traffic accident

It is well known that in 2009 China‟s GDP ranked the second in the world only after America (The World Bank). China rise has been an old topic. It only wants to improve its people‟s living standard and economy instead of “rising” to be the world super power. On the way to its goals, there are many problems in the way. Road safety and security is one of the most serious ones. According to the state administration of work safety, 110,000 people lose their lives because of traffic accidents in China each year, making China one of the world leaders in terms of traffic accident-related deaths. Data were taken from the transportation and communities year book of China, road traffic death rate increased by 95 percent from 1985 to 2005 (Barboza, 2011). How could this happen? What are the main causes of this and what could Chinese people do towards this? First here are two traffic accidents in China and the USA. One is “My Father is Li Gang”, (Li Gang, the deputy police chief in Beishi district of Baoding, is the father of Li Qiming. Li Qiming yelled to others that his father is Li Gang after he hit two girls in Hebei university), and the other is about Donte Stallworth who is a famous football player in America.

1.1 One traffic accident: My father is Li Gang

This accident happened in Bao Ding China. It has been a catchphrase ever since it was known in public-My Father is Li Gang. Around 10 p.m. last Oct. 16, a 20-year-old student named Chen Xiaofeng was rollerblading with a friend on the grounds of He Bei University, an expanse of new buildings outside Baoding. They were passing a campus grocery when a Volkswagen sedan appeared, racing down the narrow lane. The 22-year-old driver was drunk. He struck the two head on. The hitting sent Ms. Chen flying and breaking the other girl‟s leg, and then he tried to speed away. Security guards shut the gate to the campus and stopped him, but the driver was undeterred. He warned them, “My father is Li Gang!” (My father is Li Gang, 2010). Ms. Chen was dead the following day. Chen Xiaofeng was a poor farm girl. The person who has killed her named Li Qiming, is the son of Li Gang, the How deputy police chief in Beishi district of Baoding. Her death in China will usually be silenced

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by the local government, and they will solve this without going to a court. ever, it was different this time. Even though the party propaganda officials moved swiftly after the accident to ensure that the story never gained attraction. They could not make it this time. Li Qiming‟s words and reactions make many Chinese people angry. One month later, a majority of Chinese citizens know the story of Ms. Chen's death, and “My father is Li Gang” has become a bitter joke that the powerful can flout the rules to which ordinary folk are forced to submit. Increasingly, that grievance focuses on what Chinese mockingly call the “guan er dai” and “fu er dai” -- the “second generation,” - children of privileged governmental officials and the super-rich. The sentence said by Li Qiming wasn‟t allowed to say in public at first. There was a little information about this accident on the school news channel at first, but then it went completely quiet, one student of Hebei University, who offered only his surname, Wang, said in an interview last week. “We‟re really disappointed at the press for stopping coverage of this major news.” But the Li Gang‟s case was hard to suppress, partly because it personified an enduring grievance: the belief that the government tried every means to shape public reaction in more ways than by simply restricting coverage. After Internet bulletin boards began buzzing with outrage, China‟s national television network, CCTV, broadcast an Oct. 22 interview with Li Gang and his son, filled with effusive apologies for the accident. On Oct. 24, the news media reported that Li Qiming, who had been detained by the police the day after the accident, had been arrested (Wines, 2010). People doubted whether justice could be gained or will be undermined by political influence, but Chen‟s family was determined to seek justice for their dead daughter. However, it was very hard. First, they had to fight to keep their daughter‟s body intact as evidence. “The police tried to hurry us into cremating the body,” said Chen Lin, the dead girl‟s brother. “They asked us to co-operate with them and have it cremated as soon as possible.” That‟s just the beginning. More came soon. Li Gang, father of the accused driver, approached the Chens on three separate occasions to apologize and seek an out-of-court settlement. Chen Yumao, an uncle of the dead girl, told the Star that Li Gang met the family on Oct. 19 and tried to persuade them to accept cash in lieu of going to trial. “He said, „There are two ways to handle this: we

