2. Car Ownership

Click the pix for larger picture.

There are many advantages of owning a car in China:

1. It gives you big status and tremendous face.

2. You can honk whenever and at whoever you want.

3. The seats are comfortable, the tunes are nice and you have good air conditioning.

4. Ummmmmm......??? Er. something.

In the good old days, (6 or 7 years ago) people took public transportation, bicycles, taxis, motorbikes, or they walked wherever they needed to go. Now thanks to the New Prosperity, Chinese people are flocking in droves to new car dealers to spend inordinate amounts of their income on a new car. This allows them to learn how to drive an incredibly expensive vehicle while trying to negotiate 19th century street systems and a whole nation of amateur drivers. Once they have mastered the use of the horn, they are ready to enjoy the pleasures of 21st century Chinese driving. They can join their fellow rookies in stopping traffic while pulling out slowly into cockeyed intersections, honking, idling, waiting and searching for non existent parking places, spending all their extra cash on fuel, insurance and car washes, fixing dents, learning to shut off the alarm, honking, butting their way through crowded pedestrian walkways (a favorite face enhancer), idling, honking, and the all time favorite activity of the driver, getting out of and into the car in a public place so that people can see just how awesome you really are. Oh, did I mention honking?