Sprawl, American Style

I would find it hard to consider this living, but apparently most of you don't:



Beijing is in the throes of a 100-km traffic jam, nine-days long so far...this is what Western-style car dependency looks like in non-Western countries. We spent the better part of nine decades building our infrastructures to support extreme car worship while China/South Korea/etc/etc/etc/etc/etc/etc have all only had one. Maybe two at the outside. This is what results.

"Bargaining with price-gouging food vendors." Hmmm. What, do you suppose, would be an appropriate price for drink and food while traveling 1.2 km per day, huh?

Of course, a goodly number of these Chinese will just say fuck-it, and move to the outer Beijingian suburbs, escaping all that awful traffic, finding good jobs out there instead of inside the city limits, while decrying everyone else who follows after them looking for the same thing. Sprawl is coming to China, American style.

Most of you don't consider this to be abnormal, just a part of living you say. Doesn't mean you like it, but then, no one likes to make their mortgage payment either, but you gotta live somewhere. Therefore, you gotta drive.