周五(12/27)1.碰瓷 2.寫今年回顧

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碰瓷
Fake traffic accidents               martalivesinchina

In China, many cars have installed a camera that records what happens in front of the vehicle during the time since the car is started until it is turned off.

This trend started a couple of years ago. Why did it start? Is it to have some proof in case of accidents, so insurance companies don’t have any excuse to not pay? Or is it so the guilty part in an accident doesn’t try to manipulate the truth? In part, yes, but there is also another reason which is quite dark and shameful… the fake accidents!

Fake accidents usually happen between a pedestrian or a biker and a car. The pedestrian/biker hits the car on purpose, starts crying in pain (real or not) and demands money from the car driver to go to the hospital. This might sound strange, but it is a relatively common event in China. There is no social security here, like we have in Europe, and every time you go to the hospital you have to pay from your own pocket. The “fake accident scam” works in most cases because the car driver (the victim) will most probably be very nervous, will not want to waste all day waiting for the police to arrive and make a decision, and will not want to spend all day accompanying the supposedly run over person to the hospital. Giving him/her the demanded money and getting out of there seems like the best option.

In China this scam is called 碰瓷 pengci, which literally means crashing ceramics. It is called with this rather curious name because in its origins (which, according to Baidu, are in the Qing dynasty), the pedestrian who crashed into a vehicle (in those times, it must have been a rickshaw!) would be carrying a vase in his hands. The vase would break in the fall and the scammer would then say that that vase was a very expensive relic from such and such dynasty and demand compensation accordingly.

Nowadays the scam has evolved and the scammer directly jumps on top of the car or lies down in front of it, without even touching it, when the car is stopped, and then starts screaming of (fake) pain. Every few months the news report some new especially stupid try, like one scammer that, seeing that the driver was not even reacting at his fall, grabbed the windshield wipers of the car and threatened to pull them out if the driver didn’t give him 500 RMB. There was also a very famous case in Beijing in which a foreigner run over a middle-aged lady (well, it was not clear if he had really run her over or if she was pretending), she asked him for money, he refused, she grabbed at his clothes and didn’t let him go until the police came. Then the police found out he was working illegally and he was expelled from China.

Chinese people have a good sense of humour and many of them make jokes with this scam now. Check this video where you can see a ranking with the 10 funniest scam attempts (if you understand Chinese, the host’s comments are hilarious!). By the way, this scam not only happens in China, as some of the cases in that video happened in Hong Kong and South Korea, and I have seen others from Taiwan.

So, if you drive in China… be aware of this scam! It seems the probability is higher if you drive an expensive car: the scammers will head for you because they think they’ll get more money! If this happened to me I’m not really sure how I would react… maybe I would have a fit of rage and start kicking the scammer, so at least he had some real pain to scream about!
寫今年回顧
How To Conduct Your Personal Annual Year End Review     sidsavara

    “The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same.
    Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”
    – Don Williams Jr.

As another year draws to a close, let’s take a look back to see how far you’ve come – and what you’ve learned along the way.

Today I’ll show you the exact process I use for taking stock of the past year

Don’t just read it though – I encourage you to join me and complete this short, 10 minute exercise with me.

Let’s take a look at where you’ve come, what you’ve accomplished – and use that to help plan where you want to go next year.
Conducting Your Year End Review

I like to do reviews based on what really happened this year.  It’s great to ask yourself how your year has been and how you feel – but we should also look at what really made a difference in your life this year.

Get ready to make some lists. You can write them by hand, or type them out.

I like to get three sheets of paper, and divide the first two sheets into 3×4 grids – one block per month.
Section 1: Your Accomplishments

Question #1: What obstacles have you overcome, and what have you accomplished?

Take your first sheet of paper, and look at the 4×3 Grid. At the top of the page, write “My Accomplishments” (and the year, if you like).

Think over your whole year – start in January, and consider month by month:

    What you did
    What you overcame
    What real results you achieved in your life.

The reason I ask you to consider all these questions together is because frequently you may not realize how significant your accomplishments really are.

It’s not just about what you’ve done – it’s just as important to consider your life and how you got there.

And if you have accomplished something, or created something – you deserve to recognize it and give yourself credit for it.

Look over your list, and consider also:

    What’s the most important item on this list?
    What are the top 3?
    What really sums up your year?

I like to mark the most important ones, the ones that stand out, with either a star or by circling them.
Section 2: What You Learned

Question #2: What did you learn, and how have you changed?

Take your second sheet of paper, and look at the 4×3 Grid. At the top of the page, write “My Lessons” (and the year, if you like).

Again, start in January and work forward.

This question seems to surprise me every year – and it might surprise you too.

While it sometimes feels like time has gone by so fast, and that perhaps you haven’t changed at all….when you take a moment to reflect on it you’ll realize you have learned and grown in ways you could have never imagined when the year began.

We are always aware of the big changes, or sudden lessons we learn from major life experiences – but think back to the small interactions you’ve had, and the small changes and tweaks you’ve made in your life based on the little lessons you’ve learned over time.


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