Civilization, at Last
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.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:24 am
Yo.
Great stuff, the country fascinates me and I’m glad to have your insight again. The next two years are going to be very interesting there, I’m trying to think of ways to politicize the olympics there in the name of human rights activism. That’ll get me a permanent ban, i’m sure :P.
I’d really like to hear more about how they are prepping for the olympics, though I guess you won’t see it so much in Shanghai. Anyway, keep us posted! Say hi to Mason and Jackie for me.
Oh, one more thing: try breaking up your paragraphs into smaller pieces, like in a newspaper article. I find it tends to help me focus my ideas into manageable sections more, as well as makes my article look less daunting when other people first look at it! Give it a shot if it makes sense with what you’re writing!
Oh, and keep it up, brother.
June 11th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Hey man, thanks for the feedback. I usually just sort of keep stuff on the same subject in one paragraph, but I’ll try breaking it up a little more and see what happens.
As for the Olympics, I am in Beijing now and it still seems like a big construction zone. So I think it is mostly getting the infrastructure ready plus the aformentioned education campaigns. The air quality is still god awful though, worse than the last time I was here. Not too sure how they’ll have that solved by the Olympics. I have heard that they are going to be ordering all factories in the region to close starting 3 weeks before and until the end of the Olympics. People also won’t be allowed to drive, which is also meant to ease congestion. Too bad these are only temporary fixes though.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Yeah, I guess they can’t just shut the factories for good, can they? It must be weird being in China and not having horns honking. I wonder if the number of ridiculous traffic accidents has risen because people still don’t check their mirrors cause they’re waiting for the other guys to honk! Running red lights without honking, must be weird for chinese drivers.
June 18th, 2007 at 9:13 am
I’m really impressed that they imposed a lining-up order in such a packed country. On several metro lines in Paris, they’ve painted feet and lines on the platform meant to illustrate the civilized way to exit/board the train. Parisians I know laugh at this. When I asked why the response was, “Nobody does this. Only an asshole would line up.”
Why do you think the spitting campaign hasn’t worked as well?
June 21st, 2007 at 4:11 pm
It reminds me of your qualms with the CCP ban on Mission Impossible 3, and how the last thing they should be ashamed of is public pajama presence.
Also, it makes me think of more unseemly things like homeless being ‘dealt with’ and any kind of dissident or suspicious type being similarly taken care of. It’s definitely true, regardless, that as Beijing captures the world’s attention in 2008, that people will be truly trying to find evidence of sinister autarkic goings on. You know that journalists would love to report that Beijing tried to brush everything under the rug, but it was ultimately too lumpy to fool anyone. So in a sense you can’t blame them for recognizing the (perhaps unfair) hyper-scrutiny they’re going to fall under. It will be more interesting to what happens after it’s all over, in my mind.
June 26th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Adam, we’re convinced something has happened to you. Your group neeeeeds yoooouuuuuu….
July 6th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Okay, you seriously need to write a mass email or another blog entry. It’s been a month you know. Uncharacteristic. We’re worried about you!
July 10th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Nice stuff.
I am so glad to hear Chinese people are changing. Although sadly it’s for the sake of olympics, it is a good start.
By the way, I don’t think Chinese ever thought they found America first. Even if there were people found America before Columbus, I think they were Mangolians.
Look forward to reading some more!
July 20th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Duuuuude, update your blooooog.