Walking through the streets of Wuxi like I do, and observing everything (I hope), I do see a lot of shouting matches. That is, Chinese people screaming at each other.
I have to admit that I have been in a few shouting matches of my own. I once screamed so much at my mother-in-law, I made her cry. I was waving my fist in the face of a neighbor one time calling her every ill-name for a women I could. And I have had some screaming matches with foreigners.
As well, when I walk around I feel tension. People are always using their horns to get people out of their way. I can't resist the urge, still after three years, to punch every Chinese person who drives a car in the face and then slap them behind the head for their selfishness. I have seen drivers here accelerate under the assumption that if they honk their horn people will get out of their way. When a Chinese person blatantly stares at me with a Look at the Laowei! expression on their face, I like to stare back at them coldly.
The tension of living in a facist society (which is what China has become for which Tibet it proof) pervades everything here. I used to think people could maybe live here blissfully unaware of thier government as they just got on with working and raising a family, but that was naive on my part. There is so much that goes on that is not right but for which nothing can be done because of fear. The fear turns into a tension which results in those often public displays of anger.
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