China Segment

I may live to regret writing this, but I’m calling out the police of Shanghai, of all China. Everyday more people needlessly die in this country because the police do not enforce the law. Traffic accidents are easily preventable, yet they do nothing. Cars, motorcycles and pedestrians break laws right in front [...]

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Crossing Fuzhou Road yesterday, I saw a car coming towards the stop line with relative abandon which looked unwilling to yield to I and the other pedestrians crossing. I’ve had enough of such me/car-centered driving here so I proceed on my path across the crosswalk (zebra for you Brits) with the driver well spotted [...]

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Literally millions of people in large cities like Shanghai and Beijing are going back to their home towns for Chinese New Year (otherwise known as Spring Festival 春节 chūnjíe). Some of them are seasonal workers, but many of them moved here years ago, got married and have a kid, but the requirement to go [...]

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Well it is simply shocking. Five+ years in Shanghai and only yesterday did I experience my first car crash. It was more of a fender bender actually. I’m fine, the taxi driver was fine and so was the other driver… who pulled a real stupid move to put us in that mess. [...]

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If you’re in an older part of Shanghai and trouble strikes, better hoof it to a hospital. Calling an ambulance might just be what kills you.
I was wandering the streets - as I often do - the other evening and ended up around some night markets between Fuxing Road (复兴路) and Yu Garden (豫园). [...]

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Welcome to China where bikes and mopeds roam the streets. And people steal both, so of course you need a lock.
But really, the bikes here aren’t exactly the latest in mountain bikes - they look like your mom’s bike from the 50s - when shocks were still two little springs under the seat. [...]

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In a country where automobiles are still out of reach for the average Joe Zhang, motorbikes and scooters pick up the slack. In the P.R.C. they scream “I’m cooler than you on your bicycle,” and allow people to weave through the gridlock of large cities and yes, flaunt every traffic law known to human [...]

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Most foreigners fear it. Others stick their nose up at it. Expat bankers and execs never leave the confines of cabs and only see them roaring by. It’s the bus, the green machine.
And Shanghai’s buses are great. When I first came to Shanghai I was a line 2 subway rider, and [...]

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Just before New Years’, Shanghai opened up 3 new subway lines (#6, 8 and half of line 9), finished line 4 (finally), and added an extension on to line 1.
There are now millions of people taking the subways everyday in this massive metropolis. This isn’t always a good thing.
Line 1, already crowded non-stop, [...]

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Foreign concepts take a long time to take root in any country. China is no different.
Crosswalks - zebra stripes - have been painted all over China. But some guy’s idea in the Transport Ministry or City Council doesn’t necessarily translate to different behavior on the ground. So I’m giving newbies to China [...]

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