As one who's been living in China for more than 20 years, I've watched this me-first-left-turn problem bloom from the days (early 1990s) when cars were a rarity on Chinese roads. Without making excuses or justifications, it's easy to understand how this "me first" attitude toward almost any situation in life evolved, if you consider how punishing grandma has been on those who showed themselves as weak or deferential to others. Defensiveness has become an instinct. Add ambition to defensiveness and what you get is, well, people stealing a left turn before oncoming traffic has a chance to assert its right of way.

In those situations when I am the oncoming traffic, I have learned, after many years of anger and resentment, to do half of what td_ref suggests. Numbness will get you killed; emotionlessness will let you survive.

Urban traffic here requires a zen-like state of acceptance that I can achieve only on a bicycle or motorcycle. I simply would not be able to do it in a car. That's not to say there are not many other ways to skin the cat. At intersections, I always find my way to the very front of the queue, often by riding to the far left of traffic, sometimes in the oncoming traffic lane. That way I can place myself in an optimal position for entering the intersection safely before the me-first left-turners know what happened. As they encroach on my space, I resist the temptation to slow down and make them suffer. Usually. If there's a cop nearby I just might, so they have to squirm. But that's so unzen-like, and probably will cause that driver to attack the next bicyclist or motorcyclist he sees.

That's the challenge of urban riding: Optimizing, and dissipating the emotions that surely will get you into trouble, now or later.

How anyone can drive a car in a Chinese city and stay sane is beyond me.

safe riding!