Behind the wheel in Beijing: trying to stay zen
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[ By Liu Rui/Global Times] |
It's been five years since I earned my driver's license in Beijing and, frankly, my on-road experiences have aged me.
I've decided it's time to be Zen, go with the flow and not worry about idiot drivers.
It's not so much the driver errors that make me see red. The streets are filled with new cars and new drivers who can be expected to hesitate and make mistakes.
The real problem is too many in this generation of drivers are utterly selfish road hogs and that's what really gets the steam blasting out my ears.
These days, as I try to use Buddha to achieve a more passive driving experience, I've been trying to figure out just what gets me so hot-tempered on the highway.
Thinking about how culture defines our notions of bad driving, I'm struck by an obvious East/West contradiction: While the incidence of road rage in China is much lower than in the West, there's much more reason for it.
Then again why is it that freedom-loving Westerners crave conformity on the roads, while the supposedly oppressed masses of China take liberties fit for a daredevil?
In the West we equate following the rules of the road with good sportsmanship. A flagrant foul contravenes fair play and the guilty deserve to be booed or even tossed out of the game.
In the East it seems the remnants of the "emperor syndrome" preclude deference to strangers. The bigger the vehicle, the more advantage the driver is entitled to take.
And you have to know just how much power and guanxi the offending driver behind the tinted windows might have.
Yep, there is road rage in China. And there are also courteous drivers who would not normally condone aggressive behavior...but then use the "if-he-did-it-I'll-do-it" excuse to misbehave.
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