Your Move, China

On my way to work today I noticed an unusual amount of policemen on the street. I stopped at Subber for lunch and upon ordering a policeman came in, yelled something, and ran out. Weird.

As I sat down to eat, one of the workers came up to me and said "This is happening now." She pointed to a piece of paper that said "military maneuver." Huh? I was then told I could not leave for 30 minutes. Huh??? Then the gates to the store were closed and the air raid sirens started going off. WTF!?!?

The calming music of Justin Timberlake in the store reassured me that it wasn't a real attack from our giant neighbor and must be some sort of drill. I ate very slowly and was allowed to leave when it was over 30 minutes later.

I couldn't wait to get to school and ask the Chinese teachers about what just happened. I soon found out that it was a drill and that it took place all over the city and northern part of the country. Policemen and soldiers clear the streets and the whole city essentially shuts down. Cars and buses have to pull over and pedestrians are brought to designated areas. Glad I made it inside before a bunch of cops were yelling at me to run somewhere in Chinese. That would have been crazy.

Here's a little story about it in the Taipei Times that I found when I got home.

Really weird experience. I can't imagine Chicago completely coming to a halt for 30 minutes. And its a nice reminder that I live in such a place were an air raid is actually a possibility.

Just another Wednesday in Taiwan...