Monday morning's wake-up siren

From my window this morning it looked like such lovely weather that I decided to go for a walk before my mandarin lesson, which started at 9.10am. I'm really pleased that I did because I got to see a new set of random things with which to begin my third week here.
I walked around Mirror lake, part of which is next to the road but it's still usually quite peaceful. However, this morning I witnessed roadrage Chinese-stylee: Two teeny-tiny cart/trucks (big enough for only one person; they are so amusing to watch trundling along) were beeping their horns as they fought for the leading postion on the road designated for bikes and all vehicles other than cars. It was so funny to watch this because I was walking only a bit slower on the pavement alongside them - somehow I don't think it was the sort of road rage that would bring on a heart-attack to its participants.
Chuckling to myself I carried on around the lake where I found mainly older people sitting in the shade. I imagine that many of them had been there since early in the morning because it's quite common to practice Tai chi around the lake and in the adjacent garden at about 5 or 6 am. I really need to make the effort to get up early enough to witness this. Near the little temple and seating areas around it, I noticed games of Chinese chess were being played by some and others were reading newspapers. To be honest, they did remind me a little bit of the Italian or Greek villagers who sit around the village square together.
At the end of the walk, which finished where the main shopping area begins, I could not help but slow down and watch as a uniformed band played rather up-beat but military sounding music as they raised the national flag. There were plenty of people watching respectfully but as I joined them I suddenly became aware of the irony that, as the Communist flag was raised, we all stood facing the entrance of the quintessentially Capitalist symbol; MacDonald's!
Anyway, this must have been a significant Monday morning because, shortly afterwards, an air-raid sounding siren went off for a while. It was a bit scary but no one else seemed bothered so I walked back to the flat just in time for the lesson.