually checked whether the contact information behind the windshield was blocked. "when the car needs to be moved, others can contact me. people are used to leaving contact information on the car. parking spaces are too difficult to find. i try not to drive if i can." ms. wang said.

according to a survey by a reporter from chutian metropolis daily, although the parking dilemma in old residential areas has been alleviated in some newly built residential areas, the problem of difficulty in parking has gradually emerged due to the rapid growth in the number of cars.

mr. hu lives in a residential complex in qiaokou. when he moved in in 2019, underground parking spaces could still be rented out. later, the policy was adjusted and underground parking spaces could only be purchased and no longer rented out. owners who did not buy parking spaces could only park on the ground, and parking spaces in the community were basically snatched up. sometimes, it takes a long time to find a parking space. when there is really no other way, they park in the green belts and aisles, and are often called up in the middle of the night to move the car. mr. hu said painfully.

the shortage of parking spaces is more obvious in places with dense traffic such as scenic spots, popular business districts, large hospitals, and schools. it is often the case that "it takes half an hour to drive and half an hour to find a parking space." at the same time, car owners queue up to park, exacerbating traffic congestion in these areas. "when the weather is good on weekends, many people go to the east lake greenway for fun, and the area around liyuan becomes a traffic jam. although many parking lots have been built around it, there are still too many people and too little space, which is completely insufficient," said tourist mr. wang.

ms. wang, a national people's congress representative from a certain unit, also visited some places. she told reporters that although the national and local governments have made great efforts to alleviate parking difficulties, they still cannot meet the growing needs of the general public and their expectations for improved environmental quality.

through investigation, she found that the problems mainly manifested themselves in three aspects: first, there is a large gap, and the supply of newly built parking spaces cannot keep up with the growth rate of car ownership; second, there is imbalance, and most of the old and old urban areas have historical debts, which is in sharp contrast to the parking spaces built in newly built communities in new urban areas; third, the utilization rate is low and the management methods are backward.

to this end, she recommends:firstwe should consider solving the problem of sharp contradiction between supply and demand caused by the rapid growth of the total number of cars. at present, the construction of parking spaces can hardly keep up with the growth rate of the number of cars. therefore, we should vigorously promote green travel for people. on the basis of improving the level of public transportation services, we should increase publicity and advocacy to let citizens consciously choose non-private car travel methods, and take buses, subways, bicycles, shared cars and other environmentally friendly and low-carbon travel tools.

secondly, further accelerate the construction of parking facilities and build ecological parking lots. in particular, it is necessary to vigorously develop the three-dimensional parking industry and give full play to its advantages of high land utilization and space utilization. at the same time, scientifically and rationally plan the construction of parking facilities in old communities and expand the parking space as much as possible.

at last, improve the utilization rate of parking lots through digitization and intelligence, improve management level, add time-sharing sharing modules, carry out staggered parking, time-sharing leasing, parking space sharing, real-time information query, parking guidance, etc.

in addition, during the visit, the reporter also heard many wuhan citizens express strong dissatisfaction and complaints about private cars parked arbitrarily on sidewalks, bicycle lanes and driveways.

these citizens believe that illegal parking not only poses a great threat to normal traffic order and safety, but is also irrational from a purely economic perspective. building roads and setting up parking spaces are completely different in terms of engineering standards and costs. in order to solve the traffic congestion in the city, the relevant departments demolished many houses to build roads, but as soon as the roads were built and not officially put into use, they were filled with cars. i am afraid that this way of thinking will never be able to resolve the congestion in the city.

bad car culture

my country has become the world's largest automobile market and automobile consumer country, but it is difficult to say that a relatively mature, healthy and civilized automobile society and automobile culture has been formed. instead, some decadent ideas and bad social trends have grown and spread among a considerable number of people, and are even prevalent.

