The Rules - Oh Hai - CycleBlaze

October 10, 2019

The Rules

A poetic rendition of the Rules as provided by the Nanjing Railways and posted on the train from Shanghai
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Civilized Riding of Vehicles; Safe Travels Out and About

             Stand in line to get on the car and don't push,
                          first off then on in an orderly fashion.
             Be careful with luggage,
                          safe and secure and never blocking the aisles.
             Lying across seats is ungraceful and ugly,
                          wearing shoes to stand on furniture is horribly uncivilized.
             Fruit peels and garbage shouldn't be strewn about,
                          spitting anywhere on the ground is a low and vile habit.
             Loud voices disturb other people,
                          always be polite in speech and manner when in a public place.
             If you have children with you take lots of extra care,
                          running about and playing can be very unsafe.
             Take care of your tickets and important documents,
                          cooperate nicely with the train inspector.
             After relieving yourself always make sure to flush the toilet,
                          politely using the toilet is a part of social morals.
             Saving water and not wasting,
                          this is a beautiful habit that should be passed along.
             In the event of troubles or disaster help each other conscientiously,
                          be modest, polite and harmonious.
             If everyone travels in a proper fashion,
                          then everyone will have a good and happy trip.

I thought about attempting to make this poetic but it's not a very good poem in the Chinese so I figured a loose translation into English that also wasn't a very good poem was perfectly adequate.

I'd also like to note regarding the "wearing shoes on furniture" that the luggage racks are often too high for short Chinese people to successfully get larger items up onto unless they stand on the train seats. I was pleased to note my cross aisle companion very carefully taking off his shoes and turning back the dust cover of the seat before standing on it to adjust his giant bundle of stuff.

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