Happy America Day

7/4/12

Happy America Day Everyone.  What a great day, especially when you are in China.  Today the police confiscated my motorbike.  Driving through the traffic circle I pass through daily to and from my house I was stopped for the second or third time, but apparently today would be different. 

            For the last couple weeks I have been wondering why there was flatbed loaded with motorbikes often parked at the intersection.  At first it seemed they were stopping motorbikes without plates, but never once did I see anyone actually in the process of being stopped.  Just a truck with 5 or 6 bikes loaded.  Second thought was they were abandoned bikes.  You seem them everywhere, although that didn’t make sense either as there couldn’t be that many abandoned bikes to be removed from the same place on a weekly basis.  But since they never bothered me I kept on going about my business and like many strange occurrences in China, I didn’t worry about it.

            Today there were a little more of a police presence than usual, but I had been driving through them for months, I figured they were regulating traffic.  And in a sense they were, but not what I was expecting.  Gasoline powered motorbikes (and maybe electric, not sure) are required to be licensed.  However, to my knowledge obtaining a license plate is difficult, if not impossible.  On top of that the retail shops will assure that it is not important and given the number of bikes without license plates I got the sense that was the case.  So, I bought my bike and proceeded to operate it in ignorant bliss. 

            Of course I had heard stories of other foreigners losing their bikes.  My friend this or I heard about x losing their bike, blah blah blah.  Apparently it does happen for real.  After being stopped I decided to go with the “I don’t speak Chinese” routine.  Sometimes it works, got me out of a traffic checkpoint in Nepal and a few times in other parts of China.  But not on America’s birthday.  I pretty much knew the process but thought I would play it out anyway and see if I would get lucky… nope.  After a brief phone call to a Chinese friend to get details on the process I was told that I could get the bike back if; 1) I get my US drivers license translated to Chinese, 2) get a motorbike license, 3) get license plates for Wuhan and maybe something more.  A few days before I had gotten a quote for the sale of my bike, 700-900 RMB.  The process to get it back, besides time, would most likely cost equal or greater than my expected sale price.  All in all, I could probably go by a new one for cheaper.  So fuck it.  5 weeks to the day, not that I’m counting, until I head back to the states.  I can get by on my bicycle.  Plus I have been telling myself that I need more saddle time to prepare for my trip.  What a golden opportunity.

            The one problem that I have with this is this policy, like others, actively encourages people to break the rules.  From applying concepts of learned needs theory, behavior modeling, and a look at the positive and negative reinforcement mechanisms at work in China, you are encouraged to break the rules. 

            Today I decided to stop at the checkpoint.  I most likely could have zigzagged past the cop and been on my way, I saw several other people do that and they got by scot-free.  Yet, beyond today’s particular experience, rules are regularly flaunted or ignored.  Routinely people smoke in front of non-smoking signs.  Traffic violations can be counted as infractions per minute when sitting at intersection. (The last time I did this I got to about 12-15 per minute.  Ranging from running red lights, turning left in no turn area, turning left from the right lane or vice versa, not to mention the almost obligatory blocking of an intersection at every change in the light).  Queuing to buy train tickets is foolish as everyone else will just walk in front of you and get theirs first.  Across the board you are practically required to break the rules if you want to get anything accomplished.  This applies to all people.  Police and government vehicles are regularly seen breaking traffic rules.  I was told by one person that one reason that traffic rules are not enforced is because the police and government officials can break them with impunity it could potentially cause social unrest to enforce the rules on the rest of society while the authorities are free to do as they please.

            Another recent example of encouraged rule breaking happened last week.  Several women (mothers/grandmothers) with their young children were at traffic light.  The light was red and sign said don’t walk.  The mothers proceeded to walk through, however, one child stopped.  He didn’t want to go.  He told his mother, the sign says no, and stood fast.  His mother, dragging him along, reassured him it was ok and to keep going.  A couple weeks before this I witnessed a serious motorbike on car, accident at this corner.  The driver of the motorbike was seriously hurt, and to me looked dead.  Now a couple of weeks later a mother is encouraging her child to ignore the same signal the motorist did.  I am sure that child will quickly learn to not be so foolish as to wait at red lights when he has places to go.

            The behaviors that Chinese people as a whole can acknowledge are detrimental are routinely encouraged, if not required, if you want to get anything done in a timely fashion.  One of the reasons people in the US get so outrage at police abuse of power is that they are the guardians, the examples of the law that others can look for proper behavior (at least while on duty).  In China, this is not the case.  People readily acknowledge that the police are just as guilty of rule breaking as everyone else.  It is the modus operandi.  While in the States I may feel that way, in China I can see it daily. 

            I can now say that I have had the lesson properly reinforced.  The next time the police ask me to stop I know I should keep going as fast as I can.   Get away, get away, get away and everything will be ok.  Because they just don’t care enough to pursue.  And tomorrow they probably wont care about whatever it was today.  Thank you China for that useful lesson in dealing with the PSB.  Happy birthday America.