Take a good look at this pool in Daying county, Sichuan province, which people delightfully call “China’s Dead Sea.” Mmmm, human skin salt.

Surely you’ve seen something like this before (if not, go here), but we thought we’d make this a follow-up to our post last week about Beijing subway’s Xierqi station. There are lots of people in China.

The above was posted to Youku two weeks ago and has been watched 813,000 times. That’s not as impressively big a number as you think though: the viewers all probably just wanted to find themselves in the video.

UPDATE, 7/31, 5:54 pm: Wheeeeeeee:

Sometimes it’s not cool to see how many people can squeeze onto the same motorbike or vehicle. Sometimes it’s dangerous, as nine young riders in Yubei, a district in Chongqing, learned recently.

On Saturday around 5 pm, nine kids, described on Sohu as “fooling around,” crammed onto the back of two bikes and raced down the street. The ensuing accident left three dead and the other six injured, scattered on the sidewalk.

(Also see: that time when five people on a motorbike got hit by a car.)

Sinopathic, which found this story, compared the scene to a modern art installation, and judging by the photo, it might as well be.

It was at a recent installation set up al fresco by the side of a road in Chongqing in which local Chinese audiences were seen to be gripped with the daring themes posed by this work.  Local residents that perchanced upon this impromptu performance were in awe of the gritty, realistic tone that evoked grand themes of mortality vs. immortality as it challenged the established orthodoxy of conservative perspectives as witnessed from the mindset of a group responsibility.

The audience was respectful and silent as they drew in the spectacle.  Immersed yet aloof from the proceedings, the audience was mindful in its role to provide the principle actors the gravitas and cultural context required for such an installation.

Be a little safer out there, everyone.

3 Dead, 6 Injured in Traffic Accident Involving Only 2 Motorcycles and No Pedestrians (Sinopathic)

At least 17 migrant workers managed to squeeze onto the back of a single truck in Qingyuan, Guangdong province, as noticed by Car News China. Or is it 18? Are there some hidden behind that row of people against the railing? Maybe 19. Do we have 20?

We wonder if it’s safer or less safe than…

• 50 schoolchildren in a van
• 31 schoolkids on a trike

This series will continue.

Totally safe.

The pics — a corollary to this — are from China News via MIC Gadget, which reports:

A Chinese woman was seen driving a fully packed motor tricycle carrying 31 schoolchildren back home from school in Zhongmou county, Henan province, central China. A small girl approximately of the age of 10 was holding the steering wheel as if the tricycle was driven by her.

A Motor-Tricycle Cram with 31 School Kids is Absolutely Dangerous (MIC Gadget)

Look at this van. How many young children can fit inside? (No, this isn’t a variation of a dead baby joke.) At least 40? At least 40. Because it’s a clown van, and the gimmick is there’s always room for one more than you’d expect.

By my very unofficial count, it was closer to 50 kids than 40, but at some point, we can just say: way too damn many.

On November 16, 2011, a nine-seater van carrying 62 children — way too damn many — plus two adults collided with a truck in Gansu province. Eighteen kindergarteners, their teacher, and the driver died.

The nationwide outcy spawned new regulations about school bus safety, but just a month later, 15 primary school children were killed when their bus rolled into a river.

A year later, a similar incident — a bus driving into a pond — killed 11 children in Jiangxi province.

If you were a parent, knowing the road safety flaws in China, particularly on buses, what would you do if your child was packed along with nearly 50 other children into a van?

Just wondering. Clown cars and clown situations are all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

There’s a punchline here that I can’t quite find. Maybe you can do it.

This happened last week in Sanmen, Zhejiang province, and has lately been making the news rounds on Chinese TV (h/t Alicia). At the end of the video after the jump (original, longer Youku version), the news anchor brings in someone else — ala SNL’s Weekend Update, really — who proceeds to criticize everyone involved while calling on authorities to increase penalties for people who run red lights. By the way, the five on the bike suffered varying degrees of injuries, none life-threatening.

Recently this clip got picked up by Beijing TV, which, as we’ve documented here, is kind of famous for a show called “Traffic Light” that analyzes (over-analyzes?) traffic mishaps, from the funny to the fatal. You might remember that BJC’s first installment of Traffic Light featured scooters getting hit with cars as well, set to No. 43 Baojia Street’s “I Really Need You.”

For the hell of it, here’s Traffic Light No. 1 again; for Youku version, click here.