I returned to Beijing the other day to do some research and realized, as a I was waiting for a cab...for over an hour...I started thinking that Chinese are really New Yorkers on steroids. But they really aren't because no one ever loses their temper here...it is amazing.
New York city is not really like Beijing...New York seems small by comparison..perhaps it is because I know New York better? But it is hard to imagine the density here, particularly in Beijing and especially at the train station's taxi stop on rush hour. But imagine if you will several thousand people mulling around a taxi line that winds itself around in three different ways and as the taxis drive up, so do other kinds of vehicles, people on bikes and plenty of pedestrians...in a tiny two lane road.
It is totally insane..but as pushy as everyone is, no one loses their temper and smiling is the general rule. God only knows what they are saying to each other, as they roll their suitcases over each other's toes and push ahead of each other in line, but still no one loses their cool. It just doesn't happen in China. And after all of the mild pushing and positioning, they start to chat with each other and laugh, even offering cigarettes or something to eat. I mean, we are all in this together...right? But...still at the end, the women ahead of me pushed to get the next taxi..but the women who were right ahead of them didn't even notice. I guess they could understand. We were all on an overnight train and had been waiting for so long...so as the cab pulled up and the women in front of me hesitated and walked slowly, I thought about jumping ahead of them and grabbing the next cab..and then turning around to smile.
1 comment:
New York on steriods! That is exactly how Jeff and I felt about Shanghai, but throw in some Las Vegas to boot...
It was amazing that throughout my brief time there, no one got angry (except for the argument between that waitress and customer over a bowl of rice on the bill! that was a sight). Now there was a lot of pushing and shoving, and no real "excuse me". I guess after it happens so much, you'd get tired of saying excuse me. But everyone was very happy and so patient; absolutely amazing.
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