Until recently, I didn't understand why China could enforce some things (especially things related to politics) and not others. I just figured that the government didn't want anyone talking bad about them because they were Communists. While I was partly correct, I have since learned that there is much more that goes into this phenomenon that just a government decision.
First of all, China is huge. Not only does it control a land mass larger than the United States, it also has one billion more people to manage. With such a spread, the power-house of a central government has no choice but to be strict. Beijing can't have people out in Xinjiang or Guangdong starting revolts because it will immediately throw the surrounding areas into turmoil, and because these places are so far away from Beijing, the most effective choice from a governing standpoint is to have hefty consequences in place. At the same time, there is only so much a central government can do as far as enforcement, and how traffic laws are obeyed is a relatively negligible problem, so enforcement is a little lax there.
This kind of situation makes me think of Chinese classrooms. The average Chinese elementary school class has about forty students to one teacher, so it's easy for things to get hectic really fast. Therefore, Chinese teachers have to assert their dominance by yelling a lot and asserting harsh punishments -- some of the time, that is. There are always going to be a few students goofing around in the back of the classroom, and if the teacher constantly has their hands tied trying to get them to pay attention, nothing will ever get taught. I'm not sure if teachers learned from the government, or the government from teachers, or if this is just human nature, but there is certainly a strong connection between the two instances.
Second of all, a lot of Chinese roads are simply not designed very well. Sometimes the design flaws exist just because the roads are old and weren't originally designed for large vehicles. This is the case with most neighborhoods, especially traditional neighborhoods like where I'm living right now. However, other roads were built in just the past few years, but they still have issues. This isn't because Chinese people aren't smart. I assume it mostly stems from the fact that Chinese engineering and construction is often more concerned with speed than quality. I imagine that if the Chinese were in charge of working on I-15, it would have been done on time, but it would likely need more work in the near future.
Lastly, parking lots are not really a thing here. Garages are also a rarity. As a result, the millions of cars owned by the billions of Chinese people are mostly parked on the roads. This is mainly an issue on smaller streets, such as the ones near my current apartment. Every road in my area is lined with cars, leaving barely enough room for one car to squeeze past. This makes walking extremely frustrating, as you have to stop and let cars past frequently. Parking on these streets is usually illegal, but nobody gets ticketed for it, so it becomes acceptable.
In short, don't come to China expecting to see smooth-flowing traffic. The number of red lights being run on a consistent basis is terrifying, and tasks as simple as making the six-minute walk home from campus turn into huge headaches. In fact, I had an interesting bit of insight the other day: one other reason that the strait and narrow path that Christ spoke of is so difficult to walk just might be because there is a little blue truck completely blocking the road in front of you while electric scooters honk at you from the back. Hopefully the traffic conditions will be a bit better once we reach our eternal destination.
-小强
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| Chinese traffic law enforcement in a nutshell. |
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