Help I'm Trapped in China or What I did on My Christmas Vacation or My Life in a Dingy Hotel

Note: I posted this from Shenzhen. I was able to hack around the PRC censors and see the blog and post to it but could not make any corrections to the spelling or grammar

The past two weeks have been some of the most stressful I can remember. Probably by next year I will look back and laugh at this Christmas but that is difficult right now. Actually, I will never laugh at the past two-weeks. They will never be funny and time will never take the edge off the experience of my last two weeks.

The very pretty, looks twenty-years younger than she is, really smart and loving wife and I were robbed in Shenzhen on Christmas eve while returning from a week-end excursion to a Hot-Spring. The robbers took almost everything we had except for my Hong Kong ID and my Visa. They stole all of my wife's ID including her Visa, ATM, Insurance cards, HKID, Chinese ID and my US Passport. They also took most of the clothing we were not wearing a digital camera, MP3 most of our cash and things like family photos in my wife's wallet that were precious to her. We were simply cleaned out. This suddenly turned what had been a rather pleasant trip to a Hot-Spring into a 15 day nightmare.

The only thing that kept it from being unimaginably worse was that the thieves didn't get my visa card. There were two reasons this was extremely fortunate.

First; we were able to borrow a phone and call the emergency number provided by the bank and that was printed on the back of my card that allowed us to cancel Kim's Visa card and ATM card and leave a message with the branch manager of the bank where our primary accounts are to not let anyone withdraw money unless they were in person at the University of Hong Kong Branch and approved by her. Since they had all of my wife's ID it was theoretically possible that a middle-aged Chinese woman could go to a branch of the bank, submit all the required ID's and look enough like my wife to make a huge withdrawal since it would not be difficult to look enough like an ID photo to fool a bank teller. We were able to avoid this because we could call the emergency number and called it within 15 minutes of the theft so neither the visa or ATM could be used.

Second; we were in sudden need of a hotel. Not all Chinese hotels take a non-Chinese Visa but most now do and we were able to find a fairly clean if ragged hotel that didn't cost an arm-and-leg a night. The Visa saved our bacon and kept us off the street that night.

We borrowed a cellphone and called my wife's sister in Hong Kong. She came up the next day and loaned us 3000 Yuan, a cell phone, a couple of canvas bags and various other small items that proved as useful as the cash in some ways. The night before the manager of the restaurant "Man Xin Fat Food" (No that isn't a typo their sign is misspelled) where the robbery occurred had given us an additional 200 yuan. I cannot thank the man enough for his generosity. It wasn't much but it was incredibly kind.

The cash that Ping brought us enabled us to pay the fees that the PRC requires to get our travel document replaced. Otherwise I guess we'd have had to have gotten jobs or hit the street as beggars. It is one of the cruelest of truths that you need money to get out of the PRC if you are the victim of a crime. The catch 22 of not having any money because you've just been robbed does not seem to register on the officials in China.

The next step after filing the police report and getting some cash was to go to the Bureau of Internal Security on Christmas day (Not a Holiday in China) and fill out the paper work to get our exist visas replaced. We were odd ducks in that my wife needed one document and I needed another. It turned out that my wife was able to fill out a form, pay about 500 Yuan and then get a stamped, initialed and dated form that allowed her to re-enter Hong Kong the next day after a 24 hour wait. Because I'd come into Shenzhen with a US passport I couldn't do that. I had to go to Guangzhou and get my passport replaced before I could get an exit Visa. This was frustrating because while I am still technically a US citizen I live in Hong Kong and have permanent residency there. I can even vote in Hong Kong elections. I could produce a valid Hong Kong ID and only needed to get past the Chinese Immigration booth and walk 500 meters or so. Anyway, the PRC is the PRC and despite the fact that the only thing that either my or my wife's paperwork needed at this time was to be stamped and initialed by a supervisor we were told to leave and come back the next day. So we did.

We were first in line on December 26 to pick up our now "Processed" paperwork. After giving us a bit of run around to make some photocopies, get some photographs and the like everything was stamped, initialed and glued. Kim could go back to Hong Kong and I had permission to Guangzhou to get my passport replaced. This is where the frustration really began to kick in. The only thing the paperwork needed was to be signed by another clerk. They could have done it the day before but didn't. 

Well, we rushed to the train station and hopped on the bullet train to Guangzhou. We arrived at the US consulate which is across the street from the train station at about 11:20 only to find that it had closed at 11:00 that day. Growl! Curse! Throw things! Yell at the security guard! Growl, curse throw a few more things and growl some more!

We found an inexpensive hotel (The Ping-An Hotel) and settled in for the week-end. It didn't help that the emergency number listed for US citizens in need of help was answered by an answering machine in Putongwah and that the message was said so fast and with such a bad accent that my Putongwah speaking wife could not understand what was being said. However, we spent the next couple of days doing walking tours of Guangzhou. This helped to take the edge off some of my frustration by Sunday. I was still upset at the embassy for closing early on the 26th. However this ended up not making but one day's difference.

