Getting into fights with Chinese mobsters on motorcycles
Meet Jan.
This 23 year-old German has been in China for 10 months. In his time in Beijing he's already learned two important things:
• The world is an extremely large place and maybe Germany isn’t so big (or so important) after all.
• Getting into fights with Chinese mobsters on motorcycles isn’t always the smartest idea. He claims swords were indeed brandished but assures that only the “dull side” was used—it was more of a scare tactic than an earnest death threat.
Jan began his stay in Changchun where he lived for 9 months, but has been in Beijing for 6 weeks now. He currently works as an intern for a German writer (and has so far managed to escape teaching English—barely). However, his main reason for living here is to improve his Chinese, which he studied for 3 years at his university before arriving.
Jan lives in Wudaokou and does most of his playing there, too; his typical Saturday night is dinner with friends followed by happy hour at Pyro’s Pizza and, more often than not, ends the night with a trip to next door Propaganda.
The mobster motorcade sounded frightening yet exciting—a double edged sword—and the kind of tale you could only tell if you’ve lived in China.
Tracy Winn loves to find the weird and wonderful characters who make Beijing great. Be sure to check out her other blog for more reflections of a laowai on the highway.
Comments Add a public comment
-
-
-
-
Lesson learned, for sure! So, were the mobsters wearing black suits? Were they covered in tats? I only have kung-fu exploitation movies to go on, you know...
Anyway, scuffles with sword-weilding mobsters... very cool.
-
-
Interesting read and very useful info for newcomers, which should be appreciated. A great article!
-
-
Must be nice to already be tri-lingual at the age of 23, and to be proficient enough in English (as a second language) to be able to teach it.
-
-
Chinese motorcycle gangs rockin' swords? Where do I sign up? Sounds amazing. I look forward to reading more about the interesting Beijing characters I see roaming these streets of the Jing...
© 2007 Beijing Ringier International Advertising Company. All rights reserved.
京ICP备05061149号
So, is Beijing pretty international? Do foreigners seem to congregate with their own or do they assimilate well into the Chinese culture/people?