Smoking and Crossing the Street

Here are two pictures I snapped this week. I'll explain why I think each one is meaningful to my China experience. 

First, this is how common smoking is in China: an ashtray over the urinal. (And no, I was not in the men's room, it was a combo male/female stall.) There are no smoking or drinking laws here of any kind. Anyone can buy alcohol or cigarettes, anywhere, at any time of day or night, and drink and smoke wherever they want. It's interesting to me how the concept of "freedom" differs in China vs. the West: we can access whatever webpages we want and say whatever we want on them, but we have strict health laws. Here, it is the opposite. But we each think our way of doing things is correct.  (On the whole-- there are those in China who resent the Firewall too.) I think about these things a lot over here. 

Second, this "No Pedestrian Crossing" sign (blue and red round signs, in the middle of the picture). Instead of just one person, it's a person and child together. Family and friendship relationships here are of the utmost importance. No one has any expectation of privacy or "alone time." It is preferable to be with someone else, and to be alone is a sad, embarassing thing. It means no one loves you. It's quite different from our concepts in the West of independence and privacy and spending time alone. It's reflected in so many little things here in China, things as simple as a pedestrian crossing sign.