Today's weather: High = 27 Low = 18
Sunny
May day! May Day! We get a 3-day May holiday break, thank goodness! I can sure use the break. Other schools have this holiday for 9 days, very similar to the October holiday. We don't, because we work shorter hours during the day and we get more frequent and shorter stat holidays. Such as an upcoming 5-day holiday for Dragon Boat Festival in June!! Woo-hoo, I'll take this over a longer long May holiday.
April was a rather bizarre month. It wasn't a bad month, in fact this entire school year has been the best in my overseas teaching career. It's just that a whole bunch of shit happened at the same time around the middle of this month, including both good and bad things, that all required urgent dealing with at once. I'm still dealing with one issue after another as a result, and the dust won't be settled until the end of May. Even now, I need to make a quick trip to Hong Kong and back during this holiday to deal with some business that was frustrated by virtue of being in mainland China and having arbitrary obstacles set up in my path.
When feeling frustrated and stressed in the mainland, THAT is when I really appreciate having the motorcycle. There is no better way to relieve stress than to get on the bike and go for a ride. When the weather is perfect like it has been recently, it is balmy and warm at night, and makes for a nice cruise. I didn't go anywhere in particular, just cruised all around my local district in Shanghai. The bike is running extremely well these days. The bike really likes this warm weather, and the engine is the smoothest I've experienced yet. Viscosity of the oil is at a perfect level, and the bike handles like a breeze.
I had to admit much satisfaction after seeing literally hundreds of young people and couples standing on the side of the road waving down taxis that were full and not stopping. When taxis are scarce and hard to come by, when it's late at night, and when the weather is perfect, that is the time to be riding a motorcycle.
Saturday 30 April 2011
Friday 29 April 2011
ARGH! China Frustration
Seems to be a recurring theme to this blog, but what the hell. China is the place were you really learn the application of this principle as follows: (from a self-help website)
-------------------
To be alive is to have a goal and pursue it—anything from cleaning the house, or planning a vacation, to saving money for retirement. If somebody or something blocks the goal, we begin to feel bent up and thwarted. Then we get mad (1) The blocked goal, (2) the sense of frustration, (3) aggressive action—this is the normal human sequence. If we are aware of what is going on inside us, however, we can save ourselves a good deal of needless pain and trouble.
-------------------
In part, that's why blogs exist. And of course, I need to use a proxy server to access it because China has blocked the blog site. I mean seriously, mainland China takes the absolute cake for blocked goals, obstacles, and frustrations. You have a task or goal, could be the simplest of things, and you set out to pursue it. Then it doesn't take long before the inevitable 'we don't have this' or 'you can't do it' surfaces. Sometimes I wonder if people invest more time and energy in explaining all the reasons why something can't be done instead of just doing it.
Anyways, to make a long story short, I'm going to need to leave the country, do some business in Hong Kong, and re-enter. This is connected with my address registration and lost drivers license debacle, in case the plan mentioned in the last post goes belly up. The trip to HK would also involve some other business. Having thought over various options for what I want to do, they all involve hassle. I'm just like, forget the hassle, will take a day off, fly to Hong Kong, and do the business over there. Unbelievable, but that's the best way.
While frustration inside the mainland can work oneself up into a frenzy, the advice above is really good to be aware of what's going on, and keep from needless pain and trouble. Part of that involves taking a step back, even laughing about the obstacles, then regrouping, and coming up with another attack plan.
One way or the other, it will get done, as I am damned dogged determined to accomplish tasks and goals no matter what. If the goal is blocked, it just makes me all that more eager to circumvent the obstacles and accomplish it some other way.
-------------------
To be alive is to have a goal and pursue it—anything from cleaning the house, or planning a vacation, to saving money for retirement. If somebody or something blocks the goal, we begin to feel bent up and thwarted. Then we get mad (1) The blocked goal, (2) the sense of frustration, (3) aggressive action—this is the normal human sequence. If we are aware of what is going on inside us, however, we can save ourselves a good deal of needless pain and trouble.
-------------------
In part, that's why blogs exist. And of course, I need to use a proxy server to access it because China has blocked the blog site. I mean seriously, mainland China takes the absolute cake for blocked goals, obstacles, and frustrations. You have a task or goal, could be the simplest of things, and you set out to pursue it. Then it doesn't take long before the inevitable 'we don't have this' or 'you can't do it' surfaces. Sometimes I wonder if people invest more time and energy in explaining all the reasons why something can't be done instead of just doing it.
Anyways, to make a long story short, I'm going to need to leave the country, do some business in Hong Kong, and re-enter. This is connected with my address registration and lost drivers license debacle, in case the plan mentioned in the last post goes belly up. The trip to HK would also involve some other business. Having thought over various options for what I want to do, they all involve hassle. I'm just like, forget the hassle, will take a day off, fly to Hong Kong, and do the business over there. Unbelievable, but that's the best way.
While frustration inside the mainland can work oneself up into a frenzy, the advice above is really good to be aware of what's going on, and keep from needless pain and trouble. Part of that involves taking a step back, even laughing about the obstacles, then regrouping, and coming up with another attack plan.
One way or the other, it will get done, as I am damned dogged determined to accomplish tasks and goals no matter what. If the goal is blocked, it just makes me all that more eager to circumvent the obstacles and accomplish it some other way.
Thursday 28 April 2011
No Accidents, No Losses
Today's weather: High = 23 Low = 13
Sunny
First off, I can't believe just how good the weather has been for April, and will continue into May. It is really the best year for spring weather I can recall in Shanghai for a long time.
After having made some slight progress on replacing a lost drivers license, I ran into another setback. Basically I needed to get police registration for my current address in Shanghai in order to re-register with a previous address in the countryside region of Wujiang, Jiangsu province --- basically it's in another province, where my job used to be.
