Just a quick update for those of you who may have heard about the large Earthquake in Sichuan and the smaller earthquake near Beijing which happened today at 2:28pm.

I’m completely fine and to be honest - if it wasn’t for the news i would not even know that an earthquake had happened. In fact, at the time I believe I was shopping underground in the cash and carry so maybe thats why I didn’t feel much.

Anyway, thanks for the emails and phone calls from those people who were concerned. The above picture shows some of the damage that the earthquake has caused in Sichuan - however, as far as I know there has been no damage in Beijing.

A card that I received through the post today reminded me that its my birthday…

Only kidding! I hadn’t forgotten - although I must say that despite being another year older and no longer able to call myself a teenager I can’t say that much has changed overnight. Oh and for those of you who don’t know… I’m now 20 years old!

Thank you Nain for this splendid birthday card with the Welsh dragon - which goes nicely with the Welsh dragon fridge magnet you sent!

Okay… so we had two really hot days on Thursday and Friday, both topping at about 30°C, so I guess this is punishment today! Don’t think I’ll be going climbing any mountains as was originally planned… sigh.

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.