You Stole My Money

I was originally going to write a whole story to go along with this video, but then I realised after a little bit of editing that the video says enough on its own.

This was recorded coming home on the bus one busy afternoon in Beijing. It was rush hour and the double length bus was packed from stairwell to window frame. Suddenly an elderly man sitting at the front yelled out, "Driver! Driver! Somebody stole my money!"

Even the shortest stay in China can let a person see how unpredictable it is here. From situations like being the only person to be pulled off a packed subway car, to watching street vendors run up the street with their bargain-carts to evade random police checks, to reading stories about free television sets given to peasant farmers to raise their culture and sophistication; one realises quickly that nothing can be expected nor surprising in the Free-Market-Socialist country called China.

So I was totally shocked and completely un-phased when our bus load of commuters hauled over to the side of the road to wait for police to resolve our onboard dispute. The old man lost 20 Rmb (roughly $3 Cnd) from his front pocket, and after 30 minutes of groaning protest bystanders were offering to repay him and move on. "It doesn't matter if it's 20 or 200," he said, "the fact is there is a thief on board who needs to be caught!" Jabbing the crowd with his eyes he swung a crooked finger towards me then settling on the guy to my right cried out, "it was HIM!"