Adam’s Not Here

China takes great pride on being able to trace its civilization back over 5 000 years. They are proud of their rich history and the many achievements they have made over time. It seems that we are finding out these days that everything was done by the Chinese first. Be it the discovery of the Americas, or the printing of books, they got there first. Now fast forward to the 21st century. With the Olympics coming, the Beijing has been engaging in a series of public education campaigns, to socialize the citizenry towards more civilized behaviour. It’s been happening a little in Shanghai too, with Expo 2010 coming up. Last year, I didn’t think too much about this stuff, although reading a story in the paper about classes being held to tell people not to walk down the street in their pyjamas was always good for a laugh. However, coming to Beijing now I have definitely noticed a difference from my visits in October 2005 and May 2006. Taking the subway to the guesthouse when I first arrived, I was struck by how people lined up for the train at the marks where the doors stop. This wasn’t just one or two people, but two neat lines per door, with 10-15 people in each one. I was amazed as I clearly remember my first visit here, when people would swarm around the doors and push onto the train without even giving people a chance to get off first. Let me tell you, it’s night and day. The campaign against spitting all over the sidewalk doesn’t seem to have been as successful, but over all it looks like Beijing may soon give Shanghai a run for its money when it comes to model behaviour.

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Date: 06/09/2007Views: 790

At the beginning of this June, Shanghai got pretty serious about the honking of car and motorcycle horns. For years they had been putting up signs and telling people not to honk, but progress was pretty slow. Then last week they started a well publicized crackdown, with 2 000 RMB fines for violators. If a fine of just under $300 Cdn sounds pretty steep, just consider the fact that that is around the average monthly salary in Shanghai. More even, for taxi drivers. Needless to say, people paid attention. I didn’t even notice the effect at first, since the new fine coincided with my move, I just thought the area I was in was particularly quiet. But when I was out for dinner with Mason last week, he mentioned it. And it just clicked, we were sitting outside on the patio, without being inundated with car horns, and it was because of the new fines. I’m sure all the economists are out there, saying ‘incentives, we told you so.’ In any case, with all the constant talk about the rapid physical change in China, I found it quite interesting to see these two dramatic examples of behavioural change. I guess it’s not that surprising, considering China’s history of black and white changing from one day to the next, at the behest of the Communist party, but it is impressive to witness nonetheless.