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China
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This is our good friend, Xiang Liangji. He was our
host for this trip. |
| We spent two nights at the Lakeside Hotel in Fuzhou, which
is one of the finest hotels I have ever been in. |
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The artificial lake in Fuzhou is ancient, having been built
several hundred years ago. |
| There is a park on the other side of the lake that we
visited early in the morning. This archway goes over the bridge
leading into the park. |
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Fuzhou, like much of China, is a study in bright colors and
a photography enthusiast's dream. |
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flowers were all over China. |
| We visited the Gu Shan Buddhist temple while we were in
Fuzhou, a 1,300-year-old place at the top of a mountain overlooking Fuzhou. |
One of the roofs at the Gu Shan monastery. |
| The understructure of one of the roofs. This form of
decoration is quite common in ancient Chinese buildings. |
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Shoes for sale at a roadside vendor just outside the Gu Shan
temple. |
| Umbrellas for sale at another Gu Shan temple vendor
stand. |
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| Tien An
Men Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace |
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Here it is, perhaps the most well-known and the largest
square in the world, Tien An Men Square. It is immense. |
| The guards in Tien An Men Square. You aren't supposed
to photograph these fellows. The guy in this picture was not too
happy with me, the Nikon company, or the 70-300 Sigma lens at about the
time I took this picture. |
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A statue in Tien An Men Square dedicated to Chinese soldiers
and farmers. |
| Sue and I in front of Chairman Mao's picture. The
picture is redrawn every year by a single artist. |
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This is the entrance to the Forbidden City, directly across
the street from Tien An Men Square. |
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Be happy in your work. |
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Across from the Forbidden City, ancient Chinese rulers built
the Summer Palace. This is the entrance to it. |
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This is the first courtyard encountered upon entering the
Forbidden City. |
| The Forbidden City stretches through several large
courtyards. The architecture and tileworks are impressive. |
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The roof ornamentation is breathtaking. |
| Here's a close up showing the elegance in even a simple
roof. |
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This woman was emptying one of many large vessels in the
Forbidden City's courtyards. We had quite a bit of rain during our
visit. |
| While we were in the Forbidden City, Chinese soldiers were
doing close-order drills. |
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One of the many designs on the walls and doors in the
Forbidden City. |
| Here's another design. These figures were on the sides
of one of the large vessels. |
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Another figure on a door. |
| Yet more ornamentation, this time on a wall. |
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| Colors abound in the Summer Palace. This is an
ornamental arch along the walking path. |
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The Summer Palace is situated on another man-made lake (a
huge lake). One of the emperors decided he wanted a marble
boat. If you are the emperor, you get what you want. |
| My wife, Sue, looking out over the lake. |
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A water lilly flower, just after it rained. I grabbed
this shot with my Sigma 70-300 lens. |
| I don't know what kind of flower this was, but it was
beautiful. I used the Sigma 50mm EX macro lens for this shot. |
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This is an interesting stone heron that I saw while we were
walking the Summer Palace grounds. |
| There is a covered walkway that follows the lake at the
Summer Palace. This is a photograph of the underside of the
walkway. This form of under-the-roof decoration appears on many of
the ancient Chinese structures. |
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On our first afternoon in
Beijing, our guide took us to a
cloisonne factory. We didn't buy anything, but the colors and people
inside the factory presented excellent photography subjects. |
| Here are some of the finished vases on sale. |
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More vases. I would have liked to buy one, but the
thought of struggling to carry it home changed my mind. |
| A woman handpainting a vase prior to firing it in the oven. |
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Another woman, and another vase. This is meticulous
work. |
| Yet one more. I would imagine each vase probably has
50 or 60 hours of labor in it. |
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This is not nearly as demanding a piece of craftsmanship as
the vases above, but this paper fish sure was colorful. I couldn't
resist. |
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No visit to China would be complete without a visit to the
Great Wall. The Wall stretches for over 5,000 miles, and it is one
of the most amazing things I have ever seen. |
| This is an inscription from Mao Tse Tung, which I am told
says that if you climb the Great Wall you are a hero.
It was pouring cats and dogs when we were there, it was very hot, my
camera bag was weighing on me, and I didn't feel particularly heroic. |
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Sue was a hero. This is her on her way back down,
under her umbrella, as seen through the 70-300 Sigma. Actually, it
was quite a feat. The stairs are uneven and worn, making for tough
climbing and an even tougher descent (or so I'm told). |
| A final shot of the Great Wall. That's Sue under the
umbrella. |
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| The most well-known attraction in Xi'an is the Terra Cotta
Soldier archeological dig. This has been deemed the 8th Wonder
of the Ancient World, and for good reason. One of the emperors in
the Qin (pronounced "chin") dynasty wanted to be protected in
the afterlife, so he had his subjects build an estimated 8,000 full-size
clay soldiers. These figures were arranged in attack formation,
facing east (the direction of ancient China's enemies) and buried
underground. About 2,000 of the 8,000 soldiers have been
uncovered. If this sounds uncanny, you should see it in
person. The sight is awesome, and I do not use that word in the
colloquial sense.
