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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Anyone here 'not' get mad driving in China? If so, what's your secret?
You could always jab som TCM needles in you <bodypart> and stick an eggplant up your <bodycavity> to keep your mind off how much you think all Chinese drivers suck
You could always jab som TCM needles in you <bodypart> and stick an eggplant up your <bodycavity> to keep your mind off how much you think all Chinese drivers suck
I got the drive license.The license is also difficult for Chinese.Maybe the government want to control the number of drivers.there are so many cars in Chinese cities.By a way,I am Chinese.Ii cost my two months to get thelicense.I learned it in Shangdong province.waste much time.So I suggest you get it in BeiJing or shanghai.It will be easier.
Hotwater:
Two months? That's quick!
I live in Guangzhou. My wife has just got a driving license. It took 6 months in Guangzhou. Too many people wanting to get a license.
royceH:
Good luck with the driving fella.
It took my wife the time is takes to say ok to the official who offered her one about a dozen years ago.
It took me 22 minutes to do the online test in '14.
We hope it'll take the daughter-in-law a month when she comes back in November. If she can do it in a month that'll be 11 months less than it would've taken her in Australia.
Shining_brow:
A) I thought getting your license in China depended on how much money you 'invest' in it...
B) Royce - please compare the quality of drivers in China to those in Australia... then try bitching about those extra 11 months! (ps, remember, Learners, P's, then Open...)
1zhaoyulan:
I just cost 4000RMB,2660 is for the studying driving.Others is for the lunch.You know,if you stay one day in school ,you must eat something.
I drive regularly and while I don't suffer with road rage I get have the occasional flashes of anger at some of the stupid things local drivers do. I normally deal with it by shouting profanities & flipping then the finger. Then normally its out of my system.
Ive adjusted my driving style to get places and I anticipate idiotic actions a lot more so I suppose you can say I'm used to the madness
I dont drive but do ride an Ebike,I cant help getting pissed off at the dick heads on the road,I ride with my son to kindergarten.so many drivers are busy looking at there mobile phones and not on the road.
there is no driver,bike courtesy here in Shenzhen
Yes,two months,but I should go to the driver's school every day.From 8:00 am to 5:00 pm,I just waiting to practice driving.About 20 people in a car.We got on the car,according to the order of coming to the driver's school.But in Beijing,you can order the car ,then the car belong to yourself.You can save many time.So,in Beijing,if you can pass the exam every time,Maybe 45 days,you can got your license.The time you spend on practicing driving about 15 to 20 days.
Shining_brow:
Are you allowed to practice in a friend/relative's car? If so, use their's. If they don't own one, hire one! Much cheaper!!!
Dont get me started on this topic. Driving in China is like being a contestant on that whacky obstacle course game show. It's quaint the first couple of times, but after the honeymoon (which for me, lasted 20 minutes), I turned into angry Homer! I lose my morals on the road. I can't count how many drivers I have stared down (I mean, pulled up beside them, rolled my windows down and stared at them until they were pissing in their pants in horror of my black, foreign face) or flipped off. I have played chicken with drivers who drive on the wrong side of the road to cut queue. I stop at crosswalks to let clueless pedestrians by (mainly just to annoy the honking taxi drivers behind me). As I let them pass, the pedestrians look at me like, "what the hell are you doing? Is this a trick?" One time I yielded to a Police car with his siren and lights on, waiting to make a left turn (silly me). He just stood there, stalled at the intersection, amazed and confused. Several seconds passed before he was sure I wasnt drunk and he completed his turn.
How they behave on the roads, how they manage conflict, how they approach customer service, these things tell you a lot. They tell me I dont belong on the roads in China.
xinyuren:
P.S. Still no license yet because there is no way for a foreigner to study for test 4. I failed it 4 times. Short of having my wife translate each study question (there are 1000) individually, I'm not sure yet how I will manage it.
Hotwater:
There are ways for us to study for the test. there are apps for phones that are okay and also a couple of decent websites with the rules/questions/answers.
Try here: http://www.chinadriver.org/exam/exam_en.php
xinyuren:
This website only shows the theory test in English. This is usually the only test a foreigner needs to take because they already have their license from their home country. I already passed this exam. My home country licence has long expired so I have to take all four exams just like the Chinese. It is the fourth and final exam that I am having trouble with. I cant find an English study source.
I just got back from a drive around after five weeks of driving on the left and I only went up the wrong side of the road a couple of times. I'm quite sure that the only person noticing was myself. Oh, and the back-seat-driver (wife).
Sure they're woeful drivers but I think the culture is as much to blame as their incompetence.
I don't get cranky too much as I've well and truly learnt to accept the standards here. I think that what I hate most is the cutting off at intersections. That act comes with complete bastardry. I have a small crusade going to correct that one.
Oh yeah, there's other things that get me too. I'll probably be on the news one day, now that I think more on it. Fuk I hate Chinese drivers.
mArtiAn is back! 好久不见!
(I don't drive... partly for exactly this reason!)
mArtiAn:
Staying at the in-laws, it's become a habit to revisit old echina when I'm here. Very wise on the driving front by the way, Chinese roads can drive a man to drink.
Don't get mad. What will it achieve? Nothing other than raise your blood pressure. Accept the madness and get on with your life.
Ranting, finger gestures, horn blasts, etc just leave other drivers perplexed by the "crazy laowai".
Someone once said: Change what you can, accept what you can't, have the wisdom to know the difference. Change the way you think about it.
Easier said than done but there it is.
Stiggs:
Good advice. That's something I learnt riding a bike around town and could probably be applied to everyday life, not just traffic situations. Not that I'm able to follow it all the time, but still...
Getting mad at the stupidity achieves nothing and will probably ruin your day. Better to just laugh at it and think of it as another funny anecdote to tell the grandkids, maybe take a photo because nobody back home would believe it otherwise.
iWolf:
I learnt the hard way too. And I have carried this philosophy with me into other parts of my life. It makes things simple and for me anyway, simple corresponds to happy.
Its probably easier to go back to the U.S. and renew my license than to get a new one here. Thank you to those who tried to help, but I need the fourth test in English. I have only seen the first exam online. This is usually the only test a foreigner needs to see. I really dont want to drive because it makes me angry, but unfortunately we already bought the car.