A Note on Driving in China

The freedom and creativity with which the Chinese interpret the rules of the road makes the American highways look like the height of totalitarianism. With the variety of vehicles on the road, ranging from bicycle to tractors, donkey carts to full-sized buses, some flexibility is required. That a pedestrian isn’t killed every two minutes on a street corner in Beijing is a miracle of modern life.

Turning left at a signal generally involves driving straight into oncoming traffic and veering off toward the cross-street at the last possible moment. If one is experience at doing this – or lucky – he will end up going in the right direction.

In America, honking your horn is no less than a declaration of war. In China, it is as common as saying, “excuse me” though it might be more accurately translated as “pardon me, six inches to the left and you’ll be as flat as a noodle.”

Oncoming traffic is otherwise known as the passing lane.

Remarkably, this seems to be an efficient system. And while traffic is almost always heavy, gridlock is rare. One traffic citation would probably bring the whole system to a grinding halt.