Ordinary tourists are not supposed to photograph the Terra Cotta
soldiers. This photograph was taken by a concessionaire, who used a
tripod-mounted Nikon F100 with the 20-35 Nikon lens and no flash. We
had the 8X10 photograph delivered to our hotel that evening. The
photo, including delivery, cost about $18. |
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Sue and Ginger. Ginger was our guide in Xi'an. |
| This is one of the entrances to the Ming tombs.
Ancient Chinese leaders had elaborate burials and tombs, much like the
Egyptians. |
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Another entrance to the Ming Tombs. |
| A fruit vendor just outside the Ming Tombs. |
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One of the stone figures on the Ming Tombs grounds. |
| Another stone figure on the Ming Tomb grounds. |
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Hats for sale just outside the Ming Tombs. |
| Slippers for sale in the same area. More colors and
more photo opportunities. |
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I saw this fence just outside of Xi'an. This would
definitely discourage anyone trying to climb over. I had not seen
this anywhere else in China, although it was very common in Korea when I
was there 25 years ago. |
| Our guide suggested that we take in the Xi'an opera in the
evening. I was not expecting much, but I was pleasantly
surprised. The dinner of assorted dumplings was outstanding, and the
performance was a mix of Broadway-like dance routines and ancient Chinese
music.
I shot this using 800 Fuji film and my Sigma 70-300 lens. |
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Another opera shot, this time with Fuji 800 film and the
Nikon 50mm 1.4D lens. |
| One more opera shot, using the same equipment as the above
photograph. |
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The Xi'an Incident involved the Communists capturing Chiang Kai Shek at an
ancient hot spring. Chiang, who opposed the Chinese Communists, was
captured here prior to World War II and convinced to side with the
Communists to drive the Japanese out of China. |
| One of the structures in the Xi'an Incident compound. |
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Sue standing beside a rock at the Xi'an Incident compound. |
| A blue bowl alongside one of the buildings. Color was
everywhere in China. |
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A matching red bowl at the other end of the building.
These bowls are about four feet in diameter. |
| An ornate fence in the same compound. |
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Shanghai is one of the most modern cities in the world, and
it is being developed at an incredible pace. Construction cranes are
everywhere; it is estimated that one-fifth of all the construction cranes
in the world are in Shanghai.
This is the Pu Dong financial district. |
| The Oriental Pearl Tower, the tallest radio tower in the
world. We went to the top, and the view was dramatic.
I have a few more photos of and from the
Oriental Pearl Tower below.
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A typical Chinese structure in the Shanghai tourist area. |
| An ancient fire extinguisher on a Shanghai sidewalk. |
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This is the view along Nanjing Road, Shanghai's equivalent
of New York's 5th Avenue. The tall tower in
the background (with the red globes) is the Oriental Pearl Tower, the
tallest radio tower in the world. The street was so colorful during
the day that I knew we had to return in the evening to grab a few night
shots, which we did the next day. |
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You bet. And it was good, too. I had scoops of
Mango sorbet and Cappucino sorbet. Twice. |
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An early evening shot along Nanjing Road, with the 17-35
Sigma. |
| The neon signs were brilliant. I used the 24-120 Nikon
for this one, with 800 Fuji film. |
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Another brilliant neon sign.
Photographing these involved timing, as many of the signs
changed colors and lighting schemes every few seconds.
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| These signs were brilliant. |
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I know, I shot lots of sign pictures, but hey, how often do you
think I get
to Shanghai? |
| A Shanghai toy store. |
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Wow, it's a Chinese Las Vegas. |
| Another sign screaming to be photographed. |
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And yet another.
I used the 24-120 Nikon lens, the 70-300 Sigma lens, and the 17-35
Sigma lens for these shots.
The F5 performed flawlessly with the above lenses and Fuji 800
film. I kept the F5 in the Aperture mode and matrix metering, and I
shot at f8 for all shots with no exposure compensation.
I only used a tripod for a few of the shots.
Every photograph was properly exposed and quite sharp.