To make a long story short, I had to re-register with the police at my Shanghai address since I had left the country and returned in Feb after the winter holiday. My secretary didn't tell me about this rule, but let's not blame her, I should have known about it. Nonetheless I asked her politely to go to the police station with my passport and get an updated registration from the police, then scan and email me the PDF file.
She did that, but the dates on the registration form were from last year, before I had left for winter break. She said nothing about this, I pretended there was no problem so she wouldn't lose face, and thanked her for emailing the document over -- even though it was not the correct date. What probably happened was a conversation like this:
Officer: We can't register this passport, because this foreign devil left the country and came back on Feb 13, but it is now already April 18. He didn't register within 24 hours of re-entering China so he has to pay a fine, which is 500 RMB per day to a maximum of 5000 RMB.
Secretary: But I already registered with his current visa at this current address beforehand.
Officer: Doesn't matter. He left the country, came back, and the latest entry stamp in the passport is for Feb 13. The rules clearly state that he has to register again with us in 24 hours, which wasn't done.
Secretary: How is he supposed to know that?
Officer: Well you registered him in the first place, so you should have known that. Unless he pays a fine, we can't register him here for the current date.
Secretary: Can you make a printout of his former registration?
Officer: Yes, we can do that.
And so that's exactly what I got. I can prove that a conversation like this must have taken place, because the dates on the "new" registration form I got say it was printed by the office on April 18, but the date of entry into the residence was back in late August, at the same time that I got my residence permit visa.
However, all is not lost. This form is better than nothing, and it contains matches on my visa number, type, residence address, and other things. The only problem is the date of entry into my current residence, which can easily be changed using Photoshop or some other version of PDF editing software with optical character recognition.
After working for a few hours on this to make the fake copy look near-perfect, it should hopefully pass the inspection. Will find out in a week or two when I take this down to Luxu and try my luck at the office over there again, who told me I had to go back to Shanghai in the first place for an updated police registration form.
When in Rome. It makes me sick to my stomach to have to do these things, but this was exactly the same method that was needed in order to replace a lost passport last year. Somewhere along the way, fake documentation needs to be submitted to the police, or else it just prolongs the ongoing hassle when Officer A says we can't help, you have to visit Officer B, blah blah blah.
And so it is with the drivers license. Let's just hope that after this fake paperwork is done, the rest of the process can be smoother.
Meanwhile, I've now come to the conclusion that having valuable things lost or stolen within China fits into the same category as getting into a motor vehicle accident, or else having hassles with the police: It is something you want to avoid at all costs.
People say regarding motorcycle riding in China, "What if you get into an accident?"
The answer is, "You don't get into an accident."
In other words, I've been able to establish that riding to survive, riding like your life depends on it, and wanting to avoid an accident like avoiding death is the only way to ensure you don't get into an accident.
The same principle applies for valuables like drivers license, passport, and money. You hang onto those things in China like your life depends on it, and you DO NOT LOSE THEM at any cost.
It's like someone says, "What if you're riding on the subway and someone steals your wallet with your valuables?"
The answer is, "You don't let that happen."
If you've been in China any length of time, you know how troublesome it would be to get into a traffic accident or deal with the police. You don't want that to happen, right? Neither do you want your stuff getting lost or stolen. If you realize the gravity of the situation, and the fact that the police will do f*ck all to help you if your things really do get lost or stolen, you'll see to it that it doesn't happen
Sunny
First off, I can't believe just how good the weather has been for April, and will continue into May. It is really the best year for spring weather I can recall in Shanghai for a long time.
After having made some slight progress on replacing a lost drivers license, I ran into another setback. Basically I needed to get police registration for my current address in Shanghai in order to re-register with a previous address in the countryside region of Wujiang, Jiangsu province --- basically it's in another province, where my job used to be.
To make a long story short, I had to re-register with the police at my Shanghai address since I had left the country and returned in Feb after the winter holiday. My secretary didn't tell me about this rule, but let's not blame her, I should have known about it. Nonetheless I asked her politely to go to the police station with my passport and get an updated registration from the police, then scan and email me the PDF file.
She did that, but the dates on the registration form were from last year, before I had left for winter break. She said nothing about this, I pretended there was no problem so she wouldn't lose face, and thanked her for emailing the document over -- even though it was not the correct date. What probably happened was a conversation like this:
Officer: We can't register this passport, because this foreign devil left the country and came back on Feb 13, but it is now already April 18. He didn't register within 24 hours of re-entering China so he has to pay a fine, which is 500 RMB per day to a maximum of 5000 RMB.
Secretary: But I already registered with his current visa at this current address beforehand.
Officer: Doesn't matter. He left the country, came back, and the latest entry stamp in the passport is for Feb 13. The rules clearly state that he has to register again with us in 24 hours, which wasn't done.
Secretary: How is he supposed to know that?
Officer: Well you registered him in the first place, so you should have known that. Unless he pays a fine, we can't register him here for the current date.
Secretary: Can you make a printout of his former registration?
Officer: Yes, we can do that.
And so that's exactly what I got. I can prove that a conversation like this must have taken place, because the dates on the "new" registration form I got say it was printed by the office on April 18, but the date of entry into the residence was back in late August, at the same time that I got my residence permit visa.
However, all is not lost. This form is better than nothing, and it contains matches on my visa number, type, residence address, and other things. The only problem is the date of entry into my current residence, which can easily be changed using Photoshop or some other version of PDF editing software with optical character recognition.
After working for a few hours on this to make the fake copy look near-perfect, it should hopefully pass the inspection. Will find out in a week or two when I take this down to Luxu and try my luck at the office over there again, who told me I had to go back to Shanghai in the first place for an updated police registration form.
When in Rome. It makes me sick to my stomach to have to do these things, but this was exactly the same method that was needed in order to replace a lost passport last year. Somewhere along the way, fake documentation needs to be submitted to the police, or else it just prolongs the ongoing hassle when Officer A says we can't help, you have to visit Officer B, blah blah blah.
