I Don't Make These Things Up: Carrefour in China is Scary

In my February 27, 2007 blog, I described the Carrefour experience in China:

... let me acknowledge to those familiar with Carrefour in China that I do know how ridiculously nuts it was to brave the wild, cart-wielding, desperate DVD-, chocolate-, clothing-, appliance-, and frozen-food-seeking masses in Carrefour on any Sunday, let alone the weekend of Spring Festival. For those of you who have never been, I'll say this: the store is a reminder that even though the middle class is only a tiny fraction of the Chinese population, a tiny fraction of 1.2 billion is a very large number. And they all shop at Carrefour on the weekends. And not one of them knows how to navigate a parking lot with either a shopping cart or a car.

On December 3, I wrote:

That I went to Carrefour on a Sunday afternoon, by the way, speaks volumes about my desire to have a bike. It's dangerous in there. Picture the grocery store snack food aisle the morning before the Superbowl, the toy store on Christmas Eve when it finally gets a shipment of Nintendo Wiis, teenagers vying for autographs from the Harry Potter actors. This is Carrefour, every weekend. From liver to auto accessories, you can get what you need at Carrefour - if you can survive the crowd.

Some readers might think I'm exaggerating. Perhaps, Nancy simply doesn't understand the Chinese and their ability to turn into a crowd that is larger than the sum of its individual human parts. Maybe I'm so mentally prepared for a bad experience when I go to Carrefour that I attract trouble.

Now read this: 31 people were injured and three died at the Carrefour in Chongching when they stampeded for discounted cooking oil. If you don't believe me, read it on bbc.com.