The building of Beijing Metro System was a different story comparing with other modern cities which aimed at the making of 'metropolitan'. The first metro line in Beijing was built in late 1960s under the guiding ideology of war preparedness. Premier Zhou Enlai said 300 busses would be sufficient for the transportation of Beijing in 1960s, so the building of the metro was mainly for the purpose of war. The passengers were seldom considered during the design and construction, so after 10 years of the buildup of the metro line, only very few people visited the underground with official permissions. In the perspective of ANT, the goal of building the metro was successfully translated by the government and party leaders. The enrollment of the engineers, citizens, also the tunnel trail into the network helped building up the image of a well-equipped China.

After the Opening and Reform, Beijing became one of the biggest cities in China. More population in the city need to be commuted. The metro system was built as a new market experiment and the prosperity of the new institution. The act-ants involved in the network had been changed into private companies, government supervisors, passengers and the new electronical operation system. With the expanding metro system , Beijing became a genuine Metropolitan.

This paper will lead us to a few interesting conclusions, for example, the distinctive implications of a metro system to Beijing in different historical background, and the shaping of heterogeneous network. The paper also attempts to bridge the methodology crack between history of science and STS by applying the ANT as a historical analysis approach.