Insights into China
China is full of organized chaos. For some reason things work here that would NEVER work in a modern and organized world, such as Canada or the USA. Take traffic and driving skills for example…
1. Most Chinese do not know why there are lines painted on the roads or what they’re for. I am dead serious on this. Ask a Chinese person, in China. Most say I don’t know! haha
2. If there are “suppose” to be 3 lanes of traffic, there are usually 4-6 lanes, with cars weaving in and out.
3. On coming traffic? Who cares! If they need to turn they simply turn into traffic and turn anyway and the other cars just honk and drive around them.
4. You want to cross the street, but it’s always busy? No problem, just start walking, they’ll drive around you! (I still haven’t gotten use to this one) I’ve seen school children (7yrs old) crossing really busy streets this way. Picture a child trying to walk across the 401 in Toronto in rush hour and you’ll understand how dangerous it would be if they lived in North America.
5. There are very few traffic lights in China and NO stop signs. Finding a crosswalk is a miracle!
It’s amazing to see how this works. In Toronto they would be a 50 car pile up in no time, but in China they hardly ever have car accidents.
Another interesting thing is the Chinese Media. In China there is one TV Station in English, but it’s always Chinese news. The amount of propaganda is incredible. I’ve heard the most outrageous reports about the Dali Lama. You’d have to be pretty out there to believe some of the stuff they say, yet many Chinese people do. What’s also interesting is that they KNOW the government controls the media, and they don’t see anything wrong with that!
One story went like this… The Dali Lama ordered the riots and the destruction of local businesses (including Tibetan businesses) because they were really brothels, however the Chinese Government has found no evidence of this being the case. They then went around and asked a bunch of locals what their businesses were… This is just an example of how the Chinese spin things!
Another thing the Chinese Government controls is the media. They have filters on the Internet in China and purposely block certain websites from being accessed by the Chinese people. Now imagine if somebody like President Bush did this, what do you think would happen? Riighhhttt… but the Chinese people have been oppressed by the government for so long, I don’t think they realize the power they could actually have if they banded together. Just look at their population alone, the sheer number of people!
Tags: china, culture, insights
