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Comment by seanmcdirmid | Hacker News Reader

No, they are waiting in security lines to get into the station. My wife goes through it every day, I just won't even bother.

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Sean, when I visited in 2012 I don't remember any security lines, is this new?

I found the Beijing subway to be far nicer than the ones found in major American cities. No surprise since it's much newer.

Security checks (x ray machines for all but the smallest bags) were already in operation in 2012. I don't knew if anyone looks at the images. I have never seen anyone be challenged due to the content of their bag.

They don't really check, they just make you line up. Mind you, this is the busier stations that have huge backups, and some of that is related to capacity issues. But these days security is becoming the bottleneck because they never designed the stations for it.

Is there some actual security threat they're designing against, or is it imitating the west, or a way for a contractor to make money (an even more accurate imitation of the west).

I know there were some issues with Muslim separatists, but they didn't seem to even rise to the level of US terrorism threat. We do airport theater but not bus/subway theater, even in NYC.

They are paranoid about Uighers, ya. Also, it just feels like something china would do even if there was really no good reason for it.

For a domestic flight in China they made me discard a small bottle of children's moltrin. Seems pretty US-imitative to me.

The Chinese TSA is the best one in the world for finding...lighters. Really, second to none. Of course everyone else just allows them.

No, cops setting up shop just inside the subway station and doing spot checks of passengers' bags is not uncommon.

The security lines are not a big bottleneck at most stations in Beijing. There are rush hour peaks at some stations (e.g. wudaokou).

My wife often has a 30-40 minute wait at liangmaoqiao during peak travel time. This is just to get in the station.

God forbid if you ever have to transfer at xizhimen; I never thought it was possible to wait in line so long to take a subway.

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