Distribution of Buxibans and Surrounding Businesses

From the two maps below, one being distribution of businesses around the Nanyang Street , the other distribution of officially registered buxibans, the interdependence between buxibans and businesses in that areas is self-evident.

The first map is designed in accordance with the data gathered from our previous visit to the Nanyang Street , including the names of the businesses and their address plates. The number of businesses in our area of research amounts to 152, all located on the ground floor. (cf. various types of businesses) The second map, on the other hand, is made by means of t he website “All Cities or Counties Short-term Buxiban Information Management System” designed by the Ministry of Education; regardless of the floor where they a re situated, 74 registered buxibans are shown in the area of research, each of which represents a blue spot on the map.

Since the businesses in that area come in different “sizes,” small food stands that scattered around without address plates are left out by the electronic map. Beyond that, some stores have triangular windows, or are so spacious that each of them covers two plates. These variables are uncontrollable in the process of recording or sorting geographical information. Thus, the red spots in the first map merely indicate general distribution, rather than precise location, of businesses.

Furthermore, buxibans nowadays usually draw together in office buildings, such as the Shou-De Building on the Xu-Chang Street and the No.30 building on the Kongyuan Road , where more than ten buxibans, registered or unregistered, are up and running. Care needs to be taken in looking at the second distribution map, which can hardly show this overlapping.