And so it is with the drivers license. Let's just hope that after this fake paperwork is done, the rest of the process can be smoother.
Meanwhile, I've now come to the conclusion that having valuable things lost or stolen within China fits into the same category as getting into a motor vehicle accident, or else having hassles with the police: It is something you want to avoid at all costs.
People say regarding motorcycle riding in China, "What if you get into an accident?"
The answer is, "You don't get into an accident."
In other words, I've been able to establish that riding to survive, riding like your life depends on it, and wanting to avoid an accident like avoiding death is the only way to ensure you don't get into an accident.
The same principle applies for valuables like drivers license, passport, and money. You hang onto those things in China like your life depends on it, and you DO NOT LOSE THEM at any cost.
It's like someone says, "What if you're riding on the subway and someone steals your wallet with your valuables?"
The answer is, "You don't let that happen."
If you've been in China any length of time, you know how troublesome it would be to get into a traffic accident or deal with the police. You don't want that to happen, right? Neither do you want your stuff getting lost or stolen. If you realize the gravity of the situation, and the fact that the police will do f*ck all to help you if your things really do get lost or stolen, you'll see to it that it doesn't happen
Tuesday 26 April 2011
One Off the Bucket List
Today's weather: High = 33 Low = 19
Sunny
It would be nice if the school gave us Easter holiday break, but this being a communist country, it's an unlikely scenario. We do, however, get May Holiday break coming up for a blissful 3 day weekend. Still trying to figure out my plans for that.
A couple weeks ago the crap hit the fan with about 5-6 things all going wrong at the same time. If anyone has lived in China for any period of time, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. When it rains, it pours, and things happen SIMULTANEOUSLY that require urgent attention to deal with.
Up until now, I've been able to tackle one item off that 'bucket list' with successful resolutions looming on the horizon. First is that the former host and current co-leader (both Chinese females) of the course I lead on weekends are agreeing to meet together and discuss their emotional conflicts with each other face-to-face, with myself and another man acting as intermediaries. It really and truly feels like the 6-party talks with North Korea and the USA as the antagonists, with the other 4 parties along for the ride to work together and facilitate a positive outcome.
Since the host and co-leader are still on edgy terms with another, it's a great relief that they've stopped trading insults with each other indirectly, and are now ready to sit down and talk directly to each other about the problems they have wiht one another. However, I'm definitely going to be facilitating this meeting. Up until now, we've had maybe 8-10 meetings without the two antagonists present. We've mainly just been relaying messages and meeting about when we should meet next.
Welcome to China!!! This is exactly how it works when face issues are involved. Related to my former post on halfpat culture shock, this is precisely why I write these blogs, because otherwise some uninformed westerner would just step in and make a criticism like, "why can't they be mature about it, and why do the Chinese act like children this way to drag out an emotional conflict to involve more and more people because one person lost their face"
The answer to this quesiton is:
a. I don't know why
b. I don't care why
c. Why questions are not to be asked in China
Basically I have a personal involvement in this issue, which depends on everyone getting along on my team. That's why it's key that the relationship problem between host and co-leader can be resolved, for the smooth running of this course, and for the purpose of forgiveness.
Sunny
It would be nice if the school gave us Easter holiday break, but this being a communist country, it's an unlikely scenario. We do, however, get May Holiday break coming up for a blissful 3 day weekend. Still trying to figure out my plans for that.
A couple weeks ago the crap hit the fan with about 5-6 things all going wrong at the same time. If anyone has lived in China for any period of time, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. When it rains, it pours, and things happen SIMULTANEOUSLY that require urgent attention to deal with.
Up until now, I've been able to tackle one item off that 'bucket list' with successful resolutions looming on the horizon. First is that the former host and current co-leader (both Chinese females) of the course I lead on weekends are agreeing to meet together and discuss their emotional conflicts with each other face-to-face, with myself and another man acting as intermediaries. It really and truly feels like the 6-party talks with North Korea and the USA as the antagonists, with the other 4 parties along for the ride to work together and facilitate a positive outcome.
Since the host and co-leader are still on edgy terms with another, it's a great relief that they've stopped trading insults with each other indirectly, and are now ready to sit down and talk directly to each other about the problems they have wiht one another. However, I'm definitely going to be facilitating this meeting. Up until now, we've had maybe 8-10 meetings without the two antagonists present. We've mainly just been relaying messages and meeting about when we should meet next.
Welcome to China!!! This is exactly how it works when face issues are involved. Related to my former post on halfpat culture shock, this is precisely why I write these blogs, because otherwise some uninformed westerner would just step in and make a criticism like, "why can't they be mature about it, and why do the Chinese act like children this way to drag out an emotional conflict to involve more and more people because one person lost their face"
The answer to this quesiton is:
a. I don't know why
b. I don't care why
c. Why questions are not to be asked in China
Basically I have a personal involvement in this issue, which depends on everyone getting along on my team. That's why it's key that the relationship problem between host and co-leader can be resolved, for the smooth running of this course, and for the purpose of forgiveness.
Saturday 23 April 2011
Great Day of Motorcycle Exploring
Today's weather: High = 23 Low = 13
Sunny
With yet another day of such great weather on the weekend, time for an extended motorcycle run. First off, the bad news, even the suburbs are now refusing fuel to unregistered motorcycles. The fake plate have now become a necessity for getting fuel, until those eventually get replaced with legit plates by the end of the year.
The exploring was all done in the 'golden triangle' area betweeen the borders of 3 provinces: Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. This was actually the area where I used to live and work at a school which, I must admit, was the most unique year I've had in China. There is something intrepid about crossing provincial borders and to see the substantial differences that each province has to offer (and the other two do not offer)
As it turns out, mainly due to the EXPO, several modernized border checkpoints were added in the last two years along remote backgrounds. Two years ago, the checkpoints still existed, but they were ramshackle little boxes with 'zhi an' security guards that just sat there and didn't really venture out of the box.
