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Q: Have you noticed people in your city blocking the left side of the escalator or standing there?
Whats with this? Do they not know to stand on the right side to let people pass? It slowed me down a bit.....
I've never had this problem when I went to Hong Kong and Japan.
did you also notice that in China it is random what way the escalators go ? In most countries with right side driving, the right side escalator is the one to go for.
cooter:
At the newest local shopping center, they alternate the directions of the escalators on different days. And it's the kind where they sort of criss-cross, IE the difference in choosing to go up or down is walking all the way around the escalator complex (a pain in my lazy ass). So, I wait for the elevator instead of playing their sadistic guessing game.
How inconsiderate, imagine it, standing still on a moving escalator!
ambivalentmace:
in shandong to meet the provincial power usage limit set by beijing , we have nice escalators that are rarely turned on .
Scandinavian:
@Hugh - surely it must severely piss off a brit. I mean, on the London tube if you are not clinging to the correct side-rail you will get yelled at by everyone.
@Ambi - are those escalators in airconditioned buildings ?
Hugh.G.Rection:
Scandinavian: As I've said in numerous posts, you really should not expect the same etiquette from your home nation in other nations, just because I wipe my ass with my right hand in the UK does not mean all Pakistanis should suddenly do the same. On the London Underground there are signs asking people to keep to the right and there is a widespread expectation that people will obey those requests, there are no such signs in China (that I am aware of) and what's more there is no cultural expectation that people should do so, therefore, to come here and berate people for not behaving like people do in UK / USA / insert your own nation, tbh is stupid.
diverdude1:
they used to have signs on the sidewalks in Shanghai asking people to walk to the right, I mean try to keep to the right-hand side,,, like automobile traffic does. I cannot remember if they had signs on the escalators.
anybody else seen these signs I'm talking about ?
cooter:
Most escalators I've seen will have a sign encouraging standers to the right, walkers to the left. But, this is China, so they're observed in about the same light as all the no smoking signs and the signs at the urinals telling guys to step a little closer instead of pissing all over the floor.
Hugh.G.Rection:
If there are signs (as cooter says) then the OP has a point, I however have never seen ANY signs let alone ones asking people to stand to one side, perhaps the larger cities are different? I don't know.
SoFresh:
Standing still on a moving escalator isn't a problem....
However when you see a situation where 30 people are standing on the right side and then ONE person is on the left side. I don't really care what the culture is here in China, you should probably have the common sense to realize that you're blocking everyone else that's in a hurry.
In all fairness though, people always move out of the way if you ask them to. So people really shouldn't complain too much when this happens. It comes down to lack of education and being aware of your surrounding situations, but their willingness to move out of the way when you ask does mean that it's not intentional and certainly not them trying to be rude.
The day China learns to stand/walk on the right, will be the day Satan builds his first Snowman. 
They are waiting for a good song to dance like in videos.
This is China !!
Normal Rules of etiquette do not apply here.
In my hometown (San Sebastian, Spain) you will always see people on both sides of the scalators. Nobody even imagines that they have to stand on the right side. And I have to tell that people from my hometown are the most polite of the world. We even make a line for taking the bus.
It's just that we live in a very relaxed way and we never have to hurry that much to run in the escalator. It's not related with etiquette, it's just another way of living.
So, I think, that the exact same thing can happen in China. And not only with the escalator thing, also with other really strange behaviors we can't understand. If we could understand their way of living maybe we wouldn't be so angry all the time...And I'm angry all the time XD
Scandinavian:
In San Sebatian people can probably also drive their car without using the horn all the time. There is a disconnect between the Chinese impatience and the ability to be in the way of others.
In some countries, it's normal for people to stand on the left and people pass on the right.
Due to my long commute I run into 10 escalators a day round trip.
At least once a day (usually more) I will see everyone on one side and then ONE person on the other side preventing anyone from walking up the escalator.
This use to drive me crazy until I realize that if you simply tap someone on the shoulder and signal that you want to pass they will ALWAYS move out of the way for you.
Of course when its one of those situations where there's A LOT of people on both sides of the escalator, then there's not much you can do about it. Just another case of there being too many people in China.
I'd say they are pretty good about it in Beijing on the whole. Not to stereotype, but the new migrant workers and young solipsistic teens/twentysomethings on their cellphones are the ones I see standing to the left most often. Normally a simple "ni hao" or "guo yi xia" does the trick.
Optimistic as that sounds, I almost flipped out on a girl who massively cut in line to scan her bag at the subway this morning. I damn near grabbed her as she causally cut 30 people, but then remembered that I'd rather go to work and not spend the day in a police station.
