Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Traffic accident I am sitting in the back of a taxi on one of Shanghai[base ']s elevated roads at the moment, and we have just been hit by another car. The vehicle behind us hit us pretty hard when we had to brake for a traffic jam and the other driver did not see that. What then happens is typical Chinese: both drivers get out, start shouting at each other inspect the damage shout harder start pointing at eachother start pushing eachother but before a fight breaks out one of them backs off and calls the police In the mean time a huge traffic jam has formed, because none of the drivers would even think about moving the vehicle a centimer. Some other drivers get out as well, making things even worse. I am still sitting iin the back of the taxi, hoping that noone notices that a waiguoren is involved, because then they will all start staring at me through the windows (luckily it[base ']s raining and the windows are foggy!). Finally police arrives (an old Santana station car with sirens on at full volume and blue/red lights flashing). The police man keeps his sunglasses on (although it[base ']s raining) and does not intend to leave his warm car. He opens the window a bit to let the guys talk to him and to show him their licenses. In the mean time I cannot leave, because walking through the rain to the next exit (2 km) is not an option and empty taxis don[base ']t take the elevated road. Bad luck, so I will just have to be patient and try to make the best out of this typical Chinese experience! 3:26:04 PM    comment []

Communist Capitalists Shanghai Daily: 1/3rd of all private Chinese entrepreneurs are official members of the Communist Party. It is not that easy to become a member, it is a long process and many people will never be able to become a member because of the restrictions. So what does this mean? Is the Communist Party maybe becoming a good networking organization? 3:24:37 PM    comment []