Nowadays, those checkpoints along the backroads have all been replaced and built up with modern versions, security cameras, and run by the PSB (public security bureau). This basically matches the same kind of setup on the regular highways and expressways. Learning from mistakes the other week, I stopped well in advance of the actual checkpoint and observed what was going before ploughing ahead. Or actually turning around. Things didn't look good, in that cars and bikes alike were all being stopped, including thorough searches in the trunk, etc.
So it turns out the exploring mission was to find alternative routes to the alternative routes that would not have these kind of checks, and still allow two-way access between any two of Shanghai, Jiangsu, or Zhejiang provinces on a motorcycle.
Amazingly enough, the mission was a success! I'll have to map this out in detail using Google Earth or satellite maps and post it some day, but let's just say it's very complicated and involves detours of detours. Nonetheless, it is indeed possible. The chances of additional future police checkpoints on these newly discovered roads are very slim. The main reason is that the roads are already for bikes only (too small for cars), and they primarily function for peasants in the countryside to use on bicycles for their farming and housing. If the PSB set up blockades on those roads, it would create friction between them and the farmers, and the police would prefer to keep a calm atmosphere. Interestingly enough, that exact scenario happened two years ago. After an initial confrontation, the farmers ended up getting their road back.
There are several major advantages of having this kind of unfettered access between the three provinces. One is that the smaller cities in Zhejiang province are the best places to get brand spanking new motorcycles for cheap prices. The province itself is rather wealthy, and it has the least restrictions on bikes (relative to the other two provinces). Because of that, dealers are abundant, prices are cheap, and sales are brisk. One motorcycle shop in particular has upgrades that I'm eyeing for next year, with the ultimate challenging of trying to be squeaky clean legal. While chatting with the salesman, he's like, oh yeah, for sure, we can get a plate on the bike for you. How many times have I heard that line before. Nonetheless I'm researching options into what cross-provincial motorcycle registration is like. It's difficult of course, but not impossible.
All of this post and other like it, however, hinges on the logic of the Chinese 'hukou system'. This is a system of household registration that has been in place for decades and which many Chinese economists are calling outdated and in need of reform. A hukou is basically a registration of your residence, and the associated LIMITS and RESTRICTIONS that come with the particular area or district of where the residence is. It may seem like I'm harping a lot on the boundaries between cities and provinces in these posts, but this is the reality of the hukou system where you must be registered with the police in a particular jurisdiction in order to get anything substantial done in that jurisdiction.
Obviously, going between jurisdictions is a big deal and no easy feat, despite the outwards appearances of bullet trains that can whisk back and forth. As I'm learning, you need to get a temporary registration form of residence in another area before you can do anything substantial like register a bike.
On a more serious note, the realities of the hukou system were a matter of life and death during the cultural revolution when an urban vs a rural hukou meant getting enough food to eat or else starve. In those days, checkpoints were set up at city entrances (must like I've described here with provincial borders) and people with rural hukous were not allowed into the city. Also, city police would periodically round up people with a rural hukou and expel them out of the city, where they would then starve to death in the countryside.
There have been significant reforms this then, obviously, but there is a long way to go in terms of changes to the hukou system. Actually there is sharp debate among Chinese economists and politicians on this very issue. Those in favor of reform say it's good for the economy. Those opposed say that reforming the hukou system would mean even more migration to the cities and strains on resources, etc. Actually, Shanghai already has 25 million people and they say it can't any more
Reality tells us that the opponents are winning this debate, and the hukou system will be entrenched for years to come. Why else would be there be increased security and beefed up provincial border checkpoints constructed in the last 2-3 years all over the country?
Sunny
With yet another day of such great weather on the weekend, time for an extended motorcycle run. First off, the bad news, even the suburbs are now refusing fuel to unregistered motorcycles. The fake plate have now become a necessity for getting fuel, until those eventually get replaced with legit plates by the end of the year.
The exploring was all done in the 'golden triangle' area betweeen the borders of 3 provinces: Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. This was actually the area where I used to live and work at a school which, I must admit, was the most unique year I've had in China. There is something intrepid about crossing provincial borders and to see the substantial differences that each province has to offer (and the other two do not offer)
As it turns out, mainly due to the EXPO, several modernized border checkpoints were added in the last two years along remote backgrounds. Two years ago, the checkpoints still existed, but they were ramshackle little boxes with 'zhi an' security guards that just sat there and didn't really venture out of the box.
Nowadays, those checkpoints along the backroads have all been replaced and built up with modern versions, security cameras, and run by the PSB (public security bureau). This basically matches the same kind of setup on the regular highways and expressways. Learning from mistakes the other week, I stopped well in advance of the actual checkpoint and observed what was going before ploughing ahead. Or actually turning around. Things didn't look good, in that cars and bikes alike were all being stopped, including thorough searches in the trunk, etc.
So it turns out the exploring mission was to find alternative routes to the alternative routes that would not have these kind of checks, and still allow two-way access between any two of Shanghai, Jiangsu, or Zhejiang provinces on a motorcycle.
Amazingly enough, the mission was a success! I'll have to map this out in detail using Google Earth or satellite maps and post it some day, but let's just say it's very complicated and involves detours of detours. Nonetheless, it is indeed possible. The chances of additional future police checkpoints on these newly discovered roads are very slim. The main reason is that the roads are already for bikes only (too small for cars), and they primarily function for peasants in the countryside to use on bicycles for their farming and housing. If the PSB set up blockades on those roads, it would create friction between them and the farmers, and the police would prefer to keep a calm atmosphere. Interestingly enough, that exact scenario happened two years ago. After an initial confrontation, the farmers ended up getting their road back.
