But oh so funny. He manages to save his umbrella - always important. The photographer was criticised in the Beijing Youth Daily for lying in wait to take the photographs rather than warn bike-riders of impending danger.

China is relatively new to the unrestrained nature of American capitalism, and cultural mores is one of the first things to get trampled on in exchange for the mighty dollar. Possibly because money means survival. Without it we don't have food, shelter or clothes. This pushes our desperate desire for survival, which often transcends morals, ethics and cultural norms, into the public sphere.

I am not sufficiently knowledgeable of Chinese culture to make a judgement that in this case capitalism trumped Chinese social norms. It may be as simple as the Beijing Youth Daily using an issue to be outraged about in order to increase their public profile and circulation. Derryn Hinch, Bill O'Reilly and numerous others have peddled their outrage on a switch for their own fiscal enrichment.

Adam has also suggested that;

Everyone in the world lives in the 21st century - just in different parts of the consumer spectrum, with different shipping costs.

If the photographer hadn't of taken those photos, then maybe someone else with a video or phone camera would have. Where once it took Graham Kennedy or Doug Mulray to bring us the crashes, bangs and sometimes "naughty" videos to our eyes - now it is on google video - 24/7 and often with the willing performance of the crashee. I don't think culture, or capitalism stand a chance in the face of ubiquitous recording technology.