Today's walk was particularly interesting. I was running late and was still on the street at 9:15am. It struck me that there were a lot more people than usual waiting at the bus stop when, all of a sudden, what I believe is called "Mandopop" began blaring from a speaker and half of the "passengers" broke into dance. When I got closer, I realized they were actually the hair salon employees doing a little calisthenic warm-up to start their day. Although they didn't bring quiiite as much energy as these Korean girls, the music was about the same, and their hand motions were not so dissimilar from the front girl's at 0:14:
After that excitement, I was surprised to witness my first display of violence in China: a security guard was holding back one man who looked like he wanted break another guy's neck. It seemed like a typical bar-brawl scenario, only at 9 in the morning. The scuffle drew a sizable crowd of gawkers, leading me to believe that this sort of thing is unusual - I've never seen any violent behavior or felt remotely unsafe on the street* at any time of day or night. Here's hoping it stays that way :-)
*At least not from violence. I have witnessed a hit-and-run accident from which I was advised to walk away quickly. Apparently westerners are often blamed for incidents that don't involve them, especially when they try to help, because there's a chance the victim will get more restitution money than from a native Chinese.
No comments:
Post a Comment