Enforcement

It’s 7:05am and I take the elevator down with Aidan and Lydia. I get off at the first floor while they keep going to the parking garage. Off to school they go, off to work I go. I put on my respro face mask to help filter out the car exhaust and pollution. I put on my gloves to deal with the mid 30s “spring” mornings and then I’m off. Well, for about 50 meters when I have to stop, take out an electric key, and open the world’s most annoying gate that our apartment complete recently installed. A gate they installed to keep, I’m assuming hypothetical thieves out but in fact does a remarkable job at keeping residents in.

Then I’m really off. I 15 minute bike ride to the subway while listening to a Murph and Mac podcast. The road is as flat as a pancake which I try to avoid being as well as cars dip into the bike lane and make swinging right turns.

I make it to the subway and park my bike just outside the subway entrance where there is a good sized mostly empty bike parking lot. Because this subway station is a bit hidden not too many people bike to it and as such the bike parking lot has no attendant. Attendants charge about a nickel to watch your bike for the day. Not having one means my bike will likely get stolen one day.

It is 7:20am in the morning as I lock my bike I notice there are no food vendors at the entrance gate. Every other morning they has been six or so vendors around the gate hawking eggs, fried bread, and the traditional Beijing breakfast jianbing. I take the stairs down to the hallway which leads to the subway entrance and notice the hallway is empty. Typically is is filled with vendors hawking small purses, iphone covers, toys and so on. Then I notice the policeman standing there.

When I took the subway home the vendors had returned to the hallway and the food vendors surrounded the subway entrance. No police were in sight.

There are lots of laws here, like anywhere I guess. The thing I learned recently is many of the laws are enforced like a parent telling a kid to keep his room clean. Keeping the room clean is the law of the house but at any given time it probably isn’t actually clean. But when the parent decides it check, well, it better be clean. Shortly after the inspection, the room returns to its normal chaotic self.

The recent blocking of weibo comments and the flushing out of the street vendors at my subway stationed were really handled the same way. A temporary reminder of who is in charge will full expectation the natural order will return.