Yet another of Yang Liu's posters illustrating fundamental differences between the cultures of China and 'The West': here we have 'Sundays on the road' (or 'in the park'). I'm not sure why the city is so thronged with people on Sundays (even more so than Saturdays, it seems). Perhaps it's that there's less flexi-time working, less ability to take time off during the week; or perhaps it's a result of the low level of average incomes - people can only afford to go out once a week, and for most of them Sunday is the day. Then again, maybe the folks here just haven't cultivated the concept of the lazy Sunday at home (or the wild Saturday night out that so often necessitates it!)..... or they haven't yet adopted our stay-at-home hobbies like D-I-Y and gardening (nobody in Beijing has a garden!). And driving out into the country is, I think, only just starting to take off as an interest (perhaps people lack confidence - rightly - in their driving ability, and are wary of trying to go too far, frightened of taking on the crappy roads and even-crazier driving that you find in the countryside); most people seem to prefer to stay in the city at the weekend. The area near where I live regularly encounters late Sunday afternoon traffic jams as bad as any in the mid-week rush hours. And the subway is best avoided.
If I go out this afternoon, it'll probably be on foot.
2 comments:
So Sunday is a "day of rest" over there, too? Is that traditional, do you know? Or a recent practice, maybe (un)conscious emulating Western countries?
Interesting point - I hadn't ever thought about it before. China now follows the Western calendar in just about everything (except the traditional holidays), but I wonder how long that's been the case. Did they use to work 24/7 back in the Imperial days??
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