back then, when the german inventors daimler and benz invented the car, their original intention was just to make it a more convenient and faster means of transportation for people. however, what the two inventors never expected was that there were so many "busybodies" behind them, who added many things that were irrelevant to the simple car, gradually giving it too many social attributes. in fact, no matter how advanced the car is and how many new functions it has, it is just icing on the cake. its most basic function is still to move people from here to there.

first, unreasonable use.

cars have become a common household item, making travel more convenient for chinese people and improving people's quality of life and work efficiency. perhaps it is precisely because cars provide too much convenience that, over time, many car owners have developed a "car addiction" and cannot leave their cars for a moment. as soon as they leave the house, they want to get in their cars.

looking around the whole society, more and more people walk less and take cars more. even to a small supermarket or store only a hundred meters away from their home, they have to drive to buy a bottle of soy sauce, a pack of cigarettes, or breakfast. this is completely unnecessary and unreasonable. it is not good for society and not cost-effective for individuals. the fuel cost of driving may be more than the soy sauce. more importantly, because people have cars to drive, they have fewer opportunities to walk, and the amount of physical exercise has decreased. if this accumulates over a long period of time, the body will breed some "rich diseases".

however, it is gratifying that today, many people have begun to reflect on this bad habit and take action to correct it.

i know a friend who bought a new car not long ago, but he still rides a bicycle to and from work as usual. he said that he bought the car to make it more convenient for him to go on long trips with his family, and his home is less than 5 miles away from his workplace, so he doesn't need to drive. he also set a rule for himself - he usually doesn't drive if the trip is no more than 10 miles.

in addition, i have also personally experienced the advantages of not driving for short distances (especially in urban areas). before i was 75, i rode a bicycle to and from get off work at the company headquarters.

a colleague of mine lives in the same neighborhood as me (about 2-3 miles from the headquarters building). after arriving at the office, he often has to go to other places to handle business after a while, so he drives to and from work every day. in the morning, we both use different ways of transportation and leave the neighborhood at roughly the same time. as a result, in most cases, i, who ride a bicycle, always arrive at the office before him, who drives.

in fact, this is not difficult to understand. during rush hour in the city, traffic lights often get stuck, and there are even long queues. riding a bicycle can avoid such trouble. therefore, the two of us came to a common conclusion: traveling within a short distance in the city and not driving unless necessary is beneficial to both society and individuals.

second, consumption that involves “greed for big and foreign things” and “showing off wealth for the sake of face”.

based on my country's special national conditions, the cars that enter families should be mainly medium-sized (smaller) and small cars, which matches the current trend that most chinese families have three or four people. however, the reality of the automobile society is far from this wish. for a long time, the automobile market has been filled with an evil wind, and there is a general unhealthy tendency of overconsumption, such as "craving for big and foreign", taking pride in the size and luxury of cars, and not buying anything other than foreign brands.

the so-called "greed for bigness" means that the size and appearance of the car are large. such a car is heavy, and the manufacturing process requires more materials and time, and it also produces more emissions. a large car requires more horsepower, and the engine consumes more fuel. therefore, such a large car is called a "fuel guzzler".

looking around the world, fuel-efficient small and light cars are more common in countries (regions) such as japan and western europe. in the united states, however, "gas-guzzling" cars are popular and highly favored, and large, all-wheel drive family cars are everywhere. in the country, cars are the leading energy consumer and emitter, which is the main reason why the country, which accounts for less than 4% of the world's total population, consumes about 25% of the world's energy.

the excessive consumption (essentially waste) of cars in the united states is not only a prominent feature of its automobile society, but the country also overconsumes in many other areas. no wonder many well-known experts and scholars in the world have made sharp criticisms and criticisms of the united states, believing that if the whole world follows the american lifestyle of high energy consumption and high emissions, then even if there are 3 or even 5 earths in the universe, it will not be enough.

when it comes to automobile consumption and use, "greed for size" is by no means something that should be promoted or allowed to go unchecked in china. the state and society as a whole should guide and correct it in an appropriate manner. china must never follow the old path of "a country on wheels" - we can neither afford to learn it nor use it.

