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What's the rush?

Riding home in a taxi from work Lee (www.leeinchina.com) witnessed a blatant sign that some Chinese drivers have become too desensitized to emergency vehicle lights. Behind his taxi rode an ambulance with its lights blazing and sirens blaring, but no one on the street made the slightest effort to get out the emergency vehicle's way.

"The reason for this is that those people whose job permits them to have lights and sirens usually drive around with them on continually," Lee writes.

He remembers another time when he got into a taxi and the taxi driver pulled up right in front of a police car with its lights on. According to Lee, "In the US you don't really see lights in your mirror unless there's a police or medical emergency, so when you see them you know to get out of the way."

"Here it is just so routine that nobody pays it any attention."

Handy man

What makes someone an "Old China Hand"? Blogger John G at Lost Laowai explores the term and its meaning in his recent post. Before some recent reconsideration, John G speculated that to earn the title of "Old China Hand" you must have been in China for 10 years at the very minimum.

However, after being told by someone who has been in the country for 10 years that he had far more knowledge about the country, the language and the people after his five years John G decided to reanalyze the term.

"Does that mean that being an 'Old China Hand' is really just a term for someone who's adapted to living in China? I tend to think yes."

Hooked on books

Guest blogger Catherine Sampson at The China Beat blog has spent the past few weeks traveling around China going to literature festivals that have been popping up across China's big urban centers. So far she has been to events in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Beijing. Sampson is amazed at the number of festivals she has seen in China and the number of expats who show up.

After seeing such a big turn out of expats, Sampson cannot help but think about all of her Chinese friends who would enjoy gathering with other Chinese to hear Chinese authors speak about their works.

Blood sucker

Josh at Cup of Cha loves the adventure of moving into a new apartment. Recently he moved into a new place and discovered a strange bottle of red and clear liquid occupying the fridge. Upon deciphering the Chinese characters on the bottle, he discovered the liquid was deer-blood liquor.

"Once you've been in China a while, few things catch you quite as off-guard as what I found in the refrigerator of my new apartment."

Josh then began asking friends if any of them had heard of such a "delicacy". Much to his dismay, but not to his surprise, many said they had never heard of it - and then offered him the advice "you should throw it out".

(China Daily 03/21/2008 page19)