中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
With New Year's Day fast approaching, Beijing has banned artists, beggars and trash collectors from its subway system in a bid to beef up security during the holiday season.
Jia Peng, a spokesman for the Beijing Subway Company, predicted that numbers of subway commuters would rise in the lead-up to the New Year's Day and Spring Festival, set to fall on Feb 14 next year.
Begging, performing and refuse collecting are not allowed in the subway, according to Beijing Subway Company rules.
Gao Kun, director of Dongdan subway station, said that despite increased patrols, it is very difficult to remove all beggars and artists from the subway.
Gao said people who are found begging in the station are asked to leave immediately.
"They always promise they will stop begging, but they do it again when the staff aren't watching," he told METRO.
Gao said they can often tell who these people are when they enter the subway but they are not allowed to stop them. "They buy tickets so we can only ask them to leave once we catch them."
He added that members of staff patrol all the areas of the subway station, except the subway cars where most beggars do their business.
A woman surnamed Jin, who begs with her disabled three-year-old son at the entrance to Dongdan station, told METRO that friends who beg in the subway have invited her and her son to join them since they can make more money inside.
They also tell her that because the cars are not patrolled, it's also safer.
Jin said while it is painful to beg in the winter cold, the subway cars are too crowded for her since she needs to keep hold of her boy.
Philipp Kreysa from Germany said he encounters beggars in subway cars occasionally but he is not bothered by them. "I find their songs interesting. Sometimes I gave them money. It mainly depends on how much change I have and what I think about them."
Zhang Yi, a 50-year-old Beijing resident who commutes by subway most of the time, believes the number of subway beggars has decreased a lot this year. "I rarely find those people now," she said.
Zhang added: "I don't think they endanger passengers but they definitely ruin my mood."
She said she never gives money to beggars because she believes most of them have the ability to work but prefer to make a living by begging.
Questions:
1. When is Spring Festival next year?
2. What is not allowed on the subway, according to Beijing Subway Company rules?
3. What subway station entrance does Jin beg at?
Answers:
1. Feb 14.
2. Begging, performing and refuse collecting.
3. Dongdan station.
（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）
About the broadcaster:
Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.
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