There are several major advantages of having this kind of unfettered access between the three provinces. One is that the smaller cities in Zhejiang province are the best places to get brand spanking new motorcycles for cheap prices. The province itself is rather wealthy, and it has the least restrictions on bikes (relative to the other two provinces). Because of that, dealers are abundant, prices are cheap, and sales are brisk. One motorcycle shop in particular has upgrades that I'm eyeing for next year, with the ultimate challenging of trying to be squeaky clean legal. While chatting with the salesman, he's like, oh yeah, for sure, we can get a plate on the bike for you. How many times have I heard that line before. Nonetheless I'm researching options into what cross-provincial motorcycle registration is like. It's difficult of course, but not impossible.
All of this post and other like it, however, hinges on the logic of the Chinese 'hukou system'. This is a system of household registration that has been in place for decades and which many Chinese economists are calling outdated and in need of reform. A hukou is basically a registration of your residence, and the associated LIMITS and RESTRICTIONS that come with the particular area or district of where the residence is. It may seem like I'm harping a lot on the boundaries between cities and provinces in these posts, but this is the reality of the hukou system where you must be registered with the police in a particular jurisdiction in order to get anything substantial done in that jurisdiction.
Obviously, going between jurisdictions is a big deal and no easy feat, despite the outwards appearances of bullet trains that can whisk back and forth. As I'm learning, you need to get a temporary registration form of residence in another area before you can do anything substantial like register a bike.
On a more serious note, the realities of the hukou system were a matter of life and death during the cultural revolution when an urban vs a rural hukou meant getting enough food to eat or else starve. In those days, checkpoints were set up at city entrances (must like I've described here with provincial borders) and people with rural hukous were not allowed into the city. Also, city police would periodically round up people with a rural hukou and expel them out of the city, where they would then starve to death in the countryside.
There have been significant reforms this then, obviously, but there is a long way to go in terms of changes to the hukou system. Actually there is sharp debate among Chinese economists and politicians on this very issue. Those in favor of reform say it's good for the economy. Those opposed say that reforming the hukou system would mean even more migration to the cities and strains on resources, etc. Actually, Shanghai already has 25 million people and they say it can't any more
Reality tells us that the opponents are winning this debate, and the hukou system will be entrenched for years to come. Why else would be there be increased security and beefed up provincial border checkpoints constructed in the last 2-3 years all over the country?
Thursday 21 April 2011
Looking Like MeiLong Cheng
Today's weather: High = 17 Low = 10
Rain
The area where I've been doing some house hunting is actually a large complex, large enough to get its own name: MeiLong City. Last post mentioned all the details about it, and today was another test-commute from work on a motorbike to see how long it would take to get there after a typical school day. 15 minutes. Not bad!
Mind you this was during the lunch hour with sparse traffic. I suppose in rush hour it would take longer, so I'll revise it to 20-25 minutes each way. The distance is exactly 10km from work so this is doable. The subway is also a convenient rainy-day option, as the apartment complex is right beside the Lian Hua Rd subway station for Line #1. Eventually will do a test-commute on that during rush hour to experience the worst case scenario.
For now I'm in a holding pattern until late next month, when I'll then do more detailed house searching and sign a lease for June.
Thank goodness for doing June --- June house leases, as opposed to going from September -- September. I highly suggest any new teacher reading this blog to line up an apartment rental in China before the summer, as opposed to after summer. It would mean actually going to your place of employment first and looking for apartments ahead of time on your own, but the rewards of doing so are worth it. If you don't do this, then the school will set you up on campus (depending on the employer) automatically, or you would start looking in September once the year started and you got settled in. This would mean complications in moving off the campus housing (if your employer does this way) and time spent moving during the busiest part of the year.
Chinese landlords are sticklers for the 12-month rental agreement and it is very difficult to negotiate other terms. I have heard of many stories where a teacher rented in October, and wanted to move out in June because he found a better place and/or a better job for next year. But the landlord says sorry, you signed a 12 month contract and you forfeit your 2-months deposit by leaving early. It's all there written in the contract, plainly spelled out in Chinese characters.
The reason they do it this way is because they are very reluctant to have an apartment go empty for any length of time, when they could instead be making money off the rent by lining up new tenants to move in right away. For this reason, landlords also want their tenants to give them *at least two months notice* if they are not planning to renew the contract, so they can start lining up the next tenant with a minimum of lag time once the 12-month contract has finished.
So if the teacher jumps ship after June and doesn't give notice to the landlord, then the landlord deems it fair to forfeit the deposit because this is how much time it would take (the 2 months) to find someone else while the house remains empty.
In effect, by jumping in June and forfeiting the deposit, the teacher is paying for the summer when he is not there.
Unfortunately I've learned all of this stuff the hard way, by making many mistakes along the way in various cities and districts all over China. Once you've figured the system out, it makes sense, you just have to see it from the landlord's point of view. The housing price to rental return ratio in China is very unbalanced, meaning that the rent does not compensate the landlords very much. Even in my case, I'm bitching over an increase to 6000 RMB a month, but the price of the house is surely 4 - 5 million RMB by now, at an estimated price of 30,000 to 35,000 RMB per square meter. If my landlord was smart, she bought earlier, and could make a windfall by selling. But the fact remains, she's not making much off the rent in percentage terms.
This is exactly the reason why I'm gonna go traipsing on down to Meilong Cheng around May 15 and say, "I want to rent a place within a few weeks, can you find me a unit that will be vacant by the time the housing contract of a current tenant ends, and then slot me in right away so that the lanlord doesn't have to keep the place empty." This would lead into some favor with the landlord, and potential for negotiations.
The downside of the June - June method is that you still need to pay for summer rent when it's not being used, as you would similarly from Sept - Sept, or due to a forfeited deposit (see above). However, if the landlord is favorable, you can negotiate a cheaper rent by doing it this way. That's what I did in Wuhan and got a smokin' deal, would have even extended it another year as they liked me -- but it turns out I moved to Shanghai obviously, so ended the lease in June on very good terms. Another key reason to go from June -- June for changing jobs.