On December 29th we got to the embassy at about 8:30. I was a little irritated at this point because I found that they open for immigration, tourist and student visas at 8:00 but for US citizens at 9:00. However, I was the first in line. I went to the window, submitted my documents, paid the USD $100.00 and then had them tell me the photos made in Shenzhen were the wrong size and had the wrong background. Growl! Curse, stomp back down stairs get more photos with the proper background and dimensions, stomp back up the stairs, cut in line turn everything in and wait for the processing to be finished. By starting at 9:00 AM I had my new emergency passport in hand by 11:45. We then ran across the street and bought tickets for the bullet train back to Shenzhen and thought: "This is almost over!"

It wasn't!

Not by 8 days it wasn't

Since the Bureau of Internal Security is closed for a whopping two hours for lunch from 12:00 until 14:00 and our train arrived in Shenzhen at 12:47 we checked back into the Railroad Hotel and grabbed some quick lunch ourselves before taking the metro three stops to turn in my passport. We got there just after 14:00 took a number and waited until after 4:00 before we were called. The clerk gave me the make a few photocopies, get a receipt from a window upstairs and three new signatures run around again and then I was given a bill for 980 Yuan which I promptly went upstairs and paid. After running back down stairs and pushing the next number out of the way the officer-clerk-sadist-paper pushing-party apparachnik stamped the bill and said my visa would be ready in five working days. But since there was week-end and New Years day in between those five days it would be 7 days. Because we had not turned the paperwork in before lunch that day didn't count so 5 becomes 8.

The wife had a conference to go to and had to leave after this point. I spent the next 8 days in a dingy hotel and window shopping.

One interesting thing I discovered is that I can see my blog in the PRC but cannot post to it from China.

This was not a good Christmas break.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who will staple his travel documents to his chest the next time he goes to Shenzhen

A response

Blogs are interesting things. I have wondered why I write one on occasions over the years. There seems to me to be a certain amount of arrogance required in thinking that other people will be interested in what you have to say; or possibly a certain amount of stupidity. At least whenever I use the "Next Blog" button provided by Blog Spot I often see the most banal, shallow and trite blogs. Sometimes that is OK, a shallow blog can be funny and interesting in small doses just as Bugs Bunny is funnier in an 11 Minute cartoon than a 90 minute movie; but it should be evident to lots of people looking than many people writing blogs are not writers but parrots who simply spout prepackaged political, cultural or religious ideas often in immature, insulting or derogatory ways.

Now to be fair, I have also run across some very good blogs using that button as well and it is a good way to spend an otherwise dull lunch hour with something besides my sandwich and coffee. The question "Do I have anything unique or meaningful to add to the discussion of the human condition with this blog is one I've asked myself over the years? Since I write, in large part for a group of friends and family back in the US as a sort of open letter or circular letter this is a question I can often ignore because I am really writing for a group of people who know who I am for whom the inside joke, the hyperbole and verbal jesting that goes on between family and friends is part of the conversation. Other readers are, for me, a bonus. That is why I normally just post comments to this blog and make any replies in the comments section.

However, someone named Paul left a quite detailed reply to my post about creating a free trade zone between Hong Kong and Shenzhen and it deserves a longer, more detailed reply. Because I am responding to a comment this post is very different one than normal because it is primarily to people who do not know my name. Indeed, it deserved it last week but I've been fighting a cold and been otherwise occupied. I need to get back into the habit of posting three times a week.

Paul's questions are in red my answers in normal black

Question #1
But to open the border would mean a much larger infrastructure to handle the number of people crossing everyday.

No. It would simply mean removing the checkpoints at the four crossing points between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The infrastructure is already there the train stations are next to each other the trains go there so it would just mean that more people could go back and forth easier. Just like taking the train from Manhattan to the suburbs up on Long Island.

Would it mean more people crossing the border everyday? I don't know but if they didn't have to clear customs each way I would imagine that the number could double and it would still be less congested.

Actually, a massive upgrade would be needed.

No, I do not think that is true as explained above. Thousands or tens-of-thousands of people cross the Hong Kong Shenzhen border everyday already. I think that the biggest issue might actually be (Please remember I suffer from Anglo-phobia) that in Hong Kong we use right hand drive vehicles while in China they use the more civilized left-hand vehicles. Thus, going from one city to the next without the border check could be an issue because drivers leaving Hong Kong would find themselves on the wrong side of the road or vice-versa. This might require some innovative freeway interchanges but given the poor level of driving quality both in Hong Kong and the PRC it is also entirely possible that nobody would notice.

Do you think Hong Kong has the right to encourage people to live in Shenzhen?

The classic red herring. The real issue is that right now people here, for the most part have no choice but to live in Hong Kong. If you live in the UK and decide you do not like London you can pack up and move to Leeds. In Hong Kong if you decide that you don't like Hong Kong you can pack up and either, immigrate to another country or put up with Hong Kong. Thus I am proposing giving them the freedom to do so if they wished. But, I think many of the poor and middle class people in Hong Kong would. They need no encouraging from me.

The people on that side of the border make those decisions, and would it be in their interest?

