Following my recent ‘death of blogging’ scaremongering post I’ve been trying a little more actively to look for engaging content. The blog Beijing Newspeak is one of the best I’ve come across so far, whether poking fun at silliness from within or at silliness from without, it is both amusing and insightful. Worth a read.

Rachel at Lost Laowai has blogged here about what she calls Sinofication Reflex Syndrome. This really rings true for me and I’m sure it will for many of my ‘non-China’ friends who are sick of hearning it from me. It’s all those sentences that start with “In China…”. I remember on my first trip back to the UK from China back in ‘03 that after the first few days I was getting invites to the pub which began “If you promise not to talk about China…”.

I think the problem as described is compounded by the fact that in order to tell your amusing annecdote or whatever often requires context which in turn requires an explanation of how things work in China, what it is like in China or an explanation of some aspect of the culture. The result is that your amusing annecodote ends sounding like something off National Geographic.

I arrived Satuday and it’s been a whilwind couple of days, I shall endeavour to sort out my thoughts at some point to give you a traveller returns post. In the mean time, if you are in Newcastle, mine’s a pint, in China though we would be *slap*

After my recent boar trap incident we went to the pub, had a pint, talked about the what-ifs and that, save for having to tell the story dozens of times as each new person found out, was the end of that. Meanwhile the menace of boars, not boar traps have been making the news.

I don’t have a very high opinion of people who set these horrible traps but there just never seemed to me to be anyone to be angry at and I had hobbled away pretty much unscathed. It would better if people didn’t set traps, it would be better if they were marked, it would be better if the design wasn’t so crude, it would be better if the emergency services in forest areas were a bit better prepared. All that said I was ok and there never seemed to be person or group to direct my frustration at.

Those of us in the hash group are more careful now and I, for one, venture off trail with trepidation and care but beyond that, I haven’t done anything in follow up. But then…

Disclaimer: the details of this story as described below are not properly verified. I’ve had the story as reported in the local media retold to me in Chinese and 3rd hand in English. I’ve also attempted to read / translate this article (in Chinese, with picture). What follows is my understanding of events from this information and it likely contains errors and omissions.

On the 2nd of December an 8 year old boy and his father were out walking in the hills near Lingyin temple. The boy, off a proper path, was caught by a boar trap that appears to be very similar to mine in its construction. The boy, having smaller feet (and potentially just being less lucky than me) was clamped round the ankle rather than the foot, the teeth piercing his skin. The father had the sense to realise that any attempts to wrestle with it were only going to tighten the grip this, I assure you, is true.

As far as I can tell the emergency services came to the scene but were unable to remove the trap so they carried the boy off the mountain. This must have been incredibly painful. He was transferred by ambulance to a nearby hospital where further attempts were made to remove the trap. They finally ‘liberated’ his foot using hydraulic cutting equipment; I guess a ‘jaws of life’ type tool. I can imagine the pain that this caused, that the boy is described as groaning in agony comes as no surprise. It’s not clear from the story how long this took. He did not apparently break or fracture anything so the damage appears to have just been soft tissue damage. He was treated with a variety of drips.

The article states that recently another man went to the hospital having been caught in a boar trap, which makes at least three of us. We also saw on the television news that some people (potentially from the army, they were in combats) have now been called in to clear away traps but given the terrain and the (apparent) number of traps I’m not sure how effective this can be. At least they are doing something.

At least they are doing something – which is where I came in. I can’t help feeling a bit guilty for not making a bit more of a fuss after my own boar trap incident, perhaps the clean up might have started earlier, more signs could have been put up or even tools and training for first responders. Not knowing the details I can’t be sure but I suspect that the little boy’s ordeal would have been shorter and less traumatic if they had the tools and know-how to remove the trap at the scene.