I thought about making an introductory blog post. The sort of post where I could spiel out my life story and you could read it and pretend to be interested, but let's face it, that would have been a waste of time for everyone involved.
Instead, I remembered that back in my teenage years, I used to blog and I've gone to the trouble of digging it up.
You can find it at http://qczhao.spaces.live.com/
It actually does have an introduction post, right at the beginning, and it also contains some posts which I re-read and found surprisingly entertaining, given that they were written by a nerdy 17 year old.
Anyway, as you should know, this summer I went back to China for the first time in 4 years. This is mainly due to all the work experience stuff I've been doing over the past few summers (gotta fill up that CV right?). All told, it was a fantastic holiday, and as I sit here in a jet-lagged state writing this, I am missing it very much.
China has changed a monumental amount in 4 years and despite an economic recession, there are new buildings being put up everywhere. I struggled to find any recognisable places from when I last went back. Coming from England, where most of building work you see are actually for the purposes of repair and renovation, it was an eye opener to see the amount of cranes and earthworks and new buildings being built. Quite exciting really.
However, some things just don't change, or don't change very much. One of these things is the style of driving.
Now, to be fair, it is quite different now in the major cities, from what I could tell from my brief stay in Shanghai anyway, but in the smaller towns and villages, it is still business as usual.
I think the word which best describes it is "cut-throat". Now, this isn't to say that you will be immediately killed to death should you attempt to go on the road, but it does sort of feel like being told to babysit a shark - the potential for catastrophe is rather high.
Let me elaborate. In England, everyone gives way to one another. In China, no one gives way to each other. It's a sort of Serengeti existence whereby, you can make progress along the roads if you a) have a big car (by that, I mean a truck or bus) or b) are brave. It's natural selection on wheels. There are no other rules really - lane markings exist only to provide suggestion of the number of lanes on the road. In reality, the number of lanes is dependant solely on the width of the cars trying to thread their way through said piece of road. If there are no cameras at a red light (or traffic police), then one can consider the red light to be a suggestion too. If you miss an exit on the highway, don't worry, just stop and reverse back up. You get the idea. Now, this can be somewhat fun, if you're in a car with a good driver, otherwise it's absolutely terrifying.
Case in point, we were picked up when we arrived from Hong Kong by a University friend of my parents. He had brought along with him a dedicated driver. This put me well at ease, until we got underway. Our driver seemed to regard the dotted line demarcing the edges of the lanes as something one should try and keep under the middle of the car, or maybe he liked both lanes so much he decided he should drive in both at the same time. He also seemed to be more focussed on enjoying his cigarette, than the road.
After he had finished his stint, it was the turn of my parents' University friend, and well, things got worse. In an automatic car, one must put one's foot on the brake in order to change gears. This didn't seem to be second nature to him, despite it being his car. Then we set off. How we didn't crash, I don't know, but I think I owe thanks to all the other drivers on the road on those particular days. His idea of driving straight was to meander slowly across the road, and horn at everything within a 20 metre radius of the car; maybe that's what saved us. I think when he took his driving lessons (I use the word lesson loosely), he probably got taught the horn-manoeuvre-horn system, rather than the mirror-signal-manoeuvre method which is used in England today. See some pedestrians walking on the pavement? Horn at them. See some guys on scooters who you just overtaken? Horn at them. Trying to overtake a lorry and see an oncoming car when you're on the wrong side of the road? Don't move back behind the lorry immediately, horn at the oncoming car first, and see what happens. Along with the HMH system, I think he also got taught the "any o clock - bullseye" steering wheel grip. That is, one hand on the wheel rim (wherever you want), the other hand poised over the horn. I later found out he had obtained his license via back door methods. So thankfully this is not representative of the average motorist in China.
Now, a note on the usage of the horn in China. It's very different, quite necessary and I think a much better system than in England. If you horn at someone over here, it's tantamount to rolling down the window and shouting obscenities at them. People don't like being horned at. In China, it's more of a "I don't think you've seen me, so I'm going to make a noise so you will know I'm here." sort of message, which in my opinion is much better. That's not to say you should horn at everything and anything (unless you are indeed my parents' friend), as that's just uncivilised.
Finally, a note on crossing roads in China. Whilst there do exist crossing points, cars do not give way to pedestrians waiting on the side of the road. It's a consequence of there being SO MANY cars on the road (and so many pedestrians), that if they were to wait for anything there would be eternal gridlock forever. So you, as the pedestrian, have to make things happen. The technique I see many people use, is to first make eye contact with the driver of the oncoming car who you are going to step out in front of (to make sure he has seen you), then make sure that there's enough distance between you and him so that he won't hit you if he slams on the brakes, then go for it, whilst trying not to crap your pants in fear.
So there you have it, now if you ever need to navigate the automotive corridors of China, either as a driver, or a pedestrian, you'll know what to expect.
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