Xiao Tong Improves Public Safety in China

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It is no surprise to visitors to China that public safety there is still a developing concept. Never mind the traffic situation, you just have to walk down a sidewalk and you may be exposed to eye damage from workers arc-welding right in the street or from cuts and bruises from people doing construction work right in public areas. In China you are more responsible for your own safety than in the west. Our neighbour Xiao Tong was back home in Henan for the summer with her kids. She took her little boy to a go-cart track for some fun. The kid was happy and excited until he touched a hot go-cart engine with both hands, burning his palms. It was very painful. Quite a scene! There was no warning sign, no protective cover on the engine and no first aid supplies. The business owner told Xiao Tong he had no first-aid supplies, he was running an amusement park not a hospital. Xiao Tong was extremely angry. She returned the next day with a lawyer and "made a lot of noise". I suspect that nothing happened within the Chinese legal system on this issue, but that the owner probably was so shocked by the response of this mother to her injured "xiao laowei", that he probably decided to make safety improvements to his buisiness just to avoid further aggravation from other customers. In this way, small improvements are gradually made across China