In some places, time stands still

Four hundred kilometers above Earth, the International Space Station circles the globe, at 27,600 km/h. It passes through the dark of night into daylight every hour and completes an Earth orbit every 92 minutes and 41 seconds.

At 10:30 one morning, just as the ISS came abreast of Beijing, I entered a bank in Chaoyang district and took a ticket for my place in line. There were six counters - three were staffed.

An automated voice chirped: "Number 46, please go to counter three. Number 46, counter three."