A couple days ago, a new friend was helping me deliver a carpet to our apartment. He’s lived in X for a number of years, and has been driving here most of that time. He pointed out that driving in China is more like walking through a crowd: you’re only responsible for what’s in front of you. As I’ve watched people driving since he said that, I realized how true he was.
The second thing he told me was that in another city, the taxi drivers yell and point at bad drivers. My friend described the way of pointing by showing how they stick the arm out straight at the windshield, and kind of wave it back and forth. He went on to tell how he had taken a taxi in X and the lady driver was yelling at and pointing at other drivers. When he enquired where the lady was from, she said she was from this other city, and had been in X for 7 months.
The next night, another friend and I hopped in a taxi, and as the lady driver was about to turn onto another road, another taxi driver nearly pulled out in front of her. Suddenly, here was this arm being stuck out straight at the windshield, with a pointing finger being waved back and forth. After my friend got out of the taxi, I asked the driver where she was from, and sure enough, it was from this other town. I told her what my friend had said, and she just laughed.
She’s no longer yelling, but some old habits die hard.