Like Clockwork

One week to the day and the street vendors are back -- as if it never happened.

As I suspected, it turns out United States National Security Advisor Tom Donilon was here chatting up near-future Chinese President Xi Jinping. Sounds like they agreed to keep agreeing on a bunch of agreed upon things for as long as agreement continues to be agreeable, or until -- god forbid -- poor Chinese people start trying to make a living by selling cheap food from carts on the sidewalk. With respect to the meetings, the article says "further details were not released," but those carts better have been the freaking centerpiece of discussion because we the people of Xing Fu San Cun bus stop were about ready to -- ahem -- form a more perfect union by the end of last week, if you know what I mean.

Yes, that's a US Constitution joke, and yes, it's also a complete exaggeration. I still think I'm the only person who noticed or cared that any of this was going on. As if to underscore the point, when I asked my friend at the mi zhou cart about his absence last week, he replied, "Jingcha... bu yong shuo," which literally means, "Police... no use to say/to speak." The phrase bu yong is commonly used to mean "no need," as in bu yong xie, "no need to thank," or more plainly "you're welcome/no problem." So as far as I can tell, this man's attitude toward the police cutting into his livelihood for a week was not indignant in the slightest, but rather apathetic. It seemed he was more pestered by the prospect of having to explain his situation to me than he was fearful of the repercussions of speaking. Anyway there's probably a really compelling political conversation to be had there, but personally I'm just glad he's back, and I told him as much today.

再见
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