First- I love the image, Alan.
Second- even in Shanghai the progress of China isn't as fantastic as the media leads us to believe- well, not down at the "common people level."
The main difference from 30 years ago seems to be more motor scooters and fewer bicycles.
Charlie
Charlie Shugart wrote:
First- I love the image, Alan.
Second- even in Shanghai the progress of China isn't as fantastic as the media leads us to believe- well, not down at the "common people level."
The main difference from 30 years ago seems to be more motor scooters and fewer bicycles.
Charlie
First, excellent image. These makeshift repair centers for bikes/scooters are everywhere. There's one outside my house. The guy is there when I wake up in the morning (5am) and there when I get home from work (6pm). Amazing.
Second, walking in Shanghai (like most Chinese cities) is a REAL pain due to these scooters. The drivers think nothing about driving down the side walk, blaring their horns telling pedestrians to get out of the way. Also, most scooters are battery powered so without the horn, they are totally silent. Being a pedestrian in China is an awful experience.
Charlie Shugart wrote:
First- I love the image, Alan.
Second- even in Shanghai the progress of China isn't as fantastic as the media leads us to believe- well, not down at the "common people level."
The main difference from 30 years ago seems to be more motor scooters and fewer bicycles.
Charlie
Your right Charlie, although China is evolving at a fantastic rate, the old China remains.
rattymouse wrote:
First, excellent image. These makeshift repair centers for bikes/scooters are everywhere. There's one outside my house. The guy is there when I wake up in the morning (5am) and there when I get home from work (6pm). Amazing.
Second, walking in Shanghai (like most Chinese cities) is a REAL pain due to these scooters. The drivers think nothing about driving down the side walk, blaring their horns telling pedestrians to get out of the way. Also, most scooters are battery powered so without the horn, they are totally silent. Being a pedestrian in China is an awful experience.
Thanks Ratty, you're right about the scooters, I nearly got knocked over several times
Alan
May 18, 2013 at 06:00 AM
Charlie Shugart Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
Alan Young wrote:
Thanks Ratty, you're right about the scooters, I nearly got knocked over several times
Alan
Alan,
When I visited China about 25 years ago (I was a tour guide on seven tours to China), several guides mentioned that there were almost NO private car owners. And I saw very few motor scooters.
People walked, rode bicycles, and took buses.
The only motorized traffic were buses and trucks, and the (very) occasional tourist hotel taxi.
Rarely, a car would speed down the road with horn blasting people out of the way. There were always high government officials in the back seats of large black cars (many made in the USSR).
At the time, China made few cars, and they were crapmobiles. They didn't import Japanese cars- and the Korean auto industry was still in its primitive stage- so none of those either.
My overall interpretation at the time was that 99% of the Chinese people had never even been IN a car, much less own or drive one (average income was $30 a month- for all lines of work).
Fast forward to 2013: there are millions of car owners, and more millions of motor scooter owners.
Question: where did they learn to drive?
Answer: according to the up-to-date impressions I get from Alan and Ratty, they never have.
So- many thanks to you both for all the update pics and info.
I love this stuff!
Charlie
Since moving to China, I have been hit by a car FOUR times. Mild hits mind you, ones that I saw coming and out of personal stubbornness, LET them hit me (really just glorified rubs), but still, the drivers in their infinite stupidity, would rather hit me than wait the 3 seconds it would take for me to cross (with the light) the street.
Needless to say, I have never been hit by a car in the US.
Charlie- Today in Shanghai, if you buy a car, you HAVE to pay around $14,000 for a legal license plate. That's not a typo. 14k for the license plates. The government is trying to limit the number of cars on the streets so only allows around 9,000 new plates each month and they are auctioned off to the highest bidder. 14k is the price that they sell for these days. And all 9,000 sell in one day.
May 18, 2013 at 05:32 PM
Charlie Shugart Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
Hey, Alan,
You've been mostly out of touch here for several months.
Is your work still taking you to China?
And have you been working in Shanghai- or still in outlying cities- but occasionally visiting the big city?
Inquiring minds need to know .
If it's okay with you, of course .
Charlie
Work has been taking up all of my time lately, especially travelling. My company have an office in Shanghai so I often visit as a starting point. I travel predominently up and down the east coast of China from Dalian to Shenzhen and everywhere in between
!!! Too true, most never did learn to drive. 
.