Mainland China has urban Neighbourhood Committees (居委会 jūwěihuì / residents committee; = 居民委员会 jūmín wěiyuánhuì = 社区居民委员会 shèqū jūmín wěiyuánhuì).
An evening student of mine, Englishman Ben, was in Shanghai on a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) course. He didn’t know any Chinese at the time.
One day, the bus was taking ages to come, so he decided to get an ice lolly. He’d just finished the ice lolly when the bus arrived. He couldn’t see any rubbish bins around, so, not wishing to miss the bus after having waited such a long time, he placed the stick at the base of a tree, thinking it was biodegradable, therefore would rot down in time.
As soon as he turned round to board the bus, he heard a shout, emanating from an old lady a few feet away. Ben didn’t need to know any Chinese to get the message as she was pointing at him, then at the ice lolly stick under the tree, then back at him again. He thought, “Well, I’m getting on the bus anyway — I'm not going to let it go after having waited for so long for it,” and embarked. The old lady followed him up the bus, still berating him loudly, pointing out of the window at the base of the tree, then back at him. All eyes on the bus were focused on him.
Ben decided to move further along the bus to get away from her, but she, too, moved down the bus, pursuing him relentlessly with her angry volley.
Eventually, Ben had to get off the bus after just one stop to get away from the very public naming and shaming.
(China, late 1980s)
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