Another friend even managed to pull off a free months worth of rent, but the key was she signed the lease first in June! They made an agreement over that from the start. Chances are the landlord would be less favorable to negotiating deals for the summer if the lease started in Sept, unless the teacher was coming back for next year and renting again. But then, nobody knows if they are coming back next year or not until April, and so that's why everyone plays this one year at a time.
Rain
The area where I've been doing some house hunting is actually a large complex, large enough to get its own name: MeiLong City. Last post mentioned all the details about it, and today was another test-commute from work on a motorbike to see how long it would take to get there after a typical school day. 15 minutes. Not bad!
Mind you this was during the lunch hour with sparse traffic. I suppose in rush hour it would take longer, so I'll revise it to 20-25 minutes each way. The distance is exactly 10km from work so this is doable. The subway is also a convenient rainy-day option, as the apartment complex is right beside the Lian Hua Rd subway station for Line #1. Eventually will do a test-commute on that during rush hour to experience the worst case scenario.
For now I'm in a holding pattern until late next month, when I'll then do more detailed house searching and sign a lease for June.
Thank goodness for doing June --- June house leases, as opposed to going from September -- September. I highly suggest any new teacher reading this blog to line up an apartment rental in China before the summer, as opposed to after summer. It would mean actually going to your place of employment first and looking for apartments ahead of time on your own, but the rewards of doing so are worth it. If you don't do this, then the school will set you up on campus (depending on the employer) automatically, or you would start looking in September once the year started and you got settled in. This would mean complications in moving off the campus housing (if your employer does this way) and time spent moving during the busiest part of the year.
Chinese landlords are sticklers for the 12-month rental agreement and it is very difficult to negotiate other terms. I have heard of many stories where a teacher rented in October, and wanted to move out in June because he found a better place and/or a better job for next year. But the landlord says sorry, you signed a 12 month contract and you forfeit your 2-months deposit by leaving early. It's all there written in the contract, plainly spelled out in Chinese characters.
The reason they do it this way is because they are very reluctant to have an apartment go empty for any length of time, when they could instead be making money off the rent by lining up new tenants to move in right away. For this reason, landlords also want their tenants to give them *at least two months notice* if they are not planning to renew the contract, so they can start lining up the next tenant with a minimum of lag time once the 12-month contract has finished.
So if the teacher jumps ship after June and doesn't give notice to the landlord, then the landlord deems it fair to forfeit the deposit because this is how much time it would take (the 2 months) to find someone else while the house remains empty.
In effect, by jumping in June and forfeiting the deposit, the teacher is paying for the summer when he is not there.
Unfortunately I've learned all of this stuff the hard way, by making many mistakes along the way in various cities and districts all over China. Once you've figured the system out, it makes sense, you just have to see it from the landlord's point of view. The housing price to rental return ratio in China is very unbalanced, meaning that the rent does not compensate the landlords very much. Even in my case, I'm bitching over an increase to 6000 RMB a month, but the price of the house is surely 4 - 5 million RMB by now, at an estimated price of 30,000 to 35,000 RMB per square meter. If my landlord was smart, she bought earlier, and could make a windfall by selling. But the fact remains, she's not making much off the rent in percentage terms.
This is exactly the reason why I'm gonna go traipsing on down to Meilong Cheng around May 15 and say, "I want to rent a place within a few weeks, can you find me a unit that will be vacant by the time the housing contract of a current tenant ends, and then slot me in right away so that the lanlord doesn't have to keep the place empty." This would lead into some favor with the landlord, and potential for negotiations.
The downside of the June - June method is that you still need to pay for summer rent when it's not being used, as you would similarly from Sept - Sept, or due to a forfeited deposit (see above). However, if the landlord is favorable, you can negotiate a cheaper rent by doing it this way. That's what I did in Wuhan and got a smokin' deal, would have even extended it another year as they liked me -- but it turns out I moved to Shanghai obviously, so ended the lease in June on very good terms. Another key reason to go from June -- June for changing jobs.
Another friend even managed to pull off a free months worth of rent, but the key was she signed the lease first in June! They made an agreement over that from the start. Chances are the landlord would be less favorable to negotiating deals for the summer if the lease started in Sept, unless the teacher was coming back for next year and renting again. But then, nobody knows if they are coming back next year or not until April, and so that's why everyone plays this one year at a time.
House Hunting in the Midburbs
Tonight was a lot of fun checking out various neighorhoods in the midburbs, which basically means between the inner and outer ring roads in Shanghai, specifically around the Jinjiang Park amusement park area. There are a lot of good deals to be found, all within the price range as indicated by the company's housing allowance.
In an ideal world, the company would give allowances to match the downtown rents which run anywhere between 6000 to 10,000 RMB a month for a simple two bedroom spacious apartment. Prices can obviously go way higher than that without having to look very hard. Rents can also go lower by choosing smaller places, i.e. 1 bedroom, older housing complexes, and far from a subway station. In this sense, it would be possible to rent a place within the given allowance, but life wouldn't be very fun after school in these kind of conditions -- especially when desiring to just chill out or have guests over.
Let's face it, downtown Shanghai is extremely crowded as evidenced by the population density stats. Rents are going to be expensive, and it's a sustainability problem that the local government is only too well aware of. It wouldn't be fair to expect a company to fully subsidize this kind of rent, as it's actually 3-4 times that of what they'd pay in another city!
For example, rents in Wuhan are only 1500-2000 RMB for a similar type of downtown place that I'm living in right now.
Another option is to keep an expensive place downtown and pay the difference out of pocket. Sounds good in theory, but the main problem is inflation. Rents are going up, as well as prices in general. Salary and allowance increases aren't keeping pace with inflation, and if I keep hanging in downtown for the long term, I'll end up losing out. If they can jack up my rent by more than 10% this year, then who's to say they won't just keep doing that year after year.
