A Nomad in the Land of Noise

Silence. Most people loath it, since it will make them feel uncomfortable they will try to avoid it at any cost. Some people need it to keep sane. I am one of them and at times China is turning me into a raving mad neurotic. There is simply no silence.

You enter the city, there is constant honking. Most drivers use the horn in a more Confucian sense. It serves not as a humiliation device like in Germany or most other Western countries, but more like an echolot, preventing the others from loosing face through ill-advised maneuvers by constantly sending out an array of honks announcing “here I come” wherever they are going. Who knows, natural evolution might equip Chinese drivers with a bat-like sense to locate other cars just by their sounds in the future. The horn volume is proportional to the importance of the concerned car; a major intercity express bus will easily honk out a starting jetplane.

So you might try and flee the city and enter the countryside sleeping in a small village. That works pleasantly until at 6am a tower of gigantic loudspeaker on top of the hill screams the morning news into the valley. Good morning.

You might try to enter a hotel for some sleep. Good luck. The windows are usually so thin you will probably find yourself checking at least once if there is really glass inside the frames—but don’t worry, the street sounds will falter at around 1am. Having just fallen into sleep, you might be mildly infuriated when you wake up at 3am from people shouting at the top of their voice right in front of your door. At around 6am the honking will return with all might.

You might be tired now. How about going to the park the for some rest? Cicadas the size of mice and with proportional acoustic might most probably greet you from every tree with a sound so loud you instinctively shield your ears. Only the karaoke craze in the middle of the park will be able to overtone their concert. Most pleasant.

Long distance buses are usually a good place to catch up on some sleep. Not in China. There will be either music or sound of an ancient kung fu movie transmitted over the vehicle’s speaker system, preferably at such a volume it’s all distorted.

After a month you will most probably feel like a rabid dog, loaded with irate fury but impossible to release it. Only Earplugs can save you.