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can go through the legal procedure or we can handle it privately,‟” Chen recalled. “We would give you money, but you have to agree not to sue us.” The family refused (David Baboza, 2011). They went to court eventually. Li Qiming was sentenced to six years in jail according to the regular traffic laws, which made Chen‟s family angry. Chen‟s family maintained that the driver should be charged with endangering public safety, a felony with the minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, instead of with a regular traffic crime, for which the maximum sentence is seven years. Chen‟s older brother, Chen Lin, who attended the hearing, said: “It is not about whether we are satisfied. It is a matter of the nature of the accident.” That was not a regular traffic accident. The family also accepted 460,000 Yuan (HK$543,000) in compensation and signed a letter of forgiveness in November under enormous pressure from local authorities. Li Gang‟s willingness to offer the compensation and Li Qiming‟s guilty plea were cited by the court as reasons for leniency in the sentence. Li Gang did not attend the hearing yesterday, though two other family members did (Yang & Wong, 2010). Despite a promise of an open trial, most mainland media reporters were barred from attending the hearing. Most internet users expressed disappointment with the verdict, with many questioning whether justice was done, so did all Chinese people. It is well known that justice was detained by money and power.

1.2 Another traffic accident: Donte Stallworth

The second example happened in the USA. Donte Stallworth，born November 10, 1980, is an American football wide receiver of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the first round (13th overall) of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football Tennessee. He has also played for the Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns. He was suspended by the NFL for the 2009 seasons after pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter charges in Florida. On the morning of March 14, 2009, a 2005 Bentley coupé driven by Stallworth struck and killed a pedestrian in Miami Beach, Florida. Stall worth was heading towards the beach when he hit Mario Reyes, 59. Police initially investigated the accident further to see if charges against Stallworth would be

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warranted. Stallworth admitted drinking in the night prior to the accident. According to early reports Stallworth was legally drunk at the time of the accident, news sources reported that his blood alcohol content was 0.12, over the nationwide legal limit of 0.008. Stallworth claims that he flashed his car‟s headlight to warn Reyes before striking him. A Miami Beach police report said Reyes was not in a crosswalk on busy MacArthur Causeway when he was struck by the black 2005 Bentley Continental GT driven by Stallworth (Brookover, 2007). Police estimated Stallworth was driving at about 50 mph in a 40 mph zone. The construction crane operator was trying to catch a bus home after finishing his shift around 7:15 a.m. Stallworth was charged with DUI wand second degree manslaughter on April 1, 2009; he surrendered to police on April 2, 2009, and was released on $200,000 bail. He pled guilty, and received a sentence of 30 days in jail, plus 1,000 hours of community service, 2 years of house arrest, and 8 years probation. He has also received a life-time suspension of his Florida state driver‟s license (Donte Stallworth, 2011)

Sports story published August 12, 2010, reported that Stallworth‟s lawyers indicated that he could have fought all charges with “an excellent chance of being found innocent ,” but that Stallworth chose to be convicted of a felony to do what he felt was morally right. He ordered his lawyers to accept a plea deal that convicted him of a felony even when evidence showed he had an excellent chance of being innocent. He said Reyes‟ death was enough of his fault than there shouldn‟t be a trial and Reyes‟ family shouldn‟t have to sit in a courthouse and relive his death all over again (Carpenter, 2010). Stallworth said his biggest concern was for the gentleman‟s daughter. He wanted the family to know that he was remorseful. “He did the right thing” said Boucher, who has known Stall worth since his rookie year of 2002. “I‟m more proud of him as a friend for the way he handled this than I was before his situation occured.” Perhaps, in this world of athletes who won‟t be trusted, it is hard to believe Donte Stallworth is getting a second chance at football (Benoit, 2010). An athlete convicted of second-degree felony manslaughter is rarely worthy of our respect. He Donte Stallworth made it.

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Li Qiming, the son of a deputy police chief in Beishi district of Baoding, he is so arrogant only because of his father‟s power and money. he turned a blind eye to what he had commited after he hit two girls, thinking that his father will make him safely walk away from this. He did not even thing that the two girls are two lives instead of something that can be bought by money and power. On the contrary, Donte Stallworth felt guilty after he had hit the guy and he became extremely angry with himself after he knew that he had made the gentleman‟s daughter an orphan. He accepted all the vicitim‟s family had accused him of. Li Qiming and Donte Stallworth, they two are holding quite different attitudes towards their crimes. What could be learnt from this?

