Emily D'Ath

You can learn a lot about Chinese culture by jumping on your bike and navigating your way around the quagmire of traffic in any Chinese city. It can be scary and frustrating as a laowai (foreigner), but so is living here if you don’t know the rules.

I started a new job this week and my office is a good 35-minute bike ride from home. While I swerve around the road with one hand on the handlebars and the other trying to pull floating pollution out of my eyes, I often think how my ride to work symbolises my experience living in China.

Here are a few fun examples of how riding a bike in China embodies its complex but enthralling culture:

No rules
Chinese Culture – At a glance there seems to be very few rules in China. There are rules, but they can often be broken and bent to fit the relevance of any situation.

Bike Riding – a fruit cart driver will scream towards you on a one-way street for ‘cyclists only’ and leaves you with no choice but to slam into the gutter and ride on the footpath. You don’t second guess this and just continue on your way. On a daily basis in China, whether you are trying to work out the inner workings of your Chinese workplace or trying to extend your visa it can be almost impossible to understand what the rules are. The main key is to understand how to navigate situations to get things done and get on your way.

Indirect communication
Chinese Culture – no one will actually tell you what you did wrong until it’s too late. This is frustrating for all involved and I would argue that most professional failures are born from not actually knowing what their business partners think and why they act in certain ways.

Bike Riding – The ignore game:  A pedestrian will step out in front of you even when they’ve seen you and will only yell if you run into them. You need to anticipate every possible move. Just say you need feedback on a piece of work you have done for your boss. Asking him/her outright will probably get you nowhere because if they hate it they won’t tell you and if they like it they might still not tell you. You need to read the signs in their interaction with you and ask questions that indirectly give them a chance to provide you with feedback.

Yes means no
Chinese Culture – Your work colleague will answer ‘yes’ when they really mean ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ or ‘I’m never going to do that’.

Bike Riding – Traffic lights are red, but you really should go. Traffic lights are green, but you should expect a huge truck to cut in front of your bike. You ask your colleague to get you a report by Friday and they say ‘yes’. Not because they can definitely deliver but because they might not want to lose face by admitting they can’t  complete the task.

Ambiguity
Chinese Culture – Nothing is certain. You never know what is going to happen next, you could lose your job, your company might fold or your landlord might disappear. Learning to deal with and be tolerant of ambiguity will get you a long way in China.

Bike – No matter where you are or at any time of day, expect something or someone to fly out of nowhere in front of you. No ones trying to hurt you, but you are advised to keep on your toes. With a country of over 1.3 billion people if you consider everyone else in your daily life, you will get nothing done and go nowhere.

I say, jump on your bike one hand on the brake, a finger poised on the bell and ride head-on into the battle field with your game face on.