China may have a reputation for being a clever and innovative country and over the years they have proven this to be true and yet many of the normal citizens are really quite stupid. In everyday life you will encounter the stupidly that I refer to. This morning for example I went to the park for my morning exercise and to the sand pit area where they have the equipment. I was the only one there when I arrived and then shortly afterwards an old lady appeared on the scene. She had a spinning top Yoyo combined with a skipping rope I guess is the easiest way of describing it and she whirls this thing around like a dervish. Now these yoyo spinning top things are a bit large and if it was to go astray, as it was doing this morning, then it would be a bit dangerous if it happened to strike you on the noggin. She came within spitting distance of me and she’s flying this fuckin thing around her head and then the next thing it shoots off in one direction, thankfully nowhere near me. I just stared at her, but she didn’t care a jot and so eventually I signalled to her to Fuck Off and she did………..she went back across to a large grassy area where there was no people at all and it wouldn’t matter if her YOYO went astray. Now why can she not consider my safety or the possible consequences if the yoyo’s trajectory brings it towards me? Is she stupid and does not realise? Is she just fucking ignorant and does not give a fuck? Either way both look very similar.
Chinese drivers are bad at the best of times and the same applies to their behaviour. When they drive through the community I live in they drive way too quickly. They pass row after row of parked cars squeezing through the narrow roads at speeds more akin to the motorway. They do not think for one moment that a child or an old person may wander out onto the road without looking. They only care about where they are going. When I see one coming through at an excessive speed I often go out on the road and walk in the middle real slow to make them slow down and I often get a strange look from them too. They must be thinking, “Look at that crazy old foreigner, what the fuck is he doing?” but they slow down………….Are they just fucking ignorant or is it that they just don’t give a fuck too?
When crossing the road at any place you really must have 360 degree vision because cars and ebikes will come from almost any angle and it does not matter what colour the lights are. When crossing a road in front of the ebikes they will almost never go behind you when they pass, instead they will try to squeeze through the gap that is left between you and the kerb and again they don’t give a fuck about you…………..they don’t seem to understand that I’m getting closer to the kerb and so therefore it would be safer for both of us if they were to go behind me. Our paths are converging and they take no evasive action until the inevitable might happen and then they brake dramatically. They do not have the capacity to see danger and react accordingly. They are completely reactive instead of proactive. Are they Fuckin’ Stupid or is it that they just don’t give a fuck?……………
Of course not all Chinese are like this but I would say the majority are like this and so it can be a challenge some days. Just when you think you have seen it all some other nutter goes ahead and trumps it. Mind you the behaviour of the citizens does vary from city to city and at the moment I am currently in Suzhou and so you may find your experience different if you are living elsewhere.