Streets of Xiangtan

Take several million people and add bicycles, rickshaws, wagons, mopeds, moto-taxis, cars and buses then subtract all common sense, courtesy for others and a general regard for human life and what does that equal? A typical street in China.

At the beginning of the semester I had a lot of students ask me what the first difference I noticed between the States and China and I told them all it was the driving! My first taxi ride was de ja vu for when I rode the “Indiana Jones Ride” at Disneyland: jerky, fast, and death defying. Taxi rides are not something for the faint of heart. They all seem to be in the biggest hurry of their lives. I would estimate that about 40% of any given taxi ride is spent driving into oncoming traffic. They are very skilled drivers, but I think they need to relax a little bit! They feel like they must pass each and every vehicle ahead of them, even if it’s only to stop at a red light right after (that is, if they feel like stopping) so swerving in and out of lanes ends up maybe saving them a mere one or two seconds. By force of habit whenever I sit shotgun I immediately put on my seatbelt. Well, on a particular taxi ride we took a month or so ago I ended up riding shotgun and therefore proceeded to buckle up. Believe it or not the taxi driver actually got angry at me and made me take it off! I was pretty annoyed about this and Doug translated the taxi driver told me it was for my safety! How about staying on the right side of the road for my safety and I’ll worry about my seatbelt, thank you very much. Taxis in our city are mint green (like Winto). Other cities have different color taxis- navy blue/yellow is a common one and another city I saw had pink taxis.

I know that they do have driving laws, but enforcing them is another story! I’ve been in several taxis where the driver will honk relentlessly at police car to move out of the way! I think China is the reason that those little handles above the windows were created for passengers. Surprisingly enough, I have not seen very many accidents here. Intersections can be pretty intense. Everyone feels like it is their right to go first so traffic jams are not uncommon.  Crossing the street in a so-called crosswalk is a complete joke. It’s a free for all no matter if the little green man on the streetlight is telling you to go or not. It is very scary. Doug and I are still really timid when we cross the street; we’re aware that we just need to “go for it” but that’s easier said than done most of the time.

Another thing that we will never completely adjust to is the chronic honking. In our culture a horn honk is offensive. So offensive that we’ll be upset for hours after if a honk was directed at us and we feel the honk was undeserving.  I remember only hearing a honk on a rare occasion. Well, in China, honking is just a warning that someone is behind you and is not going to stop or slow down so you better get your butt out of the way! (Doug is convinced drivers use it as a form of echo-location much like dolphins do in the ocean.) Doesn’t matter if you’re crossing the street down town, fighting your way through Lianjin (food street) or walking on a shady little nature path on campus- you are never rid of the potential motor vehicle honking behind you. The problem is, most of the drivers take it a step too far and by force of habit just honk! honk! honk! honk! even if no one is remotely close to them. When I first got here I was constantly getting upset at getting honked at or turning to see if I knew the person so I could wave, only to find a car coming full speed at me; disappointing at best. I can’t emphasize enough the word constant honking. At least it doesn’t startle us anymore.

There are a lot of modes of transportation here, as mentioned above. Taking the bus only costs 1 Yuan ($.15)! Moto-taxis are all over the place. It’s not uncommon to see three or even four people crammed on a moto! Mopeds are the same story. We’ll see entire families crammed on one. Dad driving, mom texting with two kids smashed between. The women often side-saddle when taking a moto-taxi, which I find silly because they are already risking their life getting on a moto, why make it more dangerous? (Note: I’ve taken moto-taxis before and would never side saddle!) I think my small-town upbringing makes me a little uptight about safety.

Bicycles are really common too, but slowly being overtaken by mopeds.

Streets are always covered with street vendors selling anything and everything. They bring their goods out by basket, rolled in blankets or in the bicycle-cart-things.

Every night the women come out to dance. They take it very seriously- whenever I see them, no one is really smiling, instead just concentrating very hard. I think it’s China’s version of “Zoomba”.  These women gather all over the place around town and campus. Not just in Xiangtan but lots of other cities we’ve been in too. It’s pretty entertaining to watch.

There are some streets that are pretty desolate and depressing to walk around close to our campus. Sometimes we’ll go over there to play pool or just explore.