Safety Schmafety

Let's take the whole family, including Junior, out for ride ... no helmets required!
Kunming, Yunnan Province, about 450 miles away from Tongren, as the crow flies,
or a one-hour flight followed by a 13-hour train ride on an evil green train

Safety in China comes down to one statement, “Enter at your own risk.”

Seat belts are missing in vehicles. “Caution! Wet Floor!” signs don't mark freshly mopped, slick floors. No ropes surround an open manhole on the sidewalk, so you see a missing cover and a round drop.

During the Chinese New Year, everyone lit fireworks, day and night. This is the birthplace of fireworks, after all. I could buy shooting rocket from a street vendor and walk five steps away to light it. These were the “big-deal” fireworks, the kind that shoot up into the sky, bursting into rusty red stars, the same fireworks that require high-stakes permits in the good old USA.

My favorite scene is watching a moped driver wear a helmet, but his straps are not clicked together under his chin. Instead, they are floating in the breeze alongside his ears as he zips around the taxi. Or, the metal fabricator has safety goggles, but as he’s searing through a sheet of metal with his shooting flame, those goggles sit on the ground, next to his knee. If I don’t want to singe myself with the renegade sparks, I need to keep myself away.

The lack of safety-control rules in China makes the United States look extremely over protected. In China, you are responsible for yourself and your actions. This is one of many ideological differences. People here are not sue-happy. People are aware they are making decisions, and they drink the hot tea without the printed warning that reads, “Caution. The beverage you are about to drink is extremely hot.” People don’t blame others for common-sense things that they should know in the first place. And, as a friend crassly noted, there are a billion people. Perhaps a lack of safety regulations is one way to control the population a bit. 

However, do NOT, under ANY circumstances, drink cold water in the winter. You will catch a cold.