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The stupidest thing I've done (twice) in China; a stupid thing I didn't do in the US
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Twice during my first year in China I did something so obtuse I can hardly stand to think back on it. In each case I was so mad at the bus or taxi that had come within one millimeter of running me down -- while I was in a crosswalk with a green light and it was roaring at full speed straight ahead through a red light -- that I slapped its fender as it went by. I didn't even have to move my arm to reach it, since it was right there.
In many American cities, perfectly normal! I've seen road-raged pedestrians or bicyclists in San Francisco and New York yell at and pound the hoods of cars they judged to be cutting it too close.
But in China -- not such a good idea! The screech of brakes and squeal of tires. (Hmm, if the brakes work so well, why couldn't they have been applied before the red light?) Door flung open. Multi-lingual festival of curses and gestures. Contorted face of rage on the Chinese driver's side. And my chagrined realization that I had for no good reason made somebody very angry at me and, by extension, the outside world of laowai (老
In many American cities, perfectly normal! I've seen road-raged pedestrians or bicyclists in San Francisco and New York yell at and pound the hoods of cars they judged to be cutting it too close.
But in China -- not such a good idea! The screech of brakes and squeal of tires. (Hmm, if the brakes work so well, why couldn't they have been applied before the red light?) Door flung open. Multi-lingual festival of curses and gestures. Contorted face of rage on the Chinese driver's side. And my chagrined realization that I had for no good reason made somebody very angry at me and, by extension, the outside world of laowai (老
