angela's blog

We're going to take a little breather from the travels and take a day (or a post) and talk about the culture, the traffic, the hello-people, and the general life we experienced during the 12 days we were in China. The traffic Traffic rule number 1: The rule for traffic in the U.S. is generally "Pedestrians have the right-of-way." If a pedestrian is crossing the street we yield, and as a matter of fact, the last time I checked, yielding to pedestrians is a matter of the law, not even just good manners. Such is not the case in China. In China the rule is "If my wheels are bigger than your wheels, I win!" Buses have right of way over SUVs. SUVs have right of way over 2-door compact cars. 2-door compact cars have right of way over electric scooters, and on down the line. Here's the kicker: 60% of the population in any given city doesn't drive to work, home, or out. They ride bicycles. Bicycles, by rule of the traffic food chain, have right of way over pedestrians. JJ got hit by one, so we know THAT'S true! (not enough to hurt him, just a graze) Traffic rule number 2: As if this weren't foreign enough, there's another major difference: horn usage. Here in the U.S. we toot the horns in our cars as a matter of annoyance. Get out of my way, move along, you dumb driver, that sort of thing. In China, horns are used loudly and often, but in a completely different vein. The horns are blown every few minutes, but as a matter of courtesy. Excuse me, I'm going to pass your vehicle, just alerting you to my presence, please don't merge yet I'm here! On the other hand, on about day 3 of the trip we found out from our national guide, Toby, that China has a nation-wide "no-arms" rule. People are not allowed to carry guns or knives. At all. Perhaps that has something to do with the connotations of their horn use. Traffic rule number 3: Crossing the street in the U.S. is a matter of finding a crosswalk, pushing a button, waiting until the little "walk" man lights up, and crossing the street. Crossing the street in China is a death-defying, heart-racing, flirtation with disaster. While in Xi'an, JJ and I decided to visit the market across the street from the hotel. We came up with our street-crossing strategy before we dared taunt the keepers of the door of heaven: follow the locals. Keep the locals between you and the nearest oncoming vehicle. That way, you have time to get out of the way in case ... well, let's just say it wasn't out of the question that someone was going to be run down. We made it. And it was about as risk-taking as me and my equally cautious husband will ever get. At least until we decide we want to do this thing called "parenting." ;-) Traffic rule number 4: Lane markers in the U.S. are considered important. It keeps us separate from our neighbors and at a safe distance from each other. In China, they're just a polite suggestion, much like a teenager's mom might say "Don't you think you should drink milk instead of soda with dinner?" but not really caring. 3 lane roads have 5 cars across. 2-way traffic in the countryside can have up to 4 cars going in any direction. We had one situation with our tour bus in a tunnel. The traffic, technically on the OTHER side of the double yellow line, had come to a standstill. The traffic on our side of the road was moving along nicely. A Jeep pulled out from the standstill, honked it's horn (see traffic rule number 2), flashed its headlights and pulled into traffic. Into ... oncoming traffic. Here's the best part ... our bus driver, not to be intimidated by a smaller Jeep (see traffic rule number 1) didn't slow down, change lanes, or anything of the kind. He honked HIS horn and proceeded full speed towards the wayward Jeep. I've never played "Chicken" in my car. I never want to again. However, in case you're wondering, traffic rule number 1 reigned. The Jeep slowed down, stopped, and pulled out of the way before the bus barreled down on it. But not before there were gasps and moments of panic on the American tour bus! Another interesting difference in Chinese traffic is ... they're all used to their way of driving! While we were there we saw only 1 traffic accident and we drove around in that tour bus a LOT. However, Wen, our Beijing local tour guide, says that there are about 200 bike-to-vehicle accidents a month. She didn't give a mortality rate but said that "Sometimes people even die." No kidding. One of the more useful and fascinating things we saw was the stoplight countdown. In major metropolitan areas the stoplights came complete with time pieces. When the light would turn red, it would read "45" and then count down to when the light turned green. On the opposite side the same thing would happen with the green light. I was fascinated by this but wondered whether if we used such a method in the states that it would lead to more accidents. "I still had 2.3 seconds before the light was supposed to turn red!" sort of situations. Before we leave the topic of traffic, I'll end with this. In Shanghai, we had to cross a couple of streets to get to the tour bus. Toby led the way. He was surprised. When we got on the bus he turned and said to us "I really thought I was going to turn around and no one would be there. Americans are usually afraid to cross the street here but I turned around and everyone was right behind me!" Yeah, Toby. On day 11. By that point, it was "Follow Toby or get run over." The Hallo People When we arrived in Beijing and departed for our first of many tours we were warned by our local guide, and by Toby, about the "Hallo people." What on Earth are Hallo people? These people are not quite beggars, not quite legit sales people. They surround you the moment you disembark the bus. "Hallo, hallo, hallo" they'll say, as they show you cheap wares. Postcards. Cheap trinkets. Rolex watches. "One dollar, one dollar" they'll offer. Their wares are cheap, they are persistent. And they are EVERYwhere. It seems like they learned somehow that Americans say "hello." So they greet you, "Hallo hallo." And then offer their 1-dollar pieces. Toby warned us not to buy anything from them - especially of the Rolex or trinket variety. "It'll just last you long enough to get you out of China" Toby warned. We ended up buying an umbrella from the hallo people. Best buck we ever spent. The bartering Almost nothing sold to tourists in China has a set price. From food to clothing, jewelry to postcards, everything costs only as much as you'll pay. Everything does have, however, a marked price. Everything has a "suggested retail" price as it were. This is often 25, 30, even 60 or 70% more than you will actually pay for the product. Sometimes if you offer to buy more than one, you'll get an even better deal. I'm not a big fan of the bartering. You'll understand this better in a second. I'm not a compulsive buyer. I buy things that either (a) I know I absolutely want or (b) I know I absolutely want someone to have. But for the bartering system, that's a problem because the key to bartering is the willingness to walk away from your product and leave it to the retailer because he won't come down to your price. My father is an excellent barter-er. He will leave something. He will walk out of the store. So I learned. 2 bracelets for 50 RMB apiece? No way, I'll pay you 25 for both of them. Earrings for 70? I'll offer you 25. And as JJ learned, it helps to speak the language. Join us tomorrow as we head to SuZhou and then finish our tour in Shanghai. Stay tuned for JJ's thought of the day and his top ten list when we return stateside after our whirlwind visit to the Orient.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper on 6.10.2006 at 6/10/2006 03:49:00 PM | Permalink