Many great inventions have emerged from the Middle Kingdom since ancient times. Most notably, ancient China is credited with inventing the compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing. Despite China’s laissez faire attitude towards intellectual property rights today, the inventive attitude is alive and well as Chinese pride themselves in being different (from the Western world). Here is a list of urban innovations that have crept up all around China. While some innovations are downright whacky and possibly Japanese-inspired, others are surprisingly practical and even environmentally friendly.

Dating Street for Singles
Increasing gender equality and rising education levels have given rise to a generation of young urbanites picky in choosing a life partner. Arranged marriages, while de rigueur in ancient Chinese society, are practically unheard of in cities today. Wuhan’s innovative solution is the first dating street in the country. Service providers provide free listings on bulletin boards lining the street. Interested parties simply fill in a card printed with the name of the “candidate” of choice and wait to see if they get reply. Not unexpectedly, there are more female “candidates” than males. To cope with the demand, another four to nine dating streets are slated to be opened in the near future.

Mobile Police Force #1: Policewomen on Rollerblades and in Heels

The place is Tianfu Square in the Sichuanese capital of Chengdu, featuring pretty greenery, musical fountains and a huge Mao statue. Charming rows of boutiques and restaurants make this place a trendy hangout, at the same time attracting its fair share of pickpockets and drunkards. To the rescue is a new squad of rollerblading policewomen who can clock a speed of 25 km/h, allowing the force to dispense with environmentally unfriendly patrol cars. Chasing down street criminals should not be a crime against the environment. On removing their skates, officers don 3-inch heels to give them an “elegant authority” to match the trendy nature of Tianfu Square.

Mobile Police Force #2: Alfresco Police Posts
Not to be outdone, neighbouring Chongqing has its own innovative way of taking crime-fighting to the streets. “Police umbrellas” have been opened on major streets – a crime fighting initiative possibly conceived under the municipality’s latest effort to rid the city of vice and gang activity. Each giant “umbrella” is outfitted with flashing lights to match the row of neatly-parked police motorcycles beside, as well as a few LCD screens and keyboards. How officers on duty withstand the sweltering summers and chilly winters in this city of weather extremes is an urban mystery. Unless there is a temperature-regulating urban innovation concealed beneath their uniforms.

Seatbelt Alarm Disabling Devices
Qualities of the noveau riche of China include a high risk tolerance and a penchant for imported automobiles. Fastened seatbelts are practically unheard of, yet how does one contend with the insistent seatbelt alarm imported vehicles are in-built with? Simply insert a device resembling the metal part of the seatbelt that you plug in, except without a belt attached. This device is invented solely for the purpose of turning off seatbelt safety warnings. Apparently, there is sufficient demand in Qingyuan to spawn an entire product line that some even come with cute stuffed animals attached.

Porta-Loos: Commode Car Seats

Despite traffic police warnings against using cell phones, eating or performing any other activity while driving, you can now go to the bathroom while in the driver’s seat. So fret not, should you be caught in the daily rush-hour traffic jam. Simply uncover a toilet bowl, commode-style, concealed under the driver’s seat. Perhaps this innovation should be packaged with shower curtains and toilet roll holders, in the event that you have a passenger riding with you. Watch out for Version 2 with a built-in flushing system.

Luxury Pet Cemeteries

Chinese have come a long way from eating anything that has legs (except the table) to keeping them as pets, if a luxury pet cemetery in the outskirts of Xi’an is anything to go by. Expect to pay at least 1,680 RMB to lay your beloved to rest. Animals have transitioned from being a part of the dinner table to becoming a part of the family, evidence by tombstones are inscribed with the names of surviving pet owners. There is even a resident master of ceremonies to conduct a funeral onsite, which can be immortalized on video, making for a good closure during this time of loss.

Modern “Ghost” Cities
Possibly the only ghostly places in the world that are not haunted. Since 2008, the central government has embarked on an ambitious stimulus package to stave off a financial crisis. The ghostly result being incredibly well-planned but uninhabited cities and malls scattered all over the country. Up to 20 such cities are added each year on China’s vast expanses of land. While ghost sightings are non-existent, these towns make for incredible satellite images devoid of human life and automobiles – a tribute to the party’s urban planning skills. More notable “ghost” cities include Zhengzhou New District Kangbashi in Inner Mongolia.

Extreme Piercing: Body Piercing Suspension
The daily grind of modern life usually gets a little humdrum for most and some choose to take it to the extreme in their choice of self-expression. Earlier this year, an extreme body modification process emerged in Chengdu's Sansheng Xiang. Called “Body Piercing Suspension”, participants are hung in mid-air after being impaled with U-shaped metal hooks. Perhaps a secular version of bearing the kavadi or fire-walking. The programme organizer is a young man of 23 years from Guiyang who goes by the moniker ‘Nutter’.

Stress-Busting on the Go: Vent Your Frustrations at a Metro Station Near You

Here’s an advertisement that makes an impact, literally. Adidas has kindly padded pillars in Shanghai’s Xujiahui metro station for their target audience to punch and kick while waiting for the next train. Ironically located in a subway station in one of the fastest-paced cities in China, what was probably intended as a fitness advertisement has unwittingly become an outlet for stress brought on by urban living and metro malfunctions.

Mail Order Brides via Group Buying
Group buying is one trend that has taken China by storm. Virtually any consumer good can be purchased well below retail price. One company in Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province even offers Vietnamese brides at a 30,000 RMB group purchase price. The price tag includes matchmaking, a wedding banquet (in Vietnam), wedding photography, medical examinations, certification of the girl’s singlehood and a Chinese passport and visa for her. There is even a “guarantee period” should you have the misfortune to pick up a runaway bride. A really good bargain indeed.

And more…
As China modernizes, its appetite for the latest and the greatest will continue to grow to insatiable proportions. Money seems to multiply exponentially in the hands of the bourgeoisie, to the extent that outlets for expending cash are unable to keep up. The next few years will definitely see China flooded by a tsunami wave of innovations. Some may truly simplify life, but most would exist solely for the purpose of getting the upper-class to part with their wads of cash.

 

Related links
Wooden Copters and Robot Cooks: China’s Strangest New Inventions
Time Magazine’s 2010 Best Inventions: Beijing’s 3D Express Coach Included
Vessel, Use of Skull as: Lesser-known Chinese Inventions

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Keywords: urban innovations china Chinese urban projects weird innovations china funny innovations china