forget beating around the bush

I should create some sort of running list of "Things I Was Told About China Before Moving Here That Are Not True". Included on this list would be: 1. you can find anything in China (you cannot find berries of any kind, sunscreen without bleach, halloween costumes, sliced lunch meat, authentic anything, or tampons) 2. practically everyone knows English (negative on that one) and 3. the Chinese are a very indirect people (a vendor grabbing me by the arm and saying "lady, that's crazy price!" seems pretty direct to me).

My favorite thing so far that has proved all those advice-givers wrong are the beggars on the street. I understand that if someone is a beggar, they probably aren't following the same set of social rules that other Chinese follow, but I have still been pretty surprised by the directness of people on the street. Yesterday in front of Carrefour a beggar woman approached me and Romy and demanded, "Give me money." We didn't, but I sorta admired her for getting straight to the point.