I’ve seen this happen before but not on the same scale as last Friday.  Lots of police, probably one on every street corner. Roads closed.  It can mean only one thing.   

Some government officials were coming to town and so In true Chinese style everyone else has to stop what they are doing to allow them safe unobstructed passage to their destination.  A huge motorcade probably at least 50 Audis and 4x4s, lights flashing, sirens blaring driving at high speed.  It’s funny, I’ve never seen so many policemen in Changchun before!  I guess it giuves the officials the chance to look out through their tinted windows and say to themselves ‘look at all the policemen doing their jobs’

When seeing this, I couldn’t help getting the feeling that the government must be terribly afraid of the people.  I understand the need for security, and the need for people in government to be able to go about their business.  But for officials travelling to a economics conference, to inconvenience everyone in the friday rush hour…    In the UK this would only happen if the Queen or the Prime Minister was coming to town.