I went out last night for a catchup with Louis, a friend who I met when I had only just got to Beijing and who is in the same situation as me (both studying Chinese on our year abroad). We went for a meal together and then decided to head out to a bar he was familiar with at 鼓楼 (Drum Tower) later on.
Anyway, on our stroll back to his house in the heart of Beijing’s windy hutong labyrinth, we came across a massive crowd of people surrounding a car and a police motorbike and a person sitting on the ground. It is custom in China that if anything (a fight, an argument, an accident) happens on the street, instead of minding your own business, you must head over to find out what happened so you can spread the gossip when you get back home. Hence, me and Louis headed over and decided to put our Chinese listening skills to the test.
Strangely enough, when we joined the crowd, the policeman seemed to be ‘haggling’ with the Chinese man sitting on the ground (by the looks and sounds of things a migrant worker from China’s poorer provinces). The policemen was basically saying - whats the least you are willing to take? At first we were not quite sure what sort of transaction was going on here (a bribe maybe?) so we listened on. Eventually, it became clear that the guy who was sitting on the ground had been shunted by the shiny black Audi which was parked nearby and that the Policemen was trying to settle things on the spot by getting the Audi driver to pay some compensation (no doubt for medical fees) to the unfortunate pedestrian. We couldn’t make out much of what the migrant worker was saying due to his strong dialect (and by the looks of things neither could the policeman for that matter) but it became clear that he wanted at least 800 yuan compensation.
The policeman then turned to the Audi driver who said that he refused to pay anything at all, and that even if he was willing to pay compensation he didn’t have the money (it was a very very shiny black audi and the driver was wearing a clean suit and shiny leather shoes, me and Louis glanced at each other in disbelief). Eventually, after threatening the Audi driver with taking the matter to court, the policeman managed to get him to hand over 200 yuan which was given to the pedestrian who had been knocked down. The Audi driver drove off, the policeman hopped onto his motorbike and rode off and the man on the ground got up and hobbled off down one of the nearby hutongs. That was the end of the matter… fullstop!
No insurance details exchanged, no telephone numbers swapped, no trip to the local police station, no identity checks, no names taken. Me and Louis were astounded about how the matter was dealt with compared with what might have happened in the UK or elsewhere. This is the first time I’ve come across something like this in China - I’m not sure if it’s the standard procedure or whether the policeman was just in a hurry to get off duty and have some kebabs and a few beers - but its certainly something to be concerned about with the Olympic Games just a couple of months around the corner.
Since I have been here in Beijing (7 months maybe now?) the traffic has got worse and worse. To go anywhere in the city during morning and evening rush hours is a real nightmare. The figures are quite frightening too - I remember reading somewhere that 1000 new cars are bought every day here, furthermore, even as far back as 2005 the city had already become the worlds number one motor vehicle exhaust producer- I really am quite puzzled about how the government plans to tackle this growing problem.
Over the last couple of decades the Chinese have been busily building roads here to deal with Beijing’s rapid growth. First there were the first and second ring roads, then came the third ring road, now there is also a fourth and fifth ring road circling the capital - and plenty of cars, buses, lorries and taxis circling around them too. Due to the city’s subway system being very limited (although this is changing with the arrival of the 2008 Olympics) and the city’s bus system being rather crowded and slow, plus the fact that many Beijing residents now have some spare cash lying around thanks to the Country’s rapid economic growth, many people are now buying their own cars to get around the city. I think this also has its roots in Chinese culture - men here love to flaunt their money around and buying a car is a sure-fire way of doing this.
Whilst every day more and more people are able to afford to run a car in the capital, the construction of new roads is on the contrary quite limited. Soon, traffic will be at bursting point; to the extent that going anywhere in your own car will be no quicker than going via taxi or bus - although the journey will be much more comfortable. I can only hope that the roads will get so clogged that the government will be forced to take some proper action - such as improving its bus service, introducing congestion charging fees or toll gates and expanding its subway system to new parts of the city.
Meanwhile, despite some changes to public transport here (reduces in bus and subway charges and two new subway lines) Beijing will continue to be the polluted city it is for some time.
Jono
