for driving on the wrong road

Nothng breaks my heart more than seeing a cop hassle a motorcycle taxi driver.

It's like watching a someone snatch bread from a beggar's hands and then perhaps give him a solid bash to the head.

I saw this happen yesterday, in front of KFC. The cop had the driver by the collar, and was giving him the stern, CCP educator lecture. The driver had tears streaming down his face.

Now, as I understand it, Chinese culture works like this. You are supposed to endure hardships and persecution. You gain face from not complaining and not crying. I've never seen a Chinese man cry.

Most of these guys, like most of China, operate without licenses. They make a pitiful 2 kuai per ride. That is, unless they can find a passenger that can endure a long bumpy ride or a gullible foreigner.

Now the biggest expense that most Chinese guys of working age have is the kid's education. I'm not talking about college either. Elementary school can be quite the financial burden.

So you can expect that this guy was thinking, how the cao is my kid going to go to school if this bastard fines me, demands a bribe or (the worst) confiscates my cycle.

Economists are frequently berated for focusing on market distortions and flawed policies in the third world when there are plenty floating around the first world. But a quick look at the cyclists face will tell you why these things are worse in the third world than the first. That guy has absolutely nowhere to go. There are no easy to get supplementary jobs, even with the currently overheated Chinese economy. A man making two kuai per ride minus cost does not have an attractive plan B.