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Chapter Two Sino-American’s main cultural differences

Both of them are well-off people but their reactions towards their crimes and the people they hurt were totally different. Li Qiming tried to avoid the legal responsibility about what he had committed by his father‟s power and influence while Donte Stallworth was willing to take his responsibility. Through the sharp contrast, it can be seen that there are many differences: to what extent guan xi was involved in the case; how laws and punishments are applied in both countries and what is people‟s attitudes towards life and material stuff.

2.1 Guan Xi

Every country has Guan Xi, literally means “relationships”, standing for any type

of relationship. But the way it functions varies from country to country. Guan xi has both positive and negative stands while in political world the negative aspect always seems to be more outstanding. It has a strong and firm stand in China while it is not that indispensible in the USA. This is a big cultural difference. Guan xi is well known in China. It is a must everywhere: in business, school, hospital, political field, and even court. “Guan Xi” literally means “relationships”, standing for any type of relationship. People need to use it everywhere, but here this paper will mainly talk about Guan Xi in laws and business world. 2.1.1 Guan Xi in political world

From Li Qiming‟s example, it can be known from Li Qiming‟s words that since his father is the deputy police chief in Beishi so he can commit any crime without being punished. Can his father really do this? Sadly he can. Power and money is one kind of Guan xi, which has a far more influence than in the USA. Rich and powerful people here can gain whatever they want easily, like putting their children in a famous school even when their children‟s college entrance scores are 100 lower than the poor students, or escaping a fee for ignoring a red traffic light by showing his special ID card or even to gain promotion by bribery. One can has special entrance if one has a big fish in America too, but usually they have stricter rules towards this, one can not

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do whatever one wants, even the president. Like the Watergate Event, Clinton the president was impeached. 2.1.2 Guan Xi in business world

Guan Xi plays an important role in not only the political world but also the business world. While in this world Guan Xi shows its positive aspect. In China it is the right “Guan Xi” that makes all the difference in ensuring that business will be successful (Lee, 1993). By getting the right “Guan Xi”, the organization minimizes the risks, frustrations, and disappointments when doing business in China. Often it is acquiring the right “Guan Xi” with relevant authorities that will determine the competitive standing of an organization in the long run in China. And moreover, the inevitable risks, barriers, and set-ups one‟ll encounter in China will be minimized when one have the right “Guan Xi” network working for you. That is why the correct “Guan Xi” is so vital to any successful business strategy in China. Although developing and nurturing “Guan Xi” in China is very demanding on time and resources, time and money necessary to establish a strong network is well worth the investment. What your business could get in return from the favors for your partners are often much more valuable, especially in the long run, and when you‟re in need. Even domestic businesses in China establish wide networks with their suppliers, retailers, banks, and local government officials. It is very common for individuals of an organization to visit the residence of their acquaintances from other organizations, bringing them gifts (such as wine, cigarettes, etc.). This Chinese Guan Xi culture is distinguished from the western culture in many ways, including how business is conducted. For example, the Chinese prefer to deal with people they know and trust (The Inernational Herald Tribune, 2010). On the surface, this does not seem to be much different from doing business in the western world. But in reality, the heavy reliance on relationship means that western companies have to make themselves known to the Chinese before any business can take place in China. Furthermore, this relationship is not simply between companies but also between individuals at a personal level. The company has to maintain the relationship if it wants to do more business with Chinese (Chinese Business Culture: Guanxi, An Important Chinese

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Business Element). Guan Xi here can be based on many forms not only money or power. Trust, honesty and principle are much more indispensible. This kind of Guan Xi is completely legal in China and not regarded as bribery in any way. So, there is no need to feel uncomfortable about it. Trustworthiness of both the company and individual is an important component. To keep people‟s promises is a good indication of this. Treating someone with courtesy while others treat him or her unfairly is another aspect. Frequent contact fosters friendship as well. Chinese feel obligated to do business with their friends first. There are risks with this system, as well. When something goes wrong, the relationships are challenged, and friendships quickly disappear. In America，however，independence and individuality are much more valued, people usually do not have a strong relationship among each other neither do they pay attention to this. So business in America is different. They do business mostly according to the company‟s fame and product.

