Twice a year, the government of Taiwan holds air-raid drills around the country, to prepare the population psychologically for the possibility of an military attack by China.

I don’t know if China holds similar air-raid drills (I suspect not), but here in Taiwan, twice a year, trafffic in all major cities is stopped, no cars or trucks or taxis or buses are allowed to move for 30 minutes in mid-afternoon, usually from 2:30 pm to 3 pm, and big department stores must lock their doors and keep customers inside in basement levels.

In schools, as the photo shows, students sit on the floor of a classroom and place bookbags over their heads.

Not a pretty picture.