that car tried to hit me

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Walking down the streets of Beijing is almost as entertaining as walking through the Forbidden City. Best way to describe an intersection is as one big cluster f***. So you have three fundamental things, people on foot, people on bikes/motor bikes, and then the people in cars/taxis/buses. Although they generally remain separate on the streets and sidewalks at an intersection it all just comes together to form a congested and reckless area without almost any regards for traffic lights and rules. In America it’s like people are always trying to stay clear of the cars but here it seems that cars are having to avoid the people.
But the sidewalks would not be that crowded if it were not for all the people selling their little knick-knacks off the streets, making it difficult for you to have any room to walk. They sell lots of little pieces of jewelry, watches, small articles of clothing, stuffed animals, rubric cubes(which are a big hit for some reason), socks, crocs, and some remnants of things tourists would have purchased during the Olympics. And of course street vendors selling really cheap food. And since there are no designated parking spaces for bikes, there will be hundreds of bikes lined up, taking up lots of space along the sidewalks. There is no such thing as a bike rack, they just throw a lock on the tires.
While crossing the street there was a police car stopped at a red light and people were crossing when they absolutely were not suppose to and a taxi comes flying up at the green light and nearly crushes these people. And the police car didn’t even care.
But after two days I have witnessed only 1 collision between two bicyclists at an intersection.
At first I was completely appalled by the manner in which most people crossed the streets but after doing it a couple of times myself, it really all just depends on watching where the lights are and when they are about to change.
To serve the mass number of bicyclists there is what seems to be designated bike lanes making most roads 10 lanes wide at each intersection.

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