2.2 Difference: attitudes towards life and material stuff

Guan Xi is a big cultural difference in China and America, it can be noticed from almost all aspects of one‟s live, while there is another thing that one can experience too: different attitude towards life and money. 2.2.1 Attitudes towards life and material stuff in China

Li Qiming thought his father could help him stay away from court by paying the victims money. From his point of view money is everything; a life is just something that can be bought by money. While in Donte Stallworth‟s case, even though he can get away with the felony charge, he did not. He accepts everything the victim‟s family accused him. To him, he killed someone, and left his daughter alone, he should be responsible for this, money is nothing compared to a live. These are two totally different views. Money is important in both countries but the way they view money is different. Since Qing dynasty, China has been very poor, people were longing for money. To them, money means a good life. Now China is a developing country with a giant rich-poor gap. Rich people usually feel they are more superior to the poor and the poor feel this way too. Being rich is like having a special face. In restaurant, for

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example, the waiters will serve the customers who looks rich first with good manners, however, when it comes to the poor customers, the waiters will seem impatient, some even rude because they afraid that they will not pay for the meal. It can be seen that people usually measure life by material stuff here in China. People who have cars, people who wears jewelries or people who live in villas are of higher class. Just like Li Qiming, his thoughts that money could buy lives which are quite common here. In some traffic accident, if the driver crushes a person and the person is still alive, the driver will drive back to hit the person to death. One might feel this cruel but it is true because the driver will have to pay much more if the victim does not die. The medical care is expensive. Compared to money, life seems dwarf. 2.2.2 Attitudes towards life and material stuff in America

In America, things are not the same. America is like making a great fortune overnight. Ever since they became rich, they paid attention to spiritual construction. They tried to break the standard of measuring life by money for a long time. One hundred years ago, Ford said he would make everyone afford cars. Those not so expensive cars he invented for the ordinary people has made the middle and lower class people in America becoming stronger and stronger. It is also due to this effort that American‟s attitude towards money has changed a lot. Everyone can afford cars in American even students in college, and rich people can wear ordinary clothes walking on the street. You can not distinguish people by their appearance, clothing or cars. People fear and disdain wealth as well as love it. They differentiate types of money and wealth, despite the economists' claims that all money is fungible. In particular, Americans feel the earned income with an aura of morality and virtuousness that unearned income, particularly inherited income, is not that decent. Consequently, Americans admire the person who acquires her wealth by means of her own talent and industry, while at the same time, they distrust (though perhaps also envy) the idle rich who live off of their clipped coupons. Unearned income, however, also has a positive moral side, particularly when it is the return on earned income that has been saved and invested rather than spent. Frequently, society values saving rather than consuming, for they hold that the latter is a better choice not just from an

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economic standpoint, but also from a moral one. The saver is virtuous; the spender a wastrel. The saver's virtuous aura extends to the earnings derived from his saving. The unearned income, the accumulated wealth, is a visible sign of his grace (Traffic in the United States and China What is the difference between the United States, 2008). The virtuousness of saving and the saver is frequently contrasted with the profligacy of consumption and the spender. The rich-poor gap in America is also sharp. But rich people and the poor feel the same. The poor will never feel they are inferior to the rich. A cleaner can be proud of his job and yell at a rich man when he throws litter on the ground. They will never debase themselves to the rich or influential people. 2.3 Different law enforcement in China and the USA

Money is indispensible in people‟s life, but it is not the way to measure life. Money can be regained while you can not have another life once lost. Treasure life, and at the same time view money and material stuff with a positive attitude are the keys to build a healthy society. The first thing to do to protect people‟s lives is to follow the traffic laws. When in the street, one can see many phenomena that are against the traffic laws. Why are there so many people breaking the laws and how are laws and punishment applied here?

Li Qiming tried to keep himself away from being put into jail by his father‟s power. This is not only about power corruption in China but also about loose laws and punishment. Even though Donte Stallworth is a well known sports star in the United States, he can not escape from being banned from his football team for one year and life-long banned of his driving license. As China is focusing on its economy development, it ignored the laws and laws implement constructing especially in traffic area. China‟s traffic-related death rate has been on the top for years but nothing has been done towards this. Hundreds of people break traffic laws every day but how many of them really care about it? They do not! Because they will not be fined by this as long as no police stop them. Sometimes even the police turn a blind eye to this. Chinese drivers routinely go through red lights if there is no opposing traffic (Hughes, 2009). Pedestrians do not count as traffic. Usually the driver will just glare at them to get out of the way or swerve around them if they are in the way. It is also moderately

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common to run red lights even in the presence of other traffic (Brody, 2011). A retired teacher in Lanzhou became a bit of a hero on the Chinese Internet in 2009 with his campaign to make an intersection near his home safer. He took to hurling bricks at cars that ran the lights and hit over 30 before the police turned up. However, in America, one can seldom see people break the traffic lights, even when it is midnight and nobody is around. People will wait for the green light, it is not because American is willing to waste their time there but they have to obey the law which will give them fines if they break the traffic laws.

