# 60-Mile Traffic Jam in China **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 23, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181 "2010-08-23T17:23:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181/21 "2010-08-24T03:51:25Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Why would new people come in if they know about it? It’s a party! Any one will do as long as it’s not the communist one. > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > They don’t have alternate routes? In communist China, alternate routes have YOU. BBC TV just reported the traffic jam has cleared! Not sure how, but that’s amazing considering it was expected to go on for so many more weeks. Almost as amazing as BBC feeling the need to announce it to the world. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181/22 "2010-08-24T04:52:39Z")
Are there a lot of fresh mass graves at the side of the highway? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181/23 "2010-08-24T05:01:25Z")
Update [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11062708). No mention of graves, but I’m a bit suspicious. Could they have simply declared the jam over and chased away the reporters? Earlier CNN report [here](http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/23/china.traffic.jam/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=H_7Srkf8ce3&wom=false). Not much different from the link in the OP but sounds like it may indeed have been the same people stuck for 9 days. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181/24 "2010-08-24T05:31:17Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Update [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11062708). No mention of graves, but I’m a bit suspicious. Could they have simply declared the jam over and chased away the reporters? The Chinese government certainly could have. They aren’t known for their scrupulous honesty. > [@](#): > > Earlier CNN report [here](http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/23/china.traffic.jam/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=H_7Srkf8ce3&wom=false). Not much different from the link in the OP but sounds like it may indeed have been the same people stuck for 9 days. Holy crap. I don’t think I’ll ever complain about traffic again (yeah, I probably will). ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181/25 "2010-08-24T08:19:41Z")
> [@Waffle\_Decider](#): > > > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > > > Is anyone else flashing on that Doctor Who episode where all the human survivors were spending their lives on the freeway? > > That was the first thing that came to my mind. Same. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181/26 "2010-08-24T08:28:40Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Are there a lot of fresh mass graves at the side of the highway? No, it turns out there was just one guy standing in front, blocking traffic. Once they got him out of the way, everything’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181/27 "2010-08-24T13:47:15Z")
You’d think one reporter would be smart enough to ask some drivers how long they were stuck in this jam, e.g., “I went from town x to town y, only 100 miles apart, and it took me 8 hours.” Without this info, we have no idea how bad this traffic jam is. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181/28 "2010-08-27T01:13:51Z")
Update [here](http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100825/od_afp/chinaroadtrafficoffbeat), in which a team of _Agence France-Presse_ reporters drove the route. Excerpt: \*\*"‘The situation has gotten much better recently. I don’t know why,’ a female gas station attendant in Huailai county, roughly halfway from the capital to Xinghe county in Inner Mongolia, told _AFP_. "Officials at the Beijing traffic management bureau were not immediately available for comment. “The state-run _Global Times_ said Monday the jam had spawned a mini-economy, with local merchants capitalising on the stranded drivers’ predicament by selling them water and food at inflated prices.”\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181/29 "2010-08-27T01:39:09Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > > > Are there a lot of fresh mass graves at the side of the highway? > > No, it turns out there was just one guy standing in front, blocking traffic. Once they got him out of the way, everything’s fine. Was it the same guy from Tiananmen Square? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181/30 "2010-09-03T05:12:56Z")
The beast is back! The traffic jam has returned. Story [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11168622). Same section of road. This time, it’s 75 miles long. More than 10,000 vehicles. I welcome our capitalist brothers by the roadside, hehehe. 😃 (I wonder if they’re causing it on purpose somehow.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/60-mile-traffic-jam-in-china/551181.md?page=1)