I think that Shenzhen would love to have something like this happen. The issue is that it would probably cause the Hong Kong property market to collapse and while that would benefit Hong Kong in the long term by lower the cost of living and doing business here in the short term it would cause considerable economic disruption.

They already decide who can come here via the individual travel scheme. Side trips to Macau are being rationed now as well.

Shenzhen is an SAR just like Hong Kong. The rules are different there than the rest of China. While this is an issue it may not be a major one.

I heard a story recently about school children crossing the border everyday to come to school in the SAR. A time consuming process, and only a certain number of buses are allowed in the closed area at a time. They live in Shenzhen. Why do they come to school in Hong Kong? Who's taxes are paying for that?

I have combine two of your objections into one answer. This is an question that shows you really live here but probably do not have a child in school. There are two answers. 1st the buss issue would simply disappear; they could come if they want. The second issue is a little more complex. Schools in Hong Kong are assigned by a district. Children apply to a school near where they live but schools have the right to take a percentage of students from out side their district. In any case potential students need to provide proof of residency to apply. So, if a child lived in Shenzhen, and was not a resident of Hong Kong they could not apply to schools here with the exception of some of the international schools that are not tax supported because they didn't live here. Would people try to work the system by obtaining a false address? Sure they would but they do that anyway.

The government often talks about the user pays principle. Why is there an airport tax, but no departure tax at the land crossings?

Good question. One way to deal with right now is through toll roads and such. But, isn't the cost of a visa to enter China sort of like this? But what does this have to do with a free trade zone between Hong Kong and Shenzhen?

Hong Kong is Hong Kong
Shenzhen is Shenzhen

It would remain so under a free trade arrangement. Look at the city of Texarkana in the US. It basically straddles the border of three different states Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. You don't have to cross a border check point to reach any section of the city. Suburban communities often have a different culture and ethos than the larger cities they surround.

Who knows where we will be in the 39 years to go before 2047?

We will certainly be more fully integrated into the PRC. We can either embrace that change and try to manage it or be swallowed up by it.

If I lived in Shenzen, could I access your blog on the Internet? Would I still be able to check out news on the BBC web site?

In many places in Shenzhen yes you can just as the cell phone networks over lap. While this is an issue I think it is one that will become less important over time. As the Internet goes wireless this is going to be truer than it is today. The PRC cannot simply keep everything critical of their government out. The Internet is to vast and people are too creative. China will have to open up or it will have to become like North Korea. If it chooses the second option it won't matter where we are.

Can I post my comments on web sites without them being censored?

See the answer above. Having spent some time in the PRC getting my PhD (I know my spelling still looks like I am in form 5) I can honestly say that that I don't feel that the censorship there is as bad as it is often presented in the Western press.

Could I wear my range of t-shirts that have all sorts of vaguely political slogans on them?

Have you seen what they wear in China? My guess is as long as it is English you could probably do it now.

Can I openly ask my neighbors about what happened in Beijing in 1989, and why their kids have no idea about it?

I have done this with a table full of academics in Wuhan. What you cannot do is have such questions appear in the local newspaper.

Will the customs officers confiscate my bibles and all the magazines I bring in with me?

There won't be any customs offers at the Shenzhen check point to take them. One of the reasons the peopleand government of Shenzhen would like this is it makes them more free.

Can I ask why the mainland Olympic medalists are forced as a group to go to Hong Kong to perform in an embarrassing dog and pony show?

I doubt you could print it in a paper but you could probably ask. You might be surprised at how many people there agreed with you and how many didn't understand the question. But what does this have to do with the question at hand?

Can I trust my building management and security guards?

Can you trust them here? The home owners association in the building I live in looks to be run by triads, I don't think it would be worse there.

Hong Kong has many faults, but I wouldn't want to live in Shenzhen.

Less, crowded, less expensive, clean, well planned streets, better grocery stores lovely parks, bigger apartments are answers that come to mind. Besides, nobody is saying you'd have to. An arrangement like this would simply give you the ability to move there if you wanted to.



Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who might live in Shenzhen if the border was removed

Shenzhen

The wife and I went to Shenzhen on Saturday.

I always enjoy going one of the nearby cities in the PRC proper; it is a good break from Hong Kong Kong. In Shenzhen we did a little Christmas shopping but mainly just explored. We rode the subway to an area we'd not been to before and just walked all day from about 11:30 AM until about 6:00PM with a 1 1/2 hour lunch in a hot pot restaurant.

One of the great things about China is the mangled English that you see on signs. Here are some I saw on Saturday

#1 - Sorry this is a bit fuzzy. The name on the store is "Bo Lin WHTCH" So are they selling watches or witches? Phonetically it could be either but in reality all they had were handbags.

#2- I wonder if this store named "B.S.Boy" sells counterfeit jeans, mushrooms or organic fertilizer?
#3 I find it rather strange that a Nation that is officially Atheist would have so many stores that sell Christmas decorations. I do not remember seeing stores like this in the malls at home. Well, maybe one but not a whole city block of them


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who Shops in the PRC