Update:

I have discovered why those police officers were driving so slowly down the road the other day when I was riding my bike. We have entered the exciting portion of the year where farmers being to harvest their crops. Upon harvesting the farmers are left with a huge excess of stalks and husks that they wish to dispose of. The traditional method of disposal has been by burning them, which is fantastic as it adds to the already world renowned Chinese air quality. I remember my first year here where I would be jogging in the afternoon and notice that it had mysteriously become extremely foggy in just 15 minutes time. Then I would get choked out by the smoke and realize what was really happening as I coughed my way back home. Delicious.

This practice has been made illegal by the Shandong government in an attempt to cut down on the air pollution(thus the aforementioned slow moving police car on the country road), but as is often the case with legislation, it was a bit short-sighted and has created new problems. The farmers in China have very limited land, since the population is so enormous, and so there is no room on their plot of land to put the excess organic material to decompose. The government will remove it for the farmers, but for a fee, of course. Farmers in China, like farmers around the world do not have much of a disposable income. Most farmers in China, again like many farmers around the world, are attempting to use what limited resources they have to get their children through college, so that their children don't have to continue to do grueling labor for minimal economic benefits. So this new fee is something that is difficult for them.

Luckily the farmers have come up with an ingenious method to evade this problem. There are police cars that patrol the country streets making sure that burning doesn't occur(burning is now a fineable offense, yet another way to extract some money). Yet the crafty farmers patiently wait for nightfall, where, in the sweet embrace of darkness they can begin their work, for as we all know, fire is virtually undetectable under the cover of darkness!!

At least this system works for the farmers for now, until the government decides to stop it and force the police officers to be on call at night time, but it does suck to wake up in the morning and choke on smoke.