Another obvious reason is the traffic license. It is very hard and expensive to get a driver‟s license in America. If someone breaks the laws too often his or her driver‟s license will be taken away from them whereas in China, driver‟s license is so easy to gain as long as you have money. In china, in order to get a driver‟s license, one just need to hand in some “tuition” and take some classes, after a series of not-so-related to driving exams they take from the school they go in, they will gain a driver‟s license.

Both the USA and China have full traffic laws, but the way the police force deal with law breakers are different. America is strict and one can see police everywhere. Once there is a traffic accident, the police will be there immediately. In China one can see police too, but this police are different from the USA ones, they will walk idling every day. I have been in a traffic jam for more than one hour but the police never show up. The irony is sometimes even if they show up, they will just yell at you and then go away. It is not that China does not have a powerful law system but that China need to iron the laws enforcement (Li, 2010). From the government to a single police, from cars to walkers, from officials to ordinaries, the attitudes towards laws need to be changed: respect and obey the laws. The laws need to be enforced strictly.

2.4 Lessons learned

From “My Father is Li Gang” and “Donte Stallworth‟s traffic accident” and how they deal with it, there are mainly three reasons to learn from this: the relation or Guan Xi, the attitudes towards life and material stuff and how laws and punishment

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are applied both in China and the USA, it is obvious that there are a big lesson for China to its way to be a developed country.

2.4.1 Lessons learned from the Guan Xi difference

Guan Xi is an important term in Chinese world which has a long history. One needs Guan Xi to do many things like promotion, going to a good school or wining a lawsuit. Guan Xi has its positive aspect in people‟s life. One needs relationship to keep them from being lonely and sad, to share happiness and sorrows. But it also has its negative side especially in political world. Corruption, bribery or even breaking the laws can be handled by good Guan Xi among influential people. Guan Xi is home to many evil things in China. Whereas in America, people‟s relations are comparatively lighter, they do not value Guan Xi so much as Chinese do. In order to help China to develop faster, the negative aspect of Guan Xi is one thing that needs to be revised. Individuality is not what this paper means to promote. Human beings are social animals, they need relationships, but they do not need special Guan Xi which is only for each other‟s interest, in another word Corruption. The government has already paid attention to this, but they need to enlarge the law enforcement to remove it. 2.4.2 Lessons learned from the attitude difference

America and China have different ways towards life which shows that China lags behind on the spiritual world development. As China‟s economy develops fast, spiritual life is being ignored. Money, interest and speed are most wanted. Life and spiritual stuff, which should be put first, are stored away. Chinese need to stop to think for a while. Money is a must in life but without morality and spirit, how could people have a real happy life? Material and spiritual are supposed to be developing hand in hand. They can not deny this.

2.4.3 Lessons learned from the law enforcement difference

Laws and punishment are keys to a country‟s safety and security, however, in China, laws and punishments do not accord with each other. China do have full legal institutions, but the law enforcement is far lagging behind. Chinese should learn from America. Learn their worthwhile police enforcement points to strengthening the laws and rules enforcement, and finally to build a civilized modern country.

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Chapter Three Conclusion

It is obvious that China and the USA have different laws. Whenever there are traffic differences in those two countries, people will think that it is the unlike traffic laws that lead to this. However, they seldom think of the reason behind this. In this thesis, it analyzed the cultural differences that caused the traffic differences from the two traffic accidents happening in the two countries. It turns out that, the laws difference is not the main reason that leads to the traffic differences. Actually they are the Guan Xi difference, people‟s different attitudes towards life and material stuff and different law enforcement are the reasons. China have learned a big lesson from this: first, it needs to revise the downside aspect of Guan Xi to make it benefit the people; second, it needs to change the unhealthy attitude towards life and money and put life and spiritual life to the first place; and third, it needs to strengthen its law enforcement.

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