Hanging out in Hangzhou

Some of the features of note in Hangzhou that have caught my (Mick's) attention.

1. How many electric bikes there are, almost rivaling the pushbikes (an Ozzie term, I think), and the pushbikes all look so old and decrepit with very few new or modern ones. No mountain bikes, so far. The electric bikes go wherever the pushbikes go and, I am told, are speed-governed which is just as well as they come silently up behind you as you are walking, and are past before you are aware. I would judge their maximum speed at about 20 k.p.h. but most people ride more slowly at just above a fast walking pace. Both bikes travel on pavements as well as the roadway and no place on the street seems to be non-accessible to them, so as a pedestrian, they weave around you or you get out of their way. They also do not seem to be restrained from going the opposite way of the traffic, in fact wherever the hell they like.

2. At rush hour, the number of bikes collected at a traffic light is often upwards of 50, and they stream across the intersection en masse. You get a really good idea of the number of bikes (of both types) still in use by the population when you see them parked outside a big store, 200 or 300 all jammed together. And they are also parked everywhere in orderly rows on the pavements, and just secured with a lock but not fixed to anything. We may try and get bikes ourselves when we know more about our movements to and from the school.

3. Clearly marked wide crosswalks at every intersection are not the safe haven for pedestrians they are elsewhere. Cars drive at you and expect you to get out their way when you are on them and cyclists use them mounted if they so please. Why they are marked at all is a bit of a mystery. Probably part of the casual approach to traffic that is constantly displayed here. It’s like their use of the sidewalks and pavements to park their cars. Just wherever they feel like. I can’t discern any ground rules for off-street parking. I wonder sometimes how they have even got onto the pavement to park. There’s no ramp or opening. Wait till all those cyclists have cars in the near future. Pedestrians had better learn to fly!

4. Traffic lights at large intersections that display next to the red or green light the amount of time in seconds that the Stop or the Go has to go. Most enlightened and helpful as it applies to cars as well as pedestrians and bikes.

5. Many of the bigger or more-used bus stops have TV screens and electronic displays of the buses going from that stop and their times, and the number of the bus that is approaching the stop. They are way ahead of us in that aspect of public transport – in Hangzhou, anyway. All the buses have TV screens at the front where ads mostly are screened – also some news we saw recently – with loud accompanying sound that conflicts with the canned announcements about the next bus stop that the bus is approaching. The noise is too much but it seems to not bother the locals at all. Their voices on their cell phones just add to the cacophony! They also have bus passes that activate the electronic reader at the bus entrance and can do so from inside a purse. Neat. And the pass appears to be person non-specific. We borrowed two passes from girls in the office to get back to our apartment.

6. How modern and new most of the cars are, evidence no doubt of the recent increase in affluence. It is exceptional to see a model that is more than 6 or 7 years old. Rusty old bikes, but no rusty, old cars. And there are plenty of fancy ones, as well: Bimmers, Mercedes, high-end Toyotas, VWs and Nissans, and even a few Range Rovers. As far as I can tell, there are no Chinese made cars. No doubt they will be coming soon. And no Tatas from India! And there are almost no trucks on the roadway in the town. Certainly no Ford or GM pick-ups! Yea, for the Socialists!

7. The constant presence of street cleaners on the streets and sidewalks keeping the place clean. They are armed with a big, long-handled scissors-type pincer which they use to pick up the smallest scraps, even cigarette butts. They also have a brush and a 3 wheel bicycle-cart, and are dressed in blue and yellow uniforms. Many of them are women and quite young in their twenties and thirties. They are out early in the morning and till just before dusk, and often they will be working within 50 to 100 yards of each other. Must be an expense but also employment for those migrating to the towns with limited skills.

8. There is simply NO graffiti anywhere. Amazing. There are controlled paintings by school kids (I think) on temporary boards fencing off something but no wanton scribbling. Yea, again, for the Socialists!

9. Everyone is reasonably well-clothed in the town and but for the faces and the black hair, you could be in any Western city. Jeans are plentiful, and high-heeled boots for the women. We haven’t traveled around in the city much so perhaps there are less affluent areas where poverty is apparent. The rural areas are probably something else again. But you certainly don’t feel that poverty stares you in the face, as it does in Africa, here in this part of Hangzhou.

10. How uninterested in us the locals seem to be, and that’s not because whites are ten-a-penny here. We have not seen a white face since we have been here. The locals barely acknowledge that you are there, and greetings occur very infrequently even by our neighbours in the complex we live in.

11. There is plenty of smoking especially among young males who often seem to pose with their cigarettes like movie stars of the 40s and 50s. Amusing and obviously part of being cool and macho! But I have yet to see a girl or a women smoke in public. And, very fortunately, there is very little smoking inside public places or transport (in long distance buses, we are told, it is forbidden) which is what we dreaded so we are less afraid for our lungs than we anticipated. Our other dread was the spitting we were told about but so far, apart from some pretty noisy throat-clearings and “hoiks”, there has been little to endure, thankfully!

12. How wide the streets are in this city. The main ones are all at least 6 lanes wide with plenty of space for sidewalks and bicycle lanes as well. Perhaps, like in Africa, it used to be so you could U-turn a multiple oxen ox-wagon!

13. The very amusing water tanker. Periodically, a water tanker sprays the streets with two jets of water to both sides of the road for a reason that is not obvious as there is no dust. Perhaps as part of the cleanliness campaign. And to alert the cyclists that it is coming and get out of the way of being sprayed, the tanker plays a musical volley of sound to old English tunes. I have heard Happy birthday, Clementine, and London Bridge, and others. But why English? British occupation history, perhaps?

14. From the first day we arrived, we heard loud explosions that sounded like gunfire going off in the town at all times. We were told that it was firecracker explosions that are part of the Chinese New Year/Spring Festival that goes on for about 3 weeks. Apparently, as each shop or building owner opens his/her shop for the first time after the opening of the Festival, he must let off fireworks for good luck. These are not little squibs but fairly substantial explosions and anyone can do it. No control of fireworks as in Canada limited to a licensee. But I guess they did invent the things and have been letting them off for hundreds of years, and no tort system to ensure reparations for injuries!