Guess You Had To Be There ...

In the last week I have seen:

* A girl, about 4 years old, squat down outside a clothes market, spill the contents of her bladder on the pavement, not wipe (or even be offered one, the mother was just watching impassively from a distance with the other child), and happily jump up and run back to join them before they walked off, fresh urine gracing the pavement.

* A toddler, about 2 years old, squat and relieve herself on the floor of a restaurant in which I was eating (actually I didn't SEE this, I heard it from where I was sitting, the splash was quite audible thank you - I leaned over the table to check I wasn't imagining things, and the yellow puddle was more than a giveaway). The mother / co-proprietor of the restaurant just said to the grandmother to get the mop. In she comes, I don't even know if the mop was damp let alone wet, there certainly wasn't a bucket to accompany it (the Chinese havent got a clue what mopping is really like or for) and she "mops" the urine up, except it's not really mopping is it? It's just SPREADING it across the floor to evaporate faster.

* Finally, this week I have seen a grandmother sitting outside on a step, grandchild in lap, now you would have the child on a knee or something right? Or sideways? Or facing you? Or anything really, EXCEPT facing out, one leg on each of your legs, the split trousers (remember my rants on them?) gaping open exposing all to the elements and anyone who happens by. I don't know whether the grandmother was making the soothing "shhh" noises they use to encourage their kids to go, and I don't want to know.

I've been told urine is sterile at the point of exit; true or not, you wouldn't clean your pans with urine just because of this, and you would certainly balk if someone had a slash right in front of you, in a dining area no less.

This is foul, disgusting, backwards, dirty, horrible, filthy, unhygienic, irresponsible behaviour, and I cannot see why it is happening in a major city, in a region which borders on at least 7 other countries. What the hell kind of impression do you get of China if THIS is the first place you see, and THESE are the people who live here? I could understand if it was a village maybe, but a fairly developed city of 2 - 3 million people, with cars and internet, chain stores, internationally sourced goods?

Can you imagine Birmingham, Nice, or Dusseldorf with people like this? China needs a kick up the arse (and possibly one to the crotch).