Experiencing the sound and fury of development

Every morning at 6:30, a man passes by our place, yelling something like, "Paperbackwriterrrrryahhh". The ritual is repeated three times throughout the day.

I'm told he is actually announcing that he has gas for sale, and I soon learned that it is a fine tradition in China to have people calling out their services or the wares they have for sale. With so much modernization these voices are a link to life from long ago.

Compared to other forms of noise pollution, I do like this bit of pre-modern China.