Volunteer Coders Team Up to Fix China’s Horrid Online Train Ticketing Site

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Some of China's trains look slick, but getting a ticket can be a hassle. By Mark Fischer via Wikimedia Commons

With two Chinese holidays getting underway and its online ticketing system still a disaster, the country’s coders are taking matters into their own hands.

China’s Ministry of Railways recently courted widespread derision and outrage after its online ticketing site, 12306.cn, once again experienced massive technical problems despite the Ministry’s having spent ten years of research and 329 million RMB (about US$52 million) on the project. Among the site’s most vexing new features is the ability (read: requirement) that users wait in a “virtual line.” As Tea Leaf Nation reported, some citizens suspect government graft, and have submitted disclosure demands to the Ministry under China’s freedom of information laws.

Now, China’s programmers are getting in on the act. As reported on Chinese tech site ithome.com, a coder with the handle @caoz recently took to Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter to complain:

“[You] spent 300 million, and don’t know what SQL is. [You] spent 300 million, and don’t know what database query optimization is. They spent 300 million, [and] SQL is something that every recent graduate knows (and not just the high achievers), you say there’s no inside story here–your mom!” {{1}}[[1]]花了3个亿，不知道什么叫SQL注入，花了3个亿，不知道数据库查询优化！花了3个亿，连SQL还都是应届生水准的（还不是优秀应届生水准的），尼玛还说没有黑幕！[[1]] @caoz also posted a screen grab of what he says is lousy code:

The code that got one netizen so angry. Via Weibo

The angry tweet has not only been retweeted over 10,000 times, it has led to action. As ithome.com reports, within one day of @caoz’s tweet, Li Daxue (@大学001), vice-president of e-commerce site 360buy.com, set up an open source project, 12306NG.org, dedicated to fixing the glaring technical problems with China’s online ticketing site. The “NG” stands for “next generation.”

Li has averred the site has nothing to do with his day job, and is simply a charitable effort to “give workers on the train a place to sit.” Li’s concerns are well-placed; many of China’s poor migrant workers enjoy few chances to travel home each year, and when they do, they are often the last to be able to get tickets and have to make do with sitting on the train floor. (Or worse–as a Peace Corps Volunteer in China, this author would take the cheap seats on Chinese trains over some holidays, encountering what appeared to be migrant workers sleeping under train seats, between train cars, and even in one train’s public sink.)

An all-too-typical scene from a packed train in China. Via Weibo

Netizens have shown sympathy for beleaguered holiday travelers. One Weibo user recently wrote, “Friends, when you return home on the train, and see all of these farm workers lying in the aisles, don’t get upset with them because it’s so crowded. Because they can’t buy tickets online, and don’t know how to reserve tickets by phone, [so] when they buy tickets, how are they supposed to get in front of us? They are far from home, and after a tough year, they need to get home more urgently than we do. Please forgive them–and happy holidays to everybody.” {{2}}[[2]]朋友们，当你们在回家的火车上，看到过道里站着躺着的农民工时，不要因拥挤不便而厌烦他们。因为他们不会网上订票，也不懂怎么电话订票，买票的时候，怎么能抢过我们呢？他们离家那么远，在辛苦了一年后，比我们还急切着回家。请体谅他们~~~顺祝大家假日快乐[[2]]

After an apparent ten years of research and tens of millions of dollars yielded so little, it would be ironic indeed if a true fix for the troubled ticketing system cost China’s government exactly nothing. But that may be the outcome from Li and others’ savvy leveraging of Chinese social media, which has been used before to crowd-source solutions to social problems including government graft and missing children.

Li Daxue has urged China's digital generation to help fix a pressing problem. Via Weibo

Li himself appears to share this can-do attitude. He writes, “Don’t complain, [just] go change it. It starts with me; China’s economy has already pivoted from a battle over resources to a technological movement. Programmers new and old, the era belonging to you has already begun! Let’s go!” {{3}}[[3]]不抱怨，去改变，从我做起；当中国经济从资源争夺转向技术驱动，新老程序猿们，一个属于你们的时代已经开始！雄起！！[[3]]

With that kind of encouragement, China’s volunteer coders may just be up to the task. Li has asked others to spread the word, and those interested in signing up for the project should email Li at lidaxue at gmail. To all those helping and to all those traveling, Tea Leaf Nation would like to wish you a safe and happy Mid-Autumn Festival.

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