People Probably Don't Sue

I can't imagine that its very common for people to sue one another here. Specifically, it must be fairly rare for corporations (and the government, obviously) to face a lawsuit from an individual.

My theory - not that anybody asked, or that I've made an attempt to research this in any way - is that Chinese cultural conventions and legal customs are much much older than those in the US. The United States is less than 250 years old, younger than the modern concept of corporations and only slightly older than the liability laws that permit Americans to bring a myriad of stupid suits every day. So maybe because America was formed within the context of all these modern legal concepts that people seem so much more careful to protect themselves from fault.

I want to say again that I have no idea what I'm talking about. But some of the things I've seen here seem so dangerous and negligent that I find myself dumbfounded. I guess there are no Chinese Ralph Naders.

The thing that scares me the most is the window-washers in Shanghai. On every building in the city (except for one near our apartment that looks to have a two-man apparatus) the window washers hang from a single rope. They dangle off the side of 50-story buildings with one rope, a squeegee, and two hip-holstered buckets of water. The looks to be merely tied around their waste too, but I have to believe that they have some kind of carabeaner thingy that holds them steady.

This is four guys cleaning our work building:


closer-up:The next scariest thing about Shanghai is rain. When it's wet, this place is infinitely more dangerous. The steps mike is descending (one at a time, 10 second rest between each one) are the subway station steps at one of the most populated stations. The picture doesn't do a great job of showing this, but the stairs are uncovered near the top, meaning that a river of water is constantly pouring down these steps. Most shoes slide like ice skates on the slippery stone surface, and that we've managed not to crack our heads every time we go to work on a rainy day is a testament to extreme patience, guard rails, and lots of luck.

This is an even worse picture of a construction site near our apartment. That's a tractor on the left though, digging out a sidewalk while pedestrians and cars pass right through the middle of the site. Twice I've had to dodge giant backhoe loaders on the way to work to avoid having my head taken off. Another time, a tractor ran over the front wheel of a guy's scooter, and nobody even looked twice.
For most of the time we've been here, a bridge has been under construction that crosses a popular pathway of ours. If it were to collapse during commuting hours, dozens of pedestrians underneath would surely die. My first two weeks in this city were spent wandering around wondering "are you allowed to do that?"