Subway construction started in China's capital in 1965. The first stretch included the first part of Line 1, and the southern part of Line 2.

The blue circular line (the oldest one) follows the old city's former walls.

This accounts for the amazing number of stations whose name ends with "men" (door): 13 out of 18. It is 16km longand was finished in 1987: quite late, but it was said to be too close to the army's secretunderground facilities. The line started operating in the 70's.

The straight red Line 2 follows the horizontal axis of Beijing. It is 38km long, with only 23 stations. It opened for the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, and has now been extended by a new line towards the East.

Oddly, the third line in the overall "rapid-transit" planning of Beijing is Line 13. Construction of the so-called "City rail" started in December 1999. The semi-circular line with 16 stations runs fromXizhimen to Dongzhimen (both are stations on Line 2). The nearly 41km line is mainly aboveground, either elevated or at grade, and brings passengers up to 20km away from the city center.

• construction [kən´strʌkʃən]   n.建设；修建；结构   (初中英语单词)
• circular [´sə:kjulə]   a.圆形的 n.通知   (初中英语单词)
• amazing [ə´meiziŋ]   a.惊人的；惊奇的   (初中英语单词)
• republic [ri´pʌblik]   n.共和国；共和政体   (初中英语单词)
• mainly [´meinli]   ad.主要地；大体上   (初中英语单词)
• underground [,ʌndə´graund]   ad.&a.地下(的)   (高中英语单词)
• so-called [´sou ´kɔ:ld]   a.所谓的，号称的   (高中英语单词)
• horizontal [,hɔri´zɔntl]   a.水平的，横的   (英语四级单词)
• anniversary [,æni´və:səri]   n.周年纪念(日)   (英语四级单词)
• extended [iks´tendid]   a.伸长的；广大的   (英语六级单词)