Something I have come to enjoy is discerning the order in the seemingly free for all chaos on the roads here in Xiamen. The best vantage point to do this is from the front seat of the bus, opposite the driver. I will take some pictures next time to show what I mean as there is a quite different etiquette and system of priorities on the roads here than there is in the UK.
Last night I had another Chinese driving experience, this time viewed from the front seat of a car. A taxi driver in front of us halted abruptly without warning almost causing an accident. The driver beside me was quick enough to brake and avoided going into the back of the taxi. “Chinese drivers” my driver commented in frustration and resignation as we accelerated away and got moving again. Not a minute later the situation was reversed with my driver slamming on the brakes, bringing us to a halt, having spotted our destination on a side street to our right. We made a tight turn, this time without comment, drove up the slope and arrived.
Reflecting on this afterwards my first thought was that this was plain hypocrisy but that quickly gave way to the sense that as a driver you practically have to drive in such a way or else you are not comprehensible to the other drivers. An excess of deference would prove confusing and liable to cause problems. I believe the frustration that I detected came more from a sense that these were the rules of the road not from the particular actions of that one taxi driver, though I am not sure my driver would have expressed it quite this way.
Yesterday I also went out looking for verbs. Without being much more specific than that I made a list of things people do here that somehow identify me, either directly or indirectly. I may try to see how I can work these into the translated texts. Whilst out walking I also came across two outdoor performing sites. It may be worth seeing if either of these could be used to do a very public performance.
I’m reading a book by Yu Dan that is a popular contemporary interpretation of Confucius. It is adapted for her TV series which was a big hit here. While I see quite a variation between what is outwardly happening in China and the principles she outlines, in much the same way one can say the same about the West and Christianity, I can also see how these principles remain part of a commentary that shapes what is taking place and how people relate to it. I’m not sure quite what to do with this information yet, I’m still absorbing, but it does help explain a few things.
One thing that I have not had very well explained to me is significance of the twelve animal years. I get dribs and drabs from people here and there but it doesn’t add up to a coherent system yet. That said, what ever it does mean, it is practically impossible to not notice that we are now entering a rabbit year as there are rabbits literally everywhere I look. At first I regarded the cartoon boy and girl rabbits as simply kitsch ornamentation but the sheer volume and variety of them has forced me to look at them again. Additionally, not only are there rabbits everywhere I realised that pretty much everyone has put up red paper banners around their doors. It is simply the done thing. The apartment was becoming conspicuous on account of its absence of a banner so, to not play the Westerner too overtly, I decided to embrace this new Chinese year by getting a couple of rabbits and the red banners too and I put them up on the wall and around the door frame. The front door now looks much the same as that of my neighbours. While I’m not willing and fortunately not obliged to drive a car ‘Xiamen style’ in order to integrate myself into the life here, I am amused by my two new rabbit friends up on the wall. Who knows, maybe they will bring me good luck.
In any case, I feel I can now properly say HAPPY NEW YEAR!
