Oh yes, it is nearly time for the year of the rat to become the year of the ox, and sure enough the period is heralded by the onset of the season of burglary and general theft. Even just among friends and work colleagues, I know of four people that have been the victims of burglary (or attempted burglary) in the past two weeks.
I always thought that Chinese burglars had a formidable task to contend with. Aside from the presumably harsh punishment that awaits if caught, how exactly do you go about breaking into a Chinese apartment? Maybe Xi'an is different to other places, I can't really remember, but a great number of apartments here have a big steel door. Seriously: from the outside, they look like prisons. Many apartment windows are shielded by thick metal bars. I would have thought it was extremely difficult to get inside, and yet it obviously still happens.
One thing I noticed recently concerned me slightly: Although I have one of these prison-style security doors, and I live on the 6th floor of my apartment block, my bedroom windows have no bars. But all five floors below me do have bars. Won't they just make it much easier for potential burglars to climb up to my windows? It's like a ready-made ladder. I found a thick wooden pole stuck down the side of my fridge - I sleep with it by the bed now :-/
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