Super subway spurs underground love
<table align="right" border="0" bordercolordark="#ffffff" bordercolorlight="#ffffff" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ffffff 0px; BORDER-TOP: #ffffff 0px; BORDER-LEFT: #ffffff 0px; WIDTH: 220px; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ffffff 0px; HEIGHT: 20px"><tbody><tr><td align="middle" style="MIN-HEIGHT: 16px" valign="center"><center><img align="center" border="0" id="605245" sourcedescription="编辑提供的本地文件" sourcename="本地文件" src="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/citylife/2007-10/23/../../images/attachement/jpg/site1/20071023/00096bbd06cd08879e8004.jpg" style="WIDTH: 220px; HEIGHT: 156px" title=""/></center><p align="left" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">A young couple in Shanghai subway. Many young people use the station for socializing. </p></td></tr></tbody></table><center></center><p style="MARGIN: 0px 3px 15px">Subway is more than just a means of transportation, it has improved the quality of life of many locals. While many regard the clean and spacious subway station as a good place to have a short rest, some young people use the station as a place for socializing.</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px 3px 15px">Tang Feng, founder of www.speeddating.com, a matchmaking website free of charge, says the subway symbolizes a modern lifestyle, and the subway station is a fantastic venue for romance. "Because when I think of it, it gives the mystic and warm impression," he says.</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px 3px 15px">Tang has organized several speed dating parties inside subway stations. At each party, he invited 15 men and 15 women and divided them in five groups. The five groups of women waited at five stations. The five groups of men took the subway to meet the women. Each group had 20 minutes to communicate.</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px 3px 15px">"Someone doubted whether such a speed dating would work, but romance did happen in the subway. Many people believe in love at first sight," Tang says.</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px 3px 15px">Xu, 28, immediately asked Zhang, 26, for dinner after their first subway meeting, Tang says. Xu then discovered that Zhang had graduated from the same Tongji University as he did. They chatted away the whole evening.</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px 3px 15px">"They've become a couple. Subway is the very matchmaker," says Tang, smiling.</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px 3px 15px">Besides the nouveau matchmaking role, the subway plays its role of transporter very well. Xue, an office worker in her late 30s, believes the subway has made her life easier. "Thanks to the extended Metro Line 1, it helps me save a lot of time spent>Xue lives in the residential area>"Without the extended Metro Line 1, I had to spend at least two hours>There are now five subway lines in operation in Shanghai, covering 145 kilometers. By 2010, Shanghai will have 13 subway lines extending 400 kilometers.</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px 3px 15px">Most of the local residents who use the subway as their major transportation means believe that more subway lines will shorten the time to work and make their lives more comfortable, says a recent survey on different transportation means.</p>