the so-called "seeking foreign" means excessive or blindly believing in foreign brands, not trusting chinese brands, and not buying anything other than foreign brands. in the early years, there was indeed a certain gap between domestic brand cars and foreign brands in terms of quality, but now the two are basically the same in terms of performance, but the price of the former is much cheaper than the latter. therefore, considering the purpose of travel, there is no need to "seek foreign".

according to relevant institutions, the reason why my country's automobile consumption has a tendency to "go big and seek foreign things" is largely due to the influence of the bad habits of ostentation, extravagance, mutual comparison, and showing off wealth left over from the old era, and is also closely related to the spread of high-end luxury consumption in western society over the years. under this extravagant atmosphere, owning and driving luxury cars has become a consumption fashion for some people, just like wearing brand-name clothes, smoking good cigarettes, drinking good wine, wearing brand-name watches, and carrying brand-name bags.

haven’t you seen that for a period of time, some young people in cities and towns, after working, as long as their income is at a medium to high level, will buy a car just to keep up with the fashion, regardless of whether it is necessary for work and daily life, and the higher the grade, the better. cars and houses have also become one of the necessary conditions for some young people to fall in love and get married.

some foreigners do not quite understand or agree with this. the financial times of the united kingdom once published an article with a sharp sarcasm: "china may be strong enough to scold the united states for debt, but when it comes to buying luxury cars, many chinese consumers still don't trust their own auto manufacturing industry... in various countries around the world, keeping up with friends, colleagues and neighbors is a strong motivation for buying luxury cars, but no country is as serious as china."

this description is worth our deep thought and we should think about where we have gone wrong.

not long ago, a friend told me a story. his neighbor is a moderately wealthy businessman who owns a medium-sized enterprise and a factory (estimated total assets of tens of millions of yuan), lives in a townhouse, has a family of three, and owns two volvo cars and a honda suv.

while chatting after dinner, the neighbor's boss said to my friend: "mr. li, according to your qualifications and contributions to the country, you should drive a luxury high-end car. in my own opinion, i also want to drive a 1.6-liter small car like you, which can fully meet my commuting needs. but sometimes i have to go out to discuss business, sign contracts, etc. if customers see me coming in this kind of economy car, they may doubt my financial strength and the deal may not be done." in this case, the car is equivalent to a storefront, which may be one of the reasons for the excessive consumption of cars in our country.

the old society has long gone, but its decadent ideas are deeply rooted in people's minds. according to the boss's explanation of his excessive consumption of cars, although it can be understood as "passive", he should not "feel at ease". as a citizen of the country, everyone has the responsibility to consciously resist the bad social atmosphere, energy conservation, environmental protection, low-carbon green life, and should start from oneself and from the specific daily life. life in the world is in a complex environment, "good and bad" coexist, how to deal with it is all up to oneself, as the saying goes, "the innocent will be innocent."

relevant psychologists also believe that a person's true self-confidence comes from the heart and reason, not from external things. just as someone said humorously, "a butt sitting in a luxury car will not become a golden butt." if a person lacks the quality and temperament of inner accomplishment, no matter how gorgeous the appearance is, he will not be truly respected and admired by the world, and it will be difficult for him to gain true peace of mind.

if we look to a wider distance, we will see that the new trends and new customs that have emerged in some countries and regions in recent years are completely different from the above-mentioned phenomena in our country.

copenhagen, denmark, is known as one of the greenest and most livable cities in the world. citizens riding bicycles are everywhere in the streets and alleys here. they ride bicycles to work and school, and exercise at the same time. in their minds, riding bicycles does not mean poverty or not being able to afford a car, but represents self-discipline based on green environmental protection and carbon reduction, as well as love for health and nature. cyclists are generally respected.

looking back, how should we feel when we see that most cities in our country are being filled with more and more cars?