So it's really looking like a move out to the midburbs here. I want to keep my comfort and spacious apartment to kick back in after work and just chill. Having done a years worth of intense commuting, then two years worth of no commuting, I'm now ready for a compromise of around 30 minutes, 45 minutes tops.
While on a motorcycle cruise tonight to the main area near the Lianhua Rd subway station, I passed by a half-dozen or so other suitable apartment complexes along the way. I stopped off at each one, checked prices, chatting with the agents, asked questions, and collected business cards. This is where a little bit of Chinese speaking comes in most handy!
Actually it turns out I'm scouting places much too early, as the agents say it's best to show up 10-15 days in advance of wanting a place before securing any deals. Today was more or less a price checking run and it was very pleasing. The rents were all rather consistent, between 4000-4500 RMB which could even allow me to make some profit on the allowance!
The interesting thing was that the furthest place out was actually more expensive than the places along the way, given the whole neighorhood near Lianhua Lu is upscale, has a Carrefour, a 7-11, several Starbucks, the construction is all brand new, it's quiet, and there is a subway station within 2 minutes walking distance. I know a few people in the area also. Best of all, this location would make me eligible to register for a suburban motorcycle license plate next year. If the weather is cold or guests are over, the subway alternative is a few stops to Shanghai Stadium along Line #1, then a transfer to Line #4 to head to work. It would take anywhere from 30-40 minutes doing it this way.
I'm most probably going for the Lianhua option. The other places along the way looked nice, but they didn't have much in terms of neighorhood. Being far from subway stations also, it would make for semi-isolation and cause problems for guests who wanted to stay, even the intrepid type who would find the overall surrounding areas to be quite drab. If guests wanted to stay over, the Lianhua option would be nicer, in the sense that they could just hop on Line #1 and hop off at People's Square within 30 minutes tops to enjoy themselves. Or they could hop off at Xu Jia Hui within 15 minutes.
Actually the more I think about it, this is even better than my current arrangement. To get to line #1 right now takes about 15-20 minutes of walking through a maze before actually getting on the subway. If you consider door-to-door, it's almost 45 minutes before reaching People's Square. When guests stayed over previously, I had to hold them by the hand for the simple fact that it was too complicated to get around. No nearby subway, scarce taxis, and no real shops or hangout places around, just a bunch of furniture stores.
The real benefit of the motorcycle is right now when I can eliminate the wasted time of walking to the subway and get to work 5-10 minutes. In this potential new location, the bike would still be good, but the subway would also be convenient so it makes for more choices. We'll just have to see here.
One thing I'm rather teed off about here is that how the landlord can justify the rent increase she wants, because it isn't close to a subway station. Anyways, I'm not digging my heels on this one. Moving out may be the best option after all.
In an ideal world, the company would give allowances to match the downtown rents which run anywhere between 6000 to 10,000 RMB a month for a simple two bedroom spacious apartment. Prices can obviously go way higher than that without having to look very hard. Rents can also go lower by choosing smaller places, i.e. 1 bedroom, older housing complexes, and far from a subway station. In this sense, it would be possible to rent a place within the given allowance, but life wouldn't be very fun after school in these kind of conditions -- especially when desiring to just chill out or have guests over.
Let's face it, downtown Shanghai is extremely crowded as evidenced by the population density stats. Rents are going to be expensive, and it's a sustainability problem that the local government is only too well aware of. It wouldn't be fair to expect a company to fully subsidize this kind of rent, as it's actually 3-4 times that of what they'd pay in another city!
For example, rents in Wuhan are only 1500-2000 RMB for a similar type of downtown place that I'm living in right now.
Another option is to keep an expensive place downtown and pay the difference out of pocket. Sounds good in theory, but the main problem is inflation. Rents are going up, as well as prices in general. Salary and allowance increases aren't keeping pace with inflation, and if I keep hanging in downtown for the long term, I'll end up losing out. If they can jack up my rent by more than 10% this year, then who's to say they won't just keep doing that year after year.
So it's really looking like a move out to the midburbs here. I want to keep my comfort and spacious apartment to kick back in after work and just chill. Having done a years worth of intense commuting, then two years worth of no commuting, I'm now ready for a compromise of around 30 minutes, 45 minutes tops.
While on a motorcycle cruise tonight to the main area near the Lianhua Rd subway station, I passed by a half-dozen or so other suitable apartment complexes along the way. I stopped off at each one, checked prices, chatting with the agents, asked questions, and collected business cards. This is where a little bit of Chinese speaking comes in most handy!
Actually it turns out I'm scouting places much too early, as the agents say it's best to show up 10-15 days in advance of wanting a place before securing any deals. Today was more or less a price checking run and it was very pleasing. The rents were all rather consistent, between 4000-4500 RMB which could even allow me to make some profit on the allowance!
The interesting thing was that the furthest place out was actually more expensive than the places along the way, given the whole neighorhood near Lianhua Lu is upscale, has a Carrefour, a 7-11, several Starbucks, the construction is all brand new, it's quiet, and there is a subway station within 2 minutes walking distance. I know a few people in the area also. Best of all, this location would make me eligible to register for a suburban motorcycle license plate next year. If the weather is cold or guests are over, the subway alternative is a few stops to Shanghai Stadium along Line #1, then a transfer to Line #4 to head to work. It would take anywhere from 30-40 minutes doing it this way.
I'm most probably going for the Lianhua option. The other places along the way looked nice, but they didn't have much in terms of neighorhood. Being far from subway stations also, it would make for semi-isolation and cause problems for guests who wanted to stay, even the intrepid type who would find the overall surrounding areas to be quite drab. If guests wanted to stay over, the Lianhua option would be nicer, in the sense that they could just hop on Line #1 and hop off at People's Square within 30 minutes tops to enjoy themselves. Or they could hop off at Xu Jia Hui within 15 minutes.
