Perspectives on Life.

Life in China definitely has its' up and downs, and sometimes you just have to laugh when you should cry. Now I know the PC idiots are going to want a piece of me for writing this, but it is a true story. In essence, what is comical about these events, is that they show not just the communication difficulties between foreigners and Chinese, and between Chinese and Chinese, but the difficulties that arise when dealing with bureaucrats.

Last weekend I received a call from a Chinese acquaintance who was trying to assist a foreign teacher and her friend. A Foreign tourist had travelled through Wuhan on her way to visit her compatriot who is teaching English.

Arriving in the little country town she realised that she had either lost, or had had stolen, her papers, including her passport. Fortunately, she had attached to them, the contact telephone number of a Chinese person, just in case of such an incident.

Sometime after her arrival, someone phoned the contact number, and the two chinese people spoke. The Contact person then phoned the Foreign teacher in the country town.

The finder of the documents, apparently without demanding any financial recompense, but who thereafter was deemed 'the thief', informed the person at the Chinese contact number, that he had the foreigners documents in his possession.

He asked that the foreigners go to the 'Aricultural bank" within 20 minutes, to retrieve said documents.

The heavy burden of Life

So the two foreigners and the school co-ordinator in the country town, naturally ran off to the local Agricultural bank expecting to find the 'thief'. When they could not find him, they phoned the telephone number that 'the thief' had provided. That turned out to be the number of a public phone booth in the Capital, 165 kilometres away.

The poor 'thief' must have wondered why the foreigner did not come to collect her papers from the kind hearted soul waiting outside the Agricultural Bank near the Bus Station in the Capital City. Just a pity that no one thought to clarify the situation in relation to the respective locations of all parties concerned.

So what to do now? They decided to phone me and ask for advice.

Amongst other things, I informed my friends that they must contact the local police, because the visiting foreigner is now unable to comply with the law requiring her to produce documentation on demand.  Fortunately, this had already been done.

The Local police advised the foreigner that she must produce the documents in two days time or be charged with a criminal offence, and suggested that she quickly go to Beijing and get replacements.  That would solve the problem.

Have you ever tried to catch a Plane or long distance Train in China without your documents?

I love China, but sometimes I just really wonder!

The longer I stay here the more admiration I have for Mao Zedong. How he got this country together and managed to keep it that way is truly amazing.

Anyway, as someone famous once said:  'Always look on the Bright Side of Life!  ahah ahah ahah ahah!

R.P.BenDedek

Email: rpbendedek@kingscalendar.com

R.P.BenDedek (pseudonym) is the author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' at www.kingscalendar.com, and is a contributing columnist at Magic City Morning Star News. From Brisbane Queensland Australia, he currently teaches Conversational English in Wuhan China.