This Is China...

Probably the most frequent question I get about life in China is about what "crazy things" I've seen recently. And to be completely honest, it's a hard one to answer because there are just so many. That, and I'm starting to get desensitized to it all. (But only a little bit, somethings will stick out no matter what.)

In one of my Bootleg Reviews, I talked about the movie Blood Diamond. In it, the viewers are introduced to the term T.I.A., This Is Africa. It's used to dismiss or deal with any of the insanity surrounding the characters (and by extension real people) in the African war-zone.

It's funny how easily adaptable it is to China. So here we are with a brand new label "T.I.C." This Is China. It'll be the place to go for any tidbits that might be used to answer the question "What crazy things have you seen recently?"

And since this is the inaugural edition of T.I.C., I'll throw you all a few bones with a random assortment of strange China stories...

ITEM! Taking the bus to (or maybe from) school one day, we got a somewhat shocking view of two bodies sprawled in the middle of the road after clearly being hit by a taxi. The police were there, as was a large crowd gathered around. No one was making any effort to clean the scene, which at home seems like a no brainer. Accident scenes are cleared as soon as possible, and crowds are pushed back. Seems to be the exact opposite here. And I said "somewhat shocking" not to play down the grotesque scene, but rather express my lack of surprise that someone(s) had gotten hit. The traffic here is insane. There are very few traffic lights to accompany the crosswalks, and even though there are crosswalks, people tend to just cross anywhere regardless. Not that this is entirely the jaywalker's fault. The drivers here are all seemingly insane. In cabs so far I have almost hit at least one person, and countless cars. I'm sure there will be more like this to come, because lets face it, T.I.C.

ITEM! While checking in at the Beijing airport, Corey and I were cut in line by not one, not two, but five people in a very grumpy group. Line cutting is the practice of the day here. Commuters line up for buses in the morning, and as soon as the bus arrives the line explodes, and everyone starts pushing and shoving to be the first to get on the bus. The strangest part is why they bother to line up in the first place. But the bus stop in the middle of the street is one thing... the airport is another. How the girl at the counter let that just be ok is beyond me, but what can you do? T.I.C.

ITEM! To get back from the Great Wall in Dandong, all of us Foreign Teachers decided to ride with a mysterious min-van back to the city. Things like this are fairly commonplace in China. The mystery vans are just as good as the legitimate buses it would seem. That's not the strange part. While getting into the van, Vicky (one of the aforementioned teachers) noticed that the van was sliding a bit. She told John (duh, another teacher - big Irish guy), and as he was going to sit in the front seat (like I said... big guy, so default shotgun) he pulled up the van's parking break while the driver was outside helping us in. While moving the break, he also moved a newspaper folded next to the driver's seat. Inside the paper was a knife with an apparently large blade. When the driver came into the van, John buckled in and accidentaly moved the paper again. The two made some knowing eye contact, but neither said anything. In Chinese, he asked us where we were from (looking at Corey and I). We said America, and excitedly, he got on his phone. Now, John didn't tell any of us about the knife at this point. We actually didn't find out about this until days later. But if I knew then what I know now, I would be as freaked out as John probably was. He's on the phone with his posse... LOOK I GOT AMERICANS IN TOW! Turns out he had his son on the phone, and it got passed around so he could practice his English with us. If you figure, the knife was definitely for his own protection. Being in the shady van business can't exactly be the safest line of work. The guy was actually incredibly nice, and shook all of our hands on our arrival. Heh, T.I.C.

ITEM! It's entirely possible that this one could happen anywhere. People get angry all the time. Thing is, it didn't happen just anywhere. It happened in China. Corey and I were on the bus home, and suddenly, the bus stopped with the driver refusing to go any further. It wasn't that far from our apartment, so we figured what the hell, we'll just walk. As we're walking we see why the bus driver didn't continue his route. There was another bus stopped. There were cars parked all around it, and a huge crowd gathered. I don't know what happened before, but we saw a man jump up and climb into the bus through a window and the proceed to launch himself at the driver, punching him repeatedly. He gets pulled off by those still on the bus, and suddenly leaps up, grabbing the hand rails and starts kicking the driver in the head. That's when the cops show up, with one of the officers climbing in through the same window to try breaking it up. That's when we started walking again. I have no idea what happened. Most likely an accident, but who knows? I've heard of fights starting on buses because their kid is slightly too tall to ride for free. They could have also been filming the new Jet Li movie. But probably not, because T.I.C.

more to come,
Shawn