Everything moves at such a fast pace around here. With the expansion of the economy in the last dozen years, everything feels rushed and half complete. Buildings were erected before there were tenants to fill them. I've seen quite a few in the Chengdu area that look abandoned or never completed. Although the pace of life may be slower than in the States, the rate at which things get done is not.
The apartment complex I live in is fairly new. If I were to guess, I would say it was built within the last five years. Despite this, there is constant construction taking place. I moved in, and a couple of weeks later the speed bumps were removed. Next there was an overhaul of landscaping, followed by the addition of spikes on the gutters to keep would-be climbers off. Last week they remodeled the showcase room at the entrance to the complex. Before this, they installed electronic gates at the front walkway (despite the fact that there are three guards on duty all day and night). This week they started adding and removing trees. Why? No idea.
Along with the building/remodeling/removing plants phenomena is the overabundance of labor. Let me give you a few examples:
The sweeping ladies: On every street, at every hour there are ladies sweeping. They gather in clusters of three or four, and with their long brooms and crooked dustpans fight a war on the Chinese pastime of littering. It's a 24/7 thing. They're sweeping at noon, they're sweeping at midnight. The sad thing is, there would be no need to sweep if people would stop littering.
I remember one night riding my bike home. Although most of the shops were closed, there was still a remarkably large number of people around. I rode through the intersection at Second Ring Road and past the yellow building where I get off the bus. There in the courtyard of the building were several dozen men and women. They were digging holes in the garden, and laying bricks for a pathway. Not that remarkable, right? It was well past midnight.
My apartment complex: My apartment complex is guarded at all times by a platoon of young teenagers. There are three stationed at the front gate: one interrogates drivers, one hands out bicycle passes, and the third stands around trying to look busy. Besides these three, there are several more riding bikes around the grounds, and a couple stationed at the back gate. The back gate is locked and leads to a construction site. Nobody comes in or exits through this gate. One afternoon, my roommate and I found ourselves locked out. We decided to go to the guard at the back gate to see if we could get some help. After hearing our plea, the guard took us to a first-floor surveillance room. This place was seriously high tech, with dozens of television screens lining the walls. These pubescent security guards take their jobs seriously. They wear camouflage, engage in bootcamp style exercises, salute entering cars, and stand in formation. The problem is, there's just too many of them! We live in a nice complex, do we really need three dozen fifteen-year olds on duty day and night?
The super markets: The worst offender in this category is Trust Mart. Every super market I have been to has at least three dozen more employees on duty than they need. If I look at something too long, I'll gather a crowd of bored, megaphone wielding clerks who are all too eager to help me find something. I try not to make eye contact, but it doesn't help much.
The Overseas School: The Overseas School at Sichuan University is housed in a small building in the far corner of the campus. Like everything else in Chengdu it is guarded by several young, vaguely official looking guards. One opens the gate to the bicycle parking lot, the other two sit behind a window and stare as the students enter the building for morning classes. The one with the keys opens classroom doors at the request of teachers or students. As far as I know, the other two just sit and stare.
Landscaping/Construction: Anything that can be done with a powertool is done by hand. I don't think this is because there is a lack of powertools but rather, is because of the abundance of physical labor. There's a quarter mile stretch of sidewalk near my house that has been completely redone in the past two days. The first day, workers removed the bricks with mallets. The second day, they laid new bricks. Voila! It was done!
Street vendors: China has 1.3 billion people. One would think this makes the ability to succeed in this society incredibly tough. I'm not sure this is totally accurate. Because there is such a large number of people, things that would turn people off to a business go largely unnoticed. Take restaurants for example; if a restaurant is bad in the US, I won't go back. If my experience is shared by others, the restaurant will lose business and will be forced to change or close. Not here. If I think a restaurant is bad, I may opt to never go back, but there's 1,299,000,000 other people willing to take my place. It's kind of like this with the street vendors. Although there is great diversity in what they sell, you'll often see two or three carts in a row selling the exact same thing. Why don't they spread out to try and maximize their business?
What is the deal with this?! Can someone explain it to me?
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