A Civilizing Society

Whilst walking around downtown Beijing last weekend, I was approached by a volunteer from the People's University (considered Beijing's #3 school). She was conducting a survey on behalf of the government in order to collect different viewpoints from expats concerning the lack of "civilized behavior and common courtesy" in Beijing . This is a hopeful sign. Like any good rehabilitation program, admitting that you have a problem is the first step. Unfortunately, Beijing has been on step one for a long time now.

Its not like the government isn't trying either. They have blanketed the city with billboards, posters, and TV commercials advocating wenming (civility) and advising citizens on what is socially unacceptable. In the buses and subways , loud monitors endlessly play propaganda geared towards creating what they call a harmonious society. Even when I stand in front of urinals, I often practice my Chinese by reading rhymes on the wall that translate into "Its a small step forward for you, but a large step forward for civility." Every time I go into a restroom in Beijing, I feel like I have just been to the moon. However, it seems that Beijing's laobaixing, or common person is just to damn resilient. I love Beijing in so many ways but if Beijingers could improve in 3 basic areas, the quality of life and the attractiveness of this city could skyrocket up.

One, no discharging of any fluids or bodily waste in public places. This one is a no brainer and a civilization that wants to be taken seriously should not act like their pets. This means no spitting (I very very common habit among Chinese people), no loogeys, no snot rockets, no urinating, no excreting, no ejaculating (an unrepeatable story), no cutting fingernails in restaurants, no picking at ear wax, and no holding babies out so they can pee out large slits in their pants. If I was a betting man, the person that brings affordable and environmentally friendly diapers to China will become extremely rich.

Two, be courteous to your fellow citizen and respect the need for order. Please let people off the subway, bus, and elevator before getting on - everyday I get smacked, elbowed, or pushed on my way to work. I understand that Beijing is crowded and that there are many people going in all directions at once, but common courtesy is essential to sustain an enjoyable and orderly existence among millions of people. I long for the day to see people waiting in lines at the ticket counter at the Beijing railway station, not lighting cigarettes on the way up escalators at subway stations, and, god forbid, acting to help someone else. During Mao's Communist rule, the Chinese people were often condemned for helping the wrong people or put under suspicion for even expressing reasonable human compassion for the well-being of a suspected rightist. It seems that even three decades later, people are still scared to help strangers and still take part in cowardly behavior. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a beating or someone fall off their motorcycle while a crowd of curious spectators surround the scene yet fail to be of any assistance. They would sooner let a cyclist bleed to death or let a poor beggar get beaten to a pulp before intervening. Unfortunately, heroism is not a common trait obtained by those living in socially oppressive regimes that stifle individual thought and action.

Three, oh boy, how I could talk forever about this one - Road Etiquette. Here is a short list of no-nos that Chinese drivers should try to remember: Don't run through red lights, Don't turn off your headlights at night to save electricity, Don't speed down the bike lanes, Don't block the box, Don't switch lanes without signalling, Don't try passing long lines of traffic in the middle of the city, Don't honk your horn at everything you see, Don't cut other cars off, and Don't stop in the middle of the highway because of a little fender bender (I have recently learned that insurance companies need a cop to see the exact scene of the accident no write a valid report - how crazy is that) . Anybody who has been to Beijing knows that the driving skills are lacking and that the main reason for bad traffic is not because there are roughly 3.5 million drivers in the city (of course less would be bettter), but because more than half of these drivers do not abide by the rules of the road. Imagine New York, but every driver is 16 and drunk and driving an loud swirving ambulance... that's what it looks like on some streets in Beijing. The lack of driving experience (since many just started driving recently) and traffic citations (I have never seen anybody get pulled overed) in Beijing are the main reasons traffic is often at a crawl, regardless of what time of day it is. The DMV in Beijing must instate mandatory drivers Ed and the traffic police need to do more than stand in the middle of intersections, yelling at pedestrians for not yielding to cars even when they have the right of way. The whole system is a mess, and everybody knows it, but without more education and stiffer enforcement of the rules, Beijing traffic is doomed.


I am sure that if the citizens of Beijing and the forces that be focused on these 3 vital areas of "civility" before the Olympics, the whole world will be pleased to see how far China has come not just as an economy but also as a society, otherwise Beijingers will leave a lasting impression off barbarianism in the millions of visitors expected to attend in 2008.