Fiesty foreigner in Beijing

[yonitabonita]

Hey folks,

I just read this story about a foreign woman that took on a driver driving in the cycle lane in Beijing.

http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20061027_1.htm

I read it and said 'woo hoo' out loud. I couldn't resist not posting it. So for those of you who haven't read the story (or seen the photos), it'll only take 2 minutes.

This woman is my hero today. Gutsy woman, I salute you!

Y

[Crivens200]

Haha. Cool.

That's one told . . . . . only 1.5 billion more to educate Good luck!

[yonitabonita]

This story reminded me of the dilemma I often face when I'm in a country not my own. In the face of what I regard to be really bad civics, do you say anything?

When I'm at home in Australia, I have no qualms being unpopular. I tell people to pick up their cigarette butts, left over food packages etc when I see littering in action. I tell people not to smoke where they're not supposed to be smoking. And if anyone jumps the queue ahead of me, they'll be knowing about it.

But should you be this assertive when you're overseas in someone else's country trying to blend in as much as possible? Or do you take the global citizen stance? It's MY earth/air/space/etc you're polluting too!

I've been choosing my battles. Last semester at the BLCU, I became the "anti-smoking bitch" ever since I battled with a group of students smoking in the university corridors just in front of the 'no smoking' sign.

Most public buses in Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai and Guizhou seemed to have no smoking signs in them. Despite this, hoards of men (yes they always seemed to be) would light up. On every one of those journeys, I told smokers that smoking would make me vomit and tried to be really nice about asking them not to smoke. Sometimes they would, sometimes they wouldn't. But I wondered if they were thinking 'stupid interfering Chinese/ foreigner'. At any rate, I was always so bothered by the smoke that I didn't really care. But somewhere there, I felt pretty bad for not being more relaxed, more tolerant, less vocal.

Ditto for queues. Whenever anyone in China jumps in, I always ask them to join the queue. It's good for everyone right? Once a guy told me he didn't want to. So, I put others in the queue ahead of us on the spot by asking them if they thought he should join the queue. After 3 people said they thought he should join the queue, Mr Ashamed just left muttering something about waiguoren minding their own business.

So should foreigners mind their own business? Should we be leaving it up to local people to decide what's good/bad for their own society?

God I'd better stop here. It's sounding like an essay topic.

I'd be interested to hear your responses folks!

Y

[Shadowdh]

I would totally be an advocate of the no smoking thing... but remember to pick you moment as if you came across the wrong type you could end up with alot worse than "waiguoren mind their own business..."...

[imron]

I say go for it. If no-one enforces things, nothing will change. Kudos to the woman in that story. She's my new hero

Many Chinese love saying to "mind your own business", but if someone's smoking near me then it is *my* business, because I don't want to breathe second hand smoke. Likewise for queue-jumping/littering. It affects me, so it is my business. As a bonus, being a foreigner who speaks a reasonable amount of Chinese, I find it's much easier to get a response, or if necessary, shame the person into submission, than compared to native Chinese making the same request.

[smalltownfart]

I'm really disappointed no one came to her aid. I would have liked to give this fatso a wedgie.

[owen]

I like it as well but i'm not sure i would have taken it as far as it appears she did. I thought the first two pictures looked effective but after that it looks a little severe. Rules are good but i sure wouldn't want china to become canada. Rules to choke on here.

Incidentally, i was listening to chinesepod the other day and the host was talking about the top 5 things that annoy chinese about foreigners and one of them was that we are too obsessed with rules. Might be some truth in it.

I'm also surprised no one came to break it up.

[babygodzilla]

i would like to shake this woman's hands, maybe even a little hug. finally someone standing up to impolite people.

i think someone should also teach Chinese people on ethics of peeing and pooping. i have a very bad experience with this, but maybe its a story for another day since i tried posting it here once and it didnt make the cut...

[bianfuxia]

Well, we waiguoren might be a bit obsessed by rules - or at least people blatantly and anti-socially breaking them right under the signs that propound them!

But I can't agree that this woman went too far.

She took a stand against cars driving dangerously in cycle lanes. I've seen several bleeding and dead bodies on Chinese streets as a direct result of this.

The guy - a lot bigger than this woman - is the one who came and assaulted her. Perhaps he in fact is the one who took it too far? If he'd said, "well, I guess you're right, I shouldn't drive my car down the bicycle lane", that would have been the ideal resolution. If she'd backed down in the face of his violence, and he'd driven past as she picked up her bike that he'd thrown on the ground, how would that have been a positive resolution? The Rule of the Biggest and Most Powerful Regardless of the Law. Just another day in China, no?

