China and elevators

Taiwan it is not.  It's been a real eye-opener since we left Hong Kong.  We arrived in Shanghai yesterday and it's been "a thrill a minute" ever since.  My first question about China is this - what's with having elevators but not letting people use them?  As travelers with two small children, we are rolling with a stroller.  I think it says something about China's policy and / or practice regarding handicapped people, because a stroller is kind of the same thing.  For instance, at Shanghai's Pudong Airport, we wanted to take the much-acclaimed "maglev" super-high speed train into the city, the fastest way to get from the airport to the city.  Getting tickets?  No problem.  Passing security?  Check.  (More on security checks here in a minute.)  Then we are confronted with an escalator down from the ticketing area to the platform.  I asked the workers there if there if there was an elevator we could use, gesturing towards our stroller and baggage from the flight.  "No, sorry."  OK, I thought, maybe that will just be here for the maglev, although it seemed odd that this was the case at the maglev, since I think that it was built fairly recently - I figured newly-built infrastructure would be "up to code."

We struggled with our things down the escalator (one of the employees was nice and helped us out), got on board, and enjoyed a very swift ride into the city (alas, since we were riding at the time of day when the peak speed was only 300 kph, we missed out on the fastest speeds, up to about 430 kph, which are offered in the mid-afternoon).  But upon arriving it was elevator disappointment, round 2: this time, there was an elevator, and we tried to access it (interestingly, it was cordoned off with a set of the velvet ropes used to corral people into lines) after seeing what appeared to be an employee push the ropes aside and go into it.  Before long, our approach to the elevator area got the attention of the security guard (probably one of the most common professions in China, by my 2-day observation - many appear to be PLA-affiliated (People's Liberation Army), some are police, and some I think work for whatever company / entity owns / operates the facility in question), and he came running to stop us from using it.  But we just saw that other person use it!  No dice.  Cursing, we made our way to the escalator and repeated the process of getting all our stuff and people down it.

Oh, but we're not done!  Today, strolling along the Bund, the scenic, historic waterfront area along the Huangpu River, we wanted to access a higher promenade area to get a better view of the river and the area across the river called Pudong with many tall buildings.  We saw an access area with an elevator and headed towards the glass doors that would take us in to the elevator.  Immediately, what appeared to be a security guard came towards us from inside frantically waving us off.  Typical, we thought - elevators are here, but you can't use them.

It was the same drill riding the subway back to our hotel.  The station was equipped with an elevator, but passengers cannot use it - only the escalator.  What gives?  China is frustrating me.

I wanted to talk a little bit about these security checks in China.  Before riding the maglev or even the subway here, you have to put your bags through an X-ray machine to be scanned.  This is the first time I have seen this sort of requirement for a train / subway anywhere.  You would think that the security-paranoid U.S. would be the place that this type of excessive security theater would be in place, but instead it is here in Shanghai.  I wonder if they will have the same thing in the subways in Beijing when we get there.

GJS