No, it's not a new feature of World Wrestling Entertainment in China (unfortunately), just a busy subway ride during rush hour turned sour.
During Guangzhou rush hour (and other times as well), the buses and subways and streets leading to these vehicles are all incredibly full. Pushing is not impolite, it's just a necessity if you wish to make it on the car; being skinny and agile also helps.
Well occasionally, people express their intense discomfort and frustration about these conditions. (Grunts and various forms of the expression "AIYA!" don't count as they are considered a normal part of the experience). This past time, a girl was upset about getting pushed and stepped on and started lashing out at everyone around her. Another girl equally stressed had the fire to reply and soon enough a nice bickering match was in the works. My Chinese still isn't good enough but I picked out the words "awful" (referring to personality) and "stinky" quite a few times. Eventually the train emptied out a bit and things calmed down - so we thought. Turns out both girls were just waiting until they had a more open space to duke it out physically on the platform. Luckily, most Chinese girls' martial arts technique doesn't extend beyond an angry slapping motion (the shrill voices are more harmful), so no one was truly hurt.
I would've stayed and watched out of pure intrigue, but my personal experiences abroad have taught me to head the opposite direction of those things as quickly as possible. But I was grateful for the entertainment as my mp3 player and Kindle had both died on the commute that morning...
--
Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China
During Guangzhou rush hour (and other times as well), the buses and subways and streets leading to these vehicles are all incredibly full. Pushing is not impolite, it's just a necessity if you wish to make it on the car; being skinny and agile also helps.
Well occasionally, people express their intense discomfort and frustration about these conditions. (Grunts and various forms of the expression "AIYA!" don't count as they are considered a normal part of the experience). This past time, a girl was upset about getting pushed and stepped on and started lashing out at everyone around her. Another girl equally stressed had the fire to reply and soon enough a nice bickering match was in the works. My Chinese still isn't good enough but I picked out the words "awful" (referring to personality) and "stinky" quite a few times. Eventually the train emptied out a bit and things calmed down - so we thought. Turns out both girls were just waiting until they had a more open space to duke it out physically on the platform. Luckily, most Chinese girls' martial arts technique doesn't extend beyond an angry slapping motion (the shrill voices are more harmful), so no one was truly hurt.
I would've stayed and watched out of pure intrigue, but my personal experiences abroad have taught me to head the opposite direction of those things as quickly as possible. But I was grateful for the entertainment as my mp3 player and Kindle had both died on the commute that morning...
--
Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China
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