Funny Things in China Part III

In my continuing series of funny things seen in China, I offer you Exhibit C:

This is a public restroom in Fuzhou. I want to draw your attention to the scrolling LED displays above the door, which tell you if the stall is occupied or not (you can see the word "Occupied" starting to scroll across on the right stall). What caught my attention was that if a bathroom was, in fact, occupied, the display also listed a running count of how long it had been occupied. See the display over the left stall for an example of this (six minutes and counting!). I'm not sure if this is a ploy to shame folks into not taking too long or if it's meant to be a helpful tool for those trying to decide which door to line up in front of. If they had the former goal in mind, it seems to me that the process could be improved by having a video display in the stall that shows this video after, say, five minutes.

Funny Things in China Part II

Many--not all--people in China subscribe to different beliefs about safety than many--not all--people in the United States. One of the ways this manifests itself is in seat belt usage: most people forego them. Not all Chinese cars are Chinese-made, of course, and for some years now most Western car manufacturers have installed sensors in the front seats that use irritating binging noises to goad passengers into wearing their seat belts. So what is a Chinese person to do? Wear a seat belt or deal with a constant binging noise? Perhaps there is another way. As it has been said, necessity is the mother of invention. Behold the invention born of necessity:

These were in the front seat of my friend's car. Problem solved!

Funny Things in China Part I

You see a lot of funny things in China. When possible, I try to take pictures for future sharing. This is the inaugural post in a series of funny things I've seen in China. Exhibit A:

If that looks like a claw machine in an arcade that is filled with packs of cigarettes instead of stuffed animals, that's because it is. I'm not 100% sure what demographic they were trying to allure here. Children don't smoke (or, more accurately, shouldn't, smoke), and adults would probably find it easier just to go to the store and buy a pack. Unless you're really a pro with these claw machines, it's probably also cheaper to acquire cigarettes in the traditional way.

Unfortunately, I did not see anybody attempt this game.