For me, nationalities aside, the incident is a classic example of peaceful protest by someone weak facing down aggressive behaviour by someone more powerful. Faced by her quiet and good natured protest, standing up for what is right, he used violence (ok not much, but still, grabbed her bike and reportedtly threatened her), and he was faced down.

Reminds me of other events...

In my book she is a star. If more people quietly stood up for their rights in this world (and dare I say "this country"?) perhaps things would be a bit different.

[Hero Doug]

Yeah I like the story a lot. I'll say she for sure she has some,,,gull. As more and more foreigners come here more and more foreigners will do this kind of stuff, hopefully the Chinese who watch this kind of stuff will also learn (hopefully) peaceful ways to correct rude/dangerous behaviour.

I tell you there's been many times when someone has done something like cut in line and I've wanted to say something, but the best I could muster is "uhhh". Sad times.

[HashiriKata]

Scenes like this make my blood boil. As long as they're from a Western country, even the dumbest think that they're clever enough and are licensed to teach anyone anywhere!

[roddy]

Scenes like this make my blood boil.

Must have a very low boiling point - it's a bike lane, they're cars. Hardly rocket science.

[heifeng]

I've seen a similar encounter out here with a pair of CHINESE senior citizens (one pushing the other in a wheel chair) practically going head to head with a car which was doing something ridiculous and completely blocking their pathway....maybe this would have made for an even more interesting and convincing picture and showed that SOME drivers have zero respect for the law or safety of others on the road (sidewalk, parking lot...etc....)

[roddy]

Nothing scarier than an angry Chinese granny, I reckon. Or any angry granny!

Frankly if more people did stuff like that the city would rapidly become a much nicer (not to mention safer) place to live. Matters not what passport they carry. I shall try to remind myself of this fact next time I find myself turning a blind eye to dodgy driving, queue jumping, non-smoking area smoking and bar touts. Long live the spirit of angry grannies!

[HashiriKata]

Must have a very low boiling point

You have no idea Roddy, but I'm still a saint!

[Hero Doug]

As long as they're from a Western country, even the dumbest think that they're clever enough and are licensed to teach anyone anywhere!

I can't agree totally with this attitude. There are some thing's that are universal and transcend culture.

Breaking the law and endangering people (the car incident), jumping ahead in line, smoking, etc, all bother Chinese people I have talked to (about the subject). There (Chinese) all taught the same morals were taught, why are we turning a blind eye to the few people that don't follow them? Especially when it's putting youself in danger, or day I say, peril?

[yonitabonita]

Scenes like this make my blood boil. As long as they're from a Western country, even the dumbest think that they're clever enough and are licensed to teach anyone anywhere!

I'd be interested to know what exactly you find so outrageous hashirikata.

Y

[bianfuxia]

Scenes like this make my blood boil. As long as they're from a Western country, even the dumbest think that they're clever enough and are licensed to teach anyone anywhere!

Um, dude, how do you know she's dumb? I think the fact she is Western is what got her in the news. Beyond that, it's irrelevant to the narrative. Like others say, Chinese people take a stand too from time to time.

I can't really understand why you oppose a weak law-abiding person succeeding in a peaceful protest against the clear wrong-doing of a person who thought he could get away with breaking the law by pushing said weak person around.

Perhaps there's something I'm missing in my obviously white-euro-crypto-colonialist interpretation of events?

[wushijiao]

I can't agree totally with this attitude. There are some thing's that are universal and transcend culture.

Breaking the law and endangering people (the car incident), jumping ahead in line, smoking, etc, all bother Chinese people I have talked to (about the subject).

That's right. There isn't much of a cultural ascpect to these issues if the government and society of the host country are trying to eliminate these behaviors. This guy is a jackass, who clearly disobeyed Chinese law, putting bikers at risk. Cars in bike lanes also force the bikes to the sidewalks, which interferes with pedestrain movement and any businesses on the street.

[zhwj]

As long as they're from a Western country, even the dumbest think that they're clever enough and are licensed to teach anyone anywhere!

Coincidentally, the day after these photos appeared, I watched a Chinese TV show that featured the program host standing at a bus stop blocking people from crossing the road at street-level and instead directing them to the pedestrian bridge.