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| Another interesting and brilliantly-lit neon sign. |
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Here's a full-sized porcelain figure in one of the stores on
Nanjing Road. |
| Here's a picture taken from a sign advertising Kodak film
along Nanjing Road. Both Kodak and Fuji film were readily available
at about the same prices we have in the U.S. The highest speed
available was 400. No one had 800 film in either Kodak or Fuji, even
in a couple of larger camera stores in Shanghai. |
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Suzhou is considered to be the Chinese Venice. The
town is about and hour and a half away from Shanghai by road, and it
contains many canals.
Our first stop was at a Buddhist temple. |
| Small Buddhas and other figures on display at the Suzhou
Buddhist temple. |
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Buddhists lighting incense in front of the temple. We
visited many temples during our visit to China. |
| A close-up of the incense sticks burning in front of the
Buddhist temple. |
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A little girl protecting herself from the sun in Suzhou.
It was hot. |
| One of our stops included a silk factory, complete with
models displaying the company's products. |
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Here's a quilt for sale by a street vendor. |
| Many of the gardens have elaborate stone patterned
sidewalks. |
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This is the Tiger Hill pagoda.
The lean is not induced by my wide angle lens; the tower actually leans
more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. |
| Here's a tighter shot of the Tiger Hill Pagoda in Suzhou. |
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Sue looking through a door at the gardens below the Tiger
Hill pagoda. |
| One of the many intricate window designs in a Suzhou garden. |
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Some of the windows had elaborate stone grills. This
is one of many designs we encountered in Suzhou's many gardens. |
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Chinese cuisine in China is a bit different than what we
believe Chinese food here in the United States to be. Here's Sue
enjoying lunch at a small restaurant outside Xi'an. |
| This is a new and very large restaurant in Fuzhou. The
food and the service were excellent. I shot this picture with the
17-35 Sigma EX, Fuji 800 film, and available light. |
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When I first walked into the kitchen area of a Chinese
restaurant, I thought for a second I had found my way into a pet
shop. The Chinese people like to see their food alive before it is
cooked, and many people will personally select a living specimen for their
dinner. That seemed strange at first, but after I thought about it,
it did not. My grandmother used to prefer selecting a live chicken
for her dinner. |
| Here's a cool shot of a lobster, with the 50mm EX Sigma
macro lens. |
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Although he appears intimidating, this guy wasn't so tough.
Yep, I ate him.
And he was gooooood. |
| Feel like turtle tonight? |
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Maybe turtle with some snake?
I was asked if I wanted snake.
"What kind?" I asked.
"Cobra."
Sue blanched.
"No, we had cobra last night," I said. |
| Even in China, the Colonel reigns. We only ate there
once. One of our guides told us many Chinese demonstrated brief
anti-American sentiment at these restaurants when we stupidly bombed their
Yugoslavian embassy with a cruise missile. |
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And, of course, our old buddy, Ronald McDonald was
everywhere. We didn't have any while we were in China. |
| The food was one of the more interesting parts of our 12
days in China. We saw such delicacies as snake, frog, turtle, pigeon
(exceptionally good!), sea worm, eel, baby octopus, all kinds of
shellfish, and other exotic fare. One of our friends explained that
in its past, China has had periods of famine, so the Chinese learned to
eat anything edible. The fruit in China was outstanding,
including Dragon Eye, which is a fruit I have never seen or even heard of
here in the United States.
We had almost no western food during our visit. I ate everything
I felt like eating and I actually lost a few pounds, probably because we
walked quite a bit.
The best part was that at my tender young age (I'm almost 50), I
finally learned how to use chopsticks! |
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There are an estimated 1.3 billion people in China.
Bicycles are the predominant form of transportation. I would guess
that more than half the people in China have a bicycle, which would
conservatively indicate that there are more than 500 million bicycles in
China! |
| One of the many brands. This is a 12-speed Forever. |
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Another marque. |
| Ah, yes, the Flying Pigeon. |
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And of course, the Happy Rider. |
| Who wouldn't want a Modern Bike? |
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Something for everyone, I guess... |
| The Chinese have adapted bicycles to every conceivable
purpose. This man appeared to be a street cleaner. We also saw
many other variants of three-wheeled bicycles being used as trucks for
product and other goods. |
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| We had some rain on our trip, which gave us an
opportunity to see how people on bicycles and motorcycles handled the bad
weather. The answers, of course, were obvious....raincoats and
umbrellas. I expected these folks were still getting wet, and a
closer look at the man with the umbrella shows that he is pretty well
soaked. We saw one man come to a screeching halt when his rain
slicker blew back up over his face! The most amazing thing, though,
is that there was no decrease in the number of people on bicycles when it
rained, and that is almost certainly because bicycles are not toys or
discretionary purchases in China. Bicycles are basic
transportation in China, rain or shine. |
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This fellow in Xi'an is riding a 125cc Suzuki. Most Chinese
motorcycles are 250cc or less, with the exception of the BMW clones (more
on this later).
