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Q: How often do you see street fights between locals in China?
I was walking up the road to work this morning and noticed a load of dried blood splattered all over the pavement near a restaurant. I presume it was the aftermath of a BBQ baijiu-inspired brawl. I also recall one time where I was walking past my local BBQ area and saw that the road was littered with broken beer bottles. I asked the owner about what happened and he replied with something like "you just missed one heck of a storm".
In Beijing, there are certain no-go areas (Sanlitun) where you hear repeated stories about foreigners getting into fights with locals, though I'm wondering how often you see local-on-local brawling in China? Seems to be a fair bit.
A total of 2 times in my 3 years here. Once because someone jumped the queue at the train ticket booking station. It amounted to little more than pushing and name calling, and then the police came. The other time I was just driving by a bus stop and saw two people being pulled apart while flailing at each other. The interesting thing, is that it was a man versus a woman both times 
The only blood that I've seen is from late night scooter accidents and there are lots of them. The only fights I've seen have been women girly jabbing a guys and a taxi driver girly jabbing some guys that got out of his cab, they were drunk and probably didn't pay.
i saw a fight between a husband and wife in the car park of a supermarket in the pouring rain. She was shouting at him for about 5 minutes (I had to watch to see how it panned out), and even though he was holding the umbrella, she sat down on the ground. After another few minutes i left the scene because i was getting so wet myself.
No-go areas in Sanlitun? Not that I've noticed. Violence is still pretty rare here even if you're hanging around bar streets - it happens but it's not like there are marauding gangs or anything. Weird. I think stuff like in Sorrel's example is the norm. A couple getting a bit tetchy with each other, then the girl hits the guy with a handbag, then the guy (because he's obviously a *real* man) retaliates by hitting back. Then they walk off in different directions.
Threats and bullying, yes - but actual violence not so much (bit of pushing and lots of staring usually). Unless you're heading out to a city's suburbs after dark and taking black taxis - that's how people disappear.
RachelDiD:
I agree that it is probably a bit extreme to call areas in/near SanLiTun "no-go" areas, but I was always more on edge when I was walking alone at night in the area than I was in the rest of Beijing. It was the place where the xenophobes would go to beat up foreigners, and it happened from time to time (with increasing frequency, as the CCP whipped Beijing and the rest of China into greater xenophobia).
happywanderer:
Oh that's interesting, and I'm sorry to hear that. I still honestly haven't come across that in sanlitun but yeah I've noticed the xenophobic trend and have no doubt bar areas would be flashpoints. To be honest, and I don't mean to sound sexist, I genuinely think a woman shouldn't be walking through a bar-street here on her own at night. Not because of any macho bullsh*t - but simply because this isn't where we're from so you need to be a little bit careful, we all do.
nevermind:
I've seen more insane bar brawls in San Li Tun than anywhere else.
Yeah, walking around Sanlitun by myself wasn't the brightest plan I've hatched in my travels. There really weren't too many xenophobic incidents; just enough that foreign-publications would remind people to be cautious. Someone would have to still be an unlucky bastard to get beat up there.
I see one every day> Whether it's between husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, mother and daughter, mother and son, son and father, daughter and father, driver and pedestrian...
To be honest, I haven't seen a street fight since last Christmas...
In Beijing, not so much. i have seen a couple of catfights in Xidan and maybe some pushing and shoving in the subway. Though I did see a man really beat up a woman in the Guomao area. Spousal abuse?
In Guilin on the other hand, I used to see quite a few fights. Most were quite pathetic, as whether they were drunk or did not know how to fight or were ganging up on someone.
