Malaysia, I found on my trip there a month ago, is one of the most pedestrian-unfriendly countries in the world. The traffic is tumultuous; pedestrian crossings are few and far between (and seem to work on absurdly long intervals, when they are functioning at all); and underpasses are even fewer; in many places, there aren't even any sidewalks (the main railway station in Kuala Lumpur is currently surrounded by construction sites, which make it just about impossible to access on foot).
It is, at first, quite daunting. Trying to walk any significant distance can be unduly stressful. Trying to cross a busy road seems a terrifying prospect.
But the thing is.... drivers there look where they are going. Yes, the roads are packed, and the traffic often moves dangerously fast; yes, drivers are selfish and undisciplined and not always well-skilled in controlling their vehicles. But it's not anywhere near as bad as China. And they look where they're going.
I was quite stunned by this phenomenon when I first recognised it, because it is so very, very different from the situation I have become used to here in Beijing. I soon found that it was actually surprisingly safe to cross the street in Kuala Lumpur, because, even on the busiest roads, drivers actually look out for hazards ahead of them and take appropriate evasive action. Understanding the use of the brake pedal is novel enough; but it's the noticing obstructions in the road ahead - the way that drivers actually look at you and see you; make eye-contact, and then don't try to run you down! - that I found most astounding after all these years of living with Beijing's homicidal traffic.
One of my earliest posts on here, The Land of the Blind, mused about the possible link between the notoriously poor eyesight of the Chinese and their apparently often limited imaginative vision, particularly in regard to the narrow range of their consideration or compassion for others.
It is on the roads that this failure to pay attention to others is most bothersome, most dangerous; but you see it everywhere - in people dropping their luggage on your feet when they board a subway carriage, in people parking their bikes across doorways, in people constantly walking into you (and then acting as if it's somehow your fault). The Chinese seem to actively avoid looking about them: they look down at their feet, they check their mobile phones constantly, they focus on the point they're aiming for several yards ahead and filter out everything and everyone else around them; they waddle along in trance-like cocoons of self-interest, almost completely insulated from the outside world. resolutely unaware of what's going on in the environment around them. Most of the time, the Chinese really do not look at other people around them; and when they look, they don't see; and when they see.... they don't care.
And it is tempting to derive other metaphors from this, to discern a wider significance in the phenomenon. You speculate that this 'cocoon of self-interest' evolved as a necessary defence mechanism against the oppression and hardship the Chinese people suffered under Mao - and through so much of their history. And it is certainly the thing that is chiefly keeping the Communist Party in power here: so long as there are more people who are complacently satisfied with their increasing material comfort than there are people who are frustrated and disaffected and suffering, then... there isn't much chance of a revolution. Nobody much cares how many lawyers and journalists and academics are thrown into jail, so long as they can save enough money to buy an i-Phone or a flat-screen TV. This really is The Land of the Blind.
7 comments:
I cannot explain why people from China are such terrible drivers. I have seen terrible Chinese drivers both in Beijing and here in Toronto, and have also blogged about it. I also have Chinese friends who are terrible drivers. They are nice and otherwise composed in all other respects. I am also not surprised when I find out they have crashed their cars. China is by far the most dangerous place for pedestrians that I have visited.
By process of evolution, Chinese drivers in HK are quite good. Otherwise they would have crashed and be eliminated. Unfortunately for me, these drivers are few in Toronto.
You have no guanxi with strangers in China, so they feel there is no need to be polite. They would never dream disrespecting those they know. You really need to say something to them when they do idiot moves like park their bike in front of you. It may not change their future behaviour but would make you feel better. Friendly comments need not come to blows. The lack of social etiquette to strangers is not specific to China.
It was interesting to read this. It falls into place with something I just read yesterday about the torture of tens of thousands of bears in China, just to get their bile and body parts for traditional Chinese medicine. The Chinese attitude about animal welfare is very strange compared to Western leanings. You might be interested in this well-written article:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=10897
I am not an animal rights extremist but the practice they describe is simply appalling. The commenters on that post seem to help round out the picture of the Chinese attitude to animals. It appears by your discussion that this is something that carries over into their views of humans, too.
Well, there is an argument, Anon, that there's something in Chinese culture - rooted in the psyche, almost - that predisposes them towards 'cruelty', or towards a lack of compassion at any rate - whether towards animals or humans. The writer Lu Xun made a generalising condemnation of his countrymen along these lines when he saw a photograph of a crowd of people watching an execution with apparent impassivity - ghoulish fascination, perhaps, but no horror or disgust or sympathy or rage at injustice.
I hope it's not the case that the Chinese are congenitally 'unfeeling'. My observation tends to suggest more that they certainly are capable of such emotion, but most of them don't allow themselves the space to feel it, or to act on it - they wilfully decline to pay attention to this sort of thing; it's always Someone Else's Problem, not something they have to be concerned about.
With the appalling driving, I think the very poor average level of eyesight is certainly a contributing factor; but it's astonishing how often you see people - on foot, on a bicycle, or behind the wheel of a car - look at you, and look right through you, just not register at all that you are there in front of them.
I haven't experienced this chronic inattention to their surroundings in any other people, anywhere in my travels around the world.
It is remarkable, and rather terrifying.
The fact that this is a mainland problem, not seen in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia etc. suggests that it is not rooted in the genes or in traditional Chinese culture (or the eyesight problem), but is largely a product of the Communist era.
Years ago I read an account of a westerner traveling in China. He said that he came upon a man who had a little, injured songbird in a bucket. The bird was in obvious distress. He asked the man why he didn't put the bird out of its misery, and the reply was that since the bird was destined for the soup pot anyway, any discomfort the bird experienced from that point on did not matter.
I also watched a travel program on television where at tableside in a Chinese restaurant a small snake was skinned alive and prepared for consumption while it was still writhing, head still on, etc. Of course the show was presented with the idea that one should be polite and partake of the local cuisine when one is a guest in another country.
I don't know if the attitude toward humans you discuss comes from the same source as these attitudes about animals and suffering, but I suspect it might have gone on long before the communist era. (Though I would argue that genetics does not have anything to do with this behavior.)
Anyway, it was interesting to read your bit about the Chinese driving.
We don't encourage 'anonymous' commenting here, Anon. Please give yourself a tag of some kind, so that we can keep track of you.
I have seen a lot of cruelty to animals here. But there's a broad spectrum of attitudes; Beijing has long been a city of dog-lovers. Many people are devoted to their pets, and quite a few run rescue centres for abandoned animals at their own expense.
I do rather fear that China's traditional culture - or whatever of it survived through the Mao years - may have been rather lacking in a core morality, either in regard to social behaviour and responsibility or in regard to treatment of animals. I'd like to investigate this more, but it's such a big topic, and there's never enough time to read.
Thanks for your response
I am sorry for having used Anonymous. You can call me Moniker.
I am extremely nervous about commenting on blogs and will probably not do it much. Just occasionally stopping in to learn, that's all.
Just as an aside from an outside reader, Moniker, I hope to see more of you here in Froogville. Nice contributions to the discussion.
Post a Comment