So this is my first blog post but it's been a long time in the making. I have compiled a great canyon of insight and information that will go into writing this and I hope that it might give some people an idea of what it is like to live through the eyes of a Laowai in China.

Each time I post I will focus on different aspects of China and how I have perceived and experienced it. I write this in the hope that I can offer my experiences as advice or as helpful information to people who perhaps want to learn from it or just to have something to read.

Today is a long way away from my first day in China but it is surely further still from my last. I will begin with the thing that is probably most prominent in the mind and eyes of people who first step foot in the Middle Kingdom.

Traffic.

China has a remarkably extensive network of roads and it's infrastructure has at least been planned with some foresight. The roads are expansive and wide, they integrate bicylce lanes, footpaths and multi-lane roads that allow for free flowing and convenient traffic. Or so you might think.

Unfortuntately, despite all of this pre-planning they have forgotten one fundamental and crucial aspect; Chinese people are inexperienced, impatient and highly disrespectful when they drive on the roads. The trouble with roads in China is not the system, but the people who use them. There is an underlying cultural element to the way they drive and I believe it to be inherently linked with the need to do everything at once. If you ever have a Chinese partner you will understand that they require things to be done quickly and immediately, they do not usually like to wait for too long and this sense of urgency can be seen most explicitly when they are driving.

I do not for one minute suggest that people in other countries are better at driving, simply that we do it differently. In China there is a great deal of competitiveness that expresses itself in all aspects of the society. Sometimes this can even lead to a situation where people in a traffic jam will accelerate rapidly and then brake heavily in order to stop a car from merging lanes.

For me I find this utterly pointless as it merely results in the said person gaining one cars length of space and doesn't, in any way, improve or alter his/her situation in the jam. Nevertheless it is a trend that can be seen all too often and it is undoubtedly linked to elements of the culture.

Despite all the madness it is remarkable that China only has 300 road deaths a day, one would expect there to be significantly higher numbers of deaths but there aren't which is in itself very good news. 

Anyway this concludes my first post, I hope to add more at a later date and I intend to revisit subjects such as this and also introduce new topics or areas that I have found particularly interesting. If anyone reads this and wishes to comment please do as I will be very happy to read any comments.