Seeing a motorcycle like this is unusual. Traffic is usually very
dense in the Chinese cities we visited.
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| I saw many marques I had never seen before. Most
are copies of Honda, Yamaha, or Suzuki designs. Fit and finish
appeared to be quite good on the Chinese motorcycles. All were 250cc
or less. |
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The Chinese "Honest" motorcycle. They are
not quite so honest about the size of the engine (see the next photograph). |
| It took me a while to realize what I was looking at.
This is actually a fake engine cover, designed to make the 90cc engine (a
copy of the venerable Honda 90) look like a larger 250cc motorcycle.
Very clever. |
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Wouldn't you like to ride a Cygnus R? |
| Or take the Sundiro out for a spin?
Check out the colors on this motorcycle.
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We saw only one type of large-displacement motorcycle in
China. To my great surprise, there are at least three Chinese
manufacturers still cranking out BMW clones. This model, the 5-Star,
is based on the pre-World War II 750cc flathead BMW. They all have
sidecars.
Our Beijing guide, Wayne, took me to a 5-Star repair shop on our last
day in Beijing.
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| A close-up of the 5-Star engine. This is a copy of the
flathead 750cc BMW engine.
Getting to this shop was quite a feat. Finding it was easy, but
crossing the street was an adventure.
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This
mechanic seems to be enjoying his work, and the fact that a crazy American
with an F5 Nikon wanted to take his picture. |
| Some things are universal. This mudflap was on the
back of a 5-Star twin. The inscription "Live to Ride, Ride to
Live" and the eagle motif is a common addition to Harley-Davidsons
here in the United States. I was surprised to see the same
inscription and plaque on many motorcycles in China. Even the
smaller bikes (125cc and 90cc singles) had similar adornment. |
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Here's another manufacturer's copy of a BMW with a sidecar; this time
with the
OHV 750cc engine. This motorcycle is built by the LongTech company. |
| A LongTech-mounted police officer. Note the OHV
BMW-clone engine. |
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The 250cc Suzuki single is a popular Chinese police bike. |
| A front view of the 250cc Suzuki police motorcycle. |
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The fairing on the 250cc Suzuki police motorcycle.
Curiously, the markings are in English. |
| Lights and sirens on the 250cc Suzuki police motorcycle. |
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Two motor officers on 125cc Xingfu Chinese police
motorcycles. China has a helmet law, but helmet use appears to be
discretionary, even for the police. |
| Another universal observation: Writing a ticket in
Shanghai. I shot this photograph with the 70-300 Sigma on our last
day in China. |
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Motorcycles are everywhere in China. I couldn't resist
grabbing this shot in Xi'an. This photograph, which seems to express
casual elegance on a Chinese motorcycle, shows the common practice of a
female passenger riding sidesaddle. |
| Motorcycles were everywhere, and one of the things that
made their presence interesting is that motorcycles are not toys or
discretionary purchases in China (as they usually are in the United
States). People use them, every day, rain or shine.
This is the only country I have ever visited in which I did not see a
single Harley-Davidson. The motorcyclists I talked to knew all about
Harley-Davidson, but none were around.
And how about those ultra-cool retro BMW clones? Actually, they
were not retro designs, like the Harley Softails are over here.
These are motorcycle designs that have been in production, essentially
unchanged, for more than 60 years! I couldn't believe what I was
seeing when I looked at those things. They are magnificent. I
asked what they cost. You motorcycling enthusiasts better sit down
before you read this. Brand new, and depending on the model, they
range from $1,500 to $4,000! Wow! Wouldn't it be great to fly
over there, buy a new one with a sidecar, ride around China for two
months, and just give it away?
Driving in China is, well, different. Friendly chaos is the best
way to describe it. As nearly as I could determine, a double yellow
line means nothing. Our guides routinely passed cars and motorcycles
over double yellow lines, even when there was oncoming traffic. The
general sense of things seems to be that if there is enough room for an
oncoming car to move over without nailing a pedestrian, a bicycle, someone
on a motorcycle, or another car, they just go. The amazing thing is
that other vehicles simply move over to make room, and no one seems to get
mad at anyone else. Blind corners on mountain roads? Hey,
that's what horns are for! Following distances could be measured in
centimeters, not car lengths. Driving that way in southern
California would probably result in lots of obscene gestures and more
than a few bullets flying around. In China, it's just the way things
are.
After my first few moments in Chinese traffic, I expected that every
other building would be an emergency ward or an auto body shop, but I saw
neither, and we saw only two minor fender benders during the entire 12
days we were there. I see that many accidents in southern California
just going to work in the morning! |
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