As an outsider, new to a foreign land, I often ask if my Chinese friends if my observations are representative of normal behaviour. I’m not questioning what is ‘normal’, but what is culturally typical. Perhaps I’m always looking at it from too much of a ‘British’ perspective, me versus the savages so to speak, but many Shanghainese seem to live in complete ignorant bliss. I promise you, anywhere in Shanghai you can watch someone cross the road on a red light, without looking.