20.08.09: %$#@& people!

It is very difficult to imagine how many people there are here if you've never been here. I know that firsthand because Beau was here weeks before I came, and he would complain to me about all the people, and I would shrug him off. I've walked through Hong Kong, through Bangkok, through Taipei. I've even been to Calcutta.

None of those cities can match Shanghai for sheer volume of people. And are they ever rude. I don't usually get to say that about people in other countries. Usually, when you travel, and you're asked what the people you met were like, you have to say, "They were really friendly." Like if you eat alligator, and they ask you what it tasted like, you'll say, "It tastes like chicken." There are indeed right answers to these questions.

This is because people in other countries, my own being possibly the sole exception, are generally very nice to tourists and foreigners. (And alligator really does taste like chicken.) Away from home, obvious strangers can expect a smile, a little help with the translation, some directions, and maybe some recommendations on how to outwit the conniving local taxi drivers. It's not hard to believe that on a very superficial level, the world is full of friendly people...

Finally, however, I have sufficient evidence to the contrary. The people here are incredibly rude. There's something about people in large numbers behaving very stupidly, even aggressively, and with a population topping 20 million, it's no wonder that this city is full of incredibly ridiculous people. Trying to ride the subway in the morning is like being rushed by a tsunami of people who are suffering from either Tourette's syndrome or narcolepsy. Everyone storms about clubbing one another with errant elbows or laptop bags, rushing to and fro and then stopping suddenly, irrationally to respond to a text message on their cell phone. They run, push, grab, shove, elbow, kick, and grind everyone in their path.



I took it personally at first, but after observing them for the past few weeks, I realized they are pissing each other off, too. If a man shoves his way to the front of the line to get on the subway in front of everyone else who has been waiting longer than him, people will murmur and cluck their teeth. I saw a man inadvertently brush up against a female passenger, and she barked at him to move away. A girl chatting on a cell phone got body checked by another passenger as they were boarding the train, and she scolded him. The worst offense that I have witnessed occurred today when a middle-aged man very literally shoved two elderly men onto a crowded train as the doors were closing. He made it just in time, but the shock wave that rippled through the car and sent everyone careening royally pissed the other passengers off and more than a few raised their voice to shout at him. However, that has thus far been the only time I have seen anyone actually look ashamed and apologize.

I have to admit that sometimes I get caught up in all the fun. I am learning to use my own laptop bag more strategically now, sometimes defensively, sometimes offensively. I try not to get angry; the best solution I have for it is smiling a lot. I figure that way, I can either make other people happy - smiles are contagious! - or piss off the grumpy folks even more, which is still all right with me. I have been reduced to short bouts of hysterical laughter more than once already because of trains stuffed so full that passengers faces are smooshed up against the glass windows or because someone who hustled to cut me off as I was trotting through the station stopped dead in her tracks to tend to an urgent matter in her purse. The folks who brazenly step right in front of you as you are so very obviously waiting for the train doors to open also inspire me giggle.



Another phenomenon I have observed here is the compulsive elevator-button pushing. The race to get on and off the elevator is comparable to the race to the train, so I won't deal with it again here. The rules of button pushing, however, dictate that the first person onto the elevator should push the button to close the elevator doors while everyone else fights the doors that are threatening to chomp them as they get on the elevator. A second elevator game consists of not letting anyone else off the elevator unless they push you out, then you have to scramble back through the chomping doors or take the stairs up to the next floor.

I don't think the people here are that bad. The fact that they piss each other off is evidence enough that at least some people know how to act civilly and would be interested in seeing others do so. I haven't been here long enough to make any friends, local or foreign, so I don't have anything to say about individuals. I imagine that once I get to know them, they'll be friendly, just like people everywhere else.

No comments yet