Life and Travel in China

I feel like traffic in China is like flowing water in a stream. It will always find an outlet. The intersections are so congested that the application of any regulations would not be justified. The police are very tolerant. Changing lanes, turning from the wrong lane, jostling between pedestrians, cars and cyclists are everyday life here. Interestingly, there are few accidents with this driving style. Moreover, no one gets irritated when another car cuts in and passes at a distance of literally 5 cm. For many observers, this traffic is shocking, but resourcefulness wins. Just move forward.

A Chinese man reminded everyone on WeChat (the most popular smartphone messenger in China) that the Chinese are too involved in Western culture. He reminded everyone that December 26 is not "f... Christmas, but the birth anniversary of the leader Mao Zedong"! Maybe it would be understandable if he referred to other holidays in the Middle Kingdom or Chinese customs (which are permanently present in the lunar calendar), but Mao's birthday?! Seriously... as you can see, some people still live under the influence of strong propaganda from the past.

In just 2 days, the Chinese New Year will begin and the Year of the Dog will begin. We celebrate in Zhejiang province with our immediate and extended family. Yesterday we had a wonderful dinner, about 20 people, two tables full of delicacies: tofu, beef with onion, fried dumplings, crabs, steamed fish, vegetables, lotus root stuffed with sweet rice, etc. Plus traditionally Scottish whiskey, a mix of tradition and modernity. It was noisy, cheerful, many toasts. A unique holiday atmosphere. Now we will celebrate for 2 weeks.

The Chinese pray once a year and that's probably enough. Of course, temples are crowded during Chinese New Year. Collecting donations in a tray is controversial in our country. In the Middle Kingdom, some temples have paid admission! During holidays, admission is four times more expensive, e.g. on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Yesterday, Buddhist temples were besieged because they worshiped the god of money and wealth. In China, few people go to temples regularly. They pray now, during the new year and in times of need (according to the principle, when there is fear, it is to God). They often pray for money, marriage, professional success, and to a lesser extent, health.

The most popular place for shopping in Shanghai is, of course, Nanjing Street, close to The Bund. Now many regular shops and some restaurants are closed because people are resting. The exception are shops and large department stores on Nanjing Street. Currently, crowds of Chinese and tourists visit this place, shop, eat in restaurants and buy snacks. A perfect time to spend the money obtained from red envelopes. The promotions are really interesting. When buying one sweatshirt, you have to pay RMB 129, and when buying two sweatshirts, you have to pay RMB 100 in total. The pants cost 169 RMB, but if we buy two pairs, we pay a total of 199 RMB. How to understand this? In China, it's all about quantity, selling as much as possible and as quickly as possible. Don't wait, exchange the goods. In Chinese brand stores, they sell sweatshirts for as much as RMB 20-50 to get rid of older designs and introduce new ones. New ones sell for 200-300 RMB. Some stores sell 'ordinary' clothes and, for example, some with a license such as Astro Boy or Mickey Mouse, these licensed designs usually cost 3-4 times more. You earn less on something, more on something, the overall balance is certainly positive, taking into account the business traffic and the number of customers. We can envy them for this. Another topic is the activity and involvement of store staff.