Observations on the Chinese people

For a Westerner China is a culture shock no matter how many times you come. Drivers, no matter if it is an electric bike or a ten ton truck, are insane, red lights here seem to be a suggestion, nothing more. Personal privacy, in a country of nearly one and a half billion is quite impossible. Probably because of the immense population people are very pushy. So many experiences are so alien, being positive can be impossible, but here are some observations.

I would have to look through my old passport to be sure but I think this is my seventh trip to the middle kingdom and there are a few observations I can make right away. Before I do though, I should point out I am writing to illustrate the difference between my attitude as a Canadian and the thoughts and attitudes of the Chinese people as a group. If a reader finds my writing insulting or offensive they would be wise to remember the reason I have been to China so many times is not because some of my best friends are Chinese, rather my best friend (and wife!) is Chinese.

1. The number of cyclists and motorized bikes is down. Particularly cyclists. Traffic is moving more smoothly but I am not so sure that is a good thing, there are many more highways and not nearly as much construction compared with trips I made here back in 2003 or even 2006. At least the big dirty trucks that used to poison the air seem to be off the road, hopefully cleaner engines are prevailing across the country, but one must always remember, Shanghai is one of the most developed and wealthy cities in the country.


2. With all the progress some of my personal favorites are gone. The dirty hole in the wall restaurants are disappearing replaced with upscale ho-hummery that belongs in Yorkville. It seems that for Chinese people, if it is not glamorous, it is not worth building, or preserving. One hundred years from now I suspect the grandchildren will regret the bulk destruction of history their grandparents committed here.


3. The rules, no matter how silly or on what authority are always obeyed. Suppose you walk into a store in Toronto and want to buy something but the owner is not around, typically any assistant is empowered enough to sell, sometimes even lower the price for frequent 'preferred' customers, in China it is all to often the case that if the owner is not around, no business will take place. And woe be he who dares to push the envelope. Two thousand years ago if you had a good idea there was no need to innovate, if you were a peasant you stayed a peasant and that was just the way it was. Makes ambition a waste of desire. Well some things don't change. This fact makes dealing with sales clerks rather difficult, imagine buying a pizza but being told no you cannot exchange mushrooms for tomatoes (has happened) - why? Because that is the rule and this just the way it is going to work. And for the alert reader, no on this trip I have no intention of getting pizza but back in 2002 I was in China for about four months and frankly got sick of the low quality food I was eating at one point, a tour of Yunnan.


4. There has been significant progress in many areas despite all of my complaining. Smoking has clearly gone out of vogue in Shanghai. There was a time when eating out required a gas mask and a lung transplant, although there is still the occasional smoker there numbers are significantly reduced from the bad old days. Oddly most smokers now appear to be women, historically, in China, good girls did not smoke. Some things certainly changed.


5. The pushing and shoving a requirement, along with a modest free was needed for riding the subway, is no longer essential, well the modest fee is still required, but the subway sure is vast. I wish the TTC were this good, then again, there eighteen million people in Shanghai and something like one million cars between them, Toronto probably has almost twice as many cars for its two and a half million souls.


6. The energy efficiency of the Chinese puts us in the west to shame. Compact Florescent lights, electric bikes, or gas bikes instead of cars, smaller cars, or at least large cars with smaller engines. Use of solar hot water heating. Lights go off promptly as office are closed and people go to bed. Granted the lack of home heating just cannot work in a place where the pipes would burst in our subzero winters, but we are overly decadent with our use of energy. Maybe if our salaries were more modest vis-a-vie the price the price of gas and electricity we would be more conservative?

There are things about the Chinese that I find exceedingly frustrating, particularly crossing the street. For example, there are crossing guards all over the place, I remember very clearly when I was a child, a crossing guard on seeing me would make the cars stop so I could cross the street. Well it works differently in China. In China the crossing guards do not allow pedestrians to cross until they get a green light and then do nothing if a turning car (possibly a left turning car, i.e. entering the intersection against the light and the law) cuts off the pedestrian who is crossing legally. Why there are not dead pedestrians splattered across the major roads of every city and town in the country is frankly a mystery, a miracle to my way of thinking.

However I must remember I am a stranger to this place and it is not my place to judge the way people drive, or enforce their own laws.