Actually the more I think about it, this is even better than my current arrangement. To get to line #1 right now takes about 15-20 minutes of walking through a maze before actually getting on the subway. If you consider door-to-door, it's almost 45 minutes before reaching People's Square. When guests stayed over previously, I had to hold them by the hand for the simple fact that it was too complicated to get around. No nearby subway, scarce taxis, and no real shops or hangout places around, just a bunch of furniture stores.
The real benefit of the motorcycle is right now when I can eliminate the wasted time of walking to the subway and get to work 5-10 minutes. In this potential new location, the bike would still be good, but the subway would also be convenient so it makes for more choices. We'll just have to see here.
One thing I'm rather teed off about here is that how the landlord can justify the rent increase she wants, because it isn't close to a subway station. Anyways, I'm not digging my heels on this one. Moving out may be the best option after all.
Trains are Slowing Down
Today's weather: High = 21 Low = 15
Cloudy
It looks like the public opinion has won out, and there are changes being made to the railway system in China. Actually, the former chief of the railway ministry was fired due to corruption charges (yawn) and a new chief has replaced him. This guy appears to be taking seriously what the public has long been saying:
1. The prices on the bullet trains are too expensive, and the regular train servies which duplicate the routes have been unfairly canceled
2. The extremely high speed is unnecessary.
The newspapers are also moving away from the whole "look how fast the trains can go" kind of boastful talk like from a few years ago.
It looks like some really decent changes are being made to the trains, and I for one and super happy with these changes. I think it would be reasonable to see more revitalization of the regular train services, trains going at moderate speeds, and most importantly, more coverage of the train network at reasonable prices so that ordinary people can afford the tickets.
As mentioned in a former post, what's the point in rushing around from city to city when provincial borders matter more than they ever did before, and services like mobile phone, bank account, licensing, household registration, and many others are localized within a particular area.
A trip from one place to another in China has always been a big deal and a lot of work. In my view, these new bullet trains are slowing down to reflect the reality that things don't change overnight in China.
-------------------
A HIGH-SPEED train journey between Shanghai and Beijing is expected to take five hours when the service starts in June, compared to the previous estimate of four hours.
Top speed on the route, which was to have been 350 kilometers per hour, will be cut to 300kph, the Ministry of Railways has decided.
There had been public concern over safety at the higher speed although the trains, designed and built in China, broke world speed records during testing.
"It's the right thing to do," said Sun Zhang, a professor with Shanghai Tongji University and a rail expert.
Sun said that the 300kph top speed would be "ideal."
Another expert told the Beijing Daily newspaper that energy consumption increased dramatically for every extra 10kph above 320kph.
Railway Minister Sheng Guangzu told the People's Daily that the slower speed "will offer more safety" and allow for more variation in ticket prices.
Trains on the 1,318-kilometer Shanghai-Beijing journey should see two top speeds in service, 300kph and 250kph, with cheaper prices expected on the slower route.
Cloudy
It looks like the public opinion has won out, and there are changes being made to the railway system in China. Actually, the former chief of the railway ministry was fired due to corruption charges (yawn) and a new chief has replaced him. This guy appears to be taking seriously what the public has long been saying:
1. The prices on the bullet trains are too expensive, and the regular train servies which duplicate the routes have been unfairly canceled
2. The extremely high speed is unnecessary.
The newspapers are also moving away from the whole "look how fast the trains can go" kind of boastful talk like from a few years ago.
It looks like some really decent changes are being made to the trains, and I for one and super happy with these changes. I think it would be reasonable to see more revitalization of the regular train services, trains going at moderate speeds, and most importantly, more coverage of the train network at reasonable prices so that ordinary people can afford the tickets.
As mentioned in a former post, what's the point in rushing around from city to city when provincial borders matter more than they ever did before, and services like mobile phone, bank account, licensing, household registration, and many others are localized within a particular area.
A trip from one place to another in China has always been a big deal and a lot of work. In my view, these new bullet trains are slowing down to reflect the reality that things don't change overnight in China.
-------------------
A HIGH-SPEED train journey between Shanghai and Beijing is expected to take five hours when the service starts in June, compared to the previous estimate of four hours.
Top speed on the route, which was to have been 350 kilometers per hour, will be cut to 300kph, the Ministry of Railways has decided.
There had been public concern over safety at the higher speed although the trains, designed and built in China, broke world speed records during testing.
"It's the right thing to do," said Sun Zhang, a professor with Shanghai Tongji University and a rail expert.
Sun said that the 300kph top speed would be "ideal."
Another expert told the Beijing Daily newspaper that energy consumption increased dramatically for every extra 10kph above 320kph.
Railway Minister Sheng Guangzu told the People's Daily that the slower speed "will offer more safety" and allow for more variation in ticket prices.
Trains on the 1,318-kilometer Shanghai-Beijing journey should see two top speeds in service, 300kph and 250kph, with cheaper prices expected on the slower route.
Wednesday 20 April 2011
Shanghai Urban Layout
To get an idea of the concept of downtown vs. suburbs in Shanghai, it helps to think of the city as a series of concentric ring roads that radiate out from the core. Most Chinese cities operate in this kind of a model, where the ring roads act as a kind of informal boundary marker.
Locals define downtown Shanghai as anything within the inner ring road. I'm barely inside the ring where I live, similarly to work, so this qualifies.
This covers an area of about 400 square kilometers and roughly 10 million people live there. Do the math, that's about 25,000 people per square kilometer which of course is packed, and economic realities are making people leave.
The midburbs are between the inner and outer ring roads, extending outwards in some cases. By this definition, most of Pudong is considered midburbs. That area, along with the southern and western midburbs, is the most prosperous. The Hongqiao area in the west, along with Qingpu district, is undergoing some massive changes and the government wants to develop a 'hyper economic zone' there to rival Pudong. The northern midburbs are the least developed, and the government also wants to attract people over there to live and ramp up the construction of new housing there. Roughly 7 million people live in the midburbs and growing fast.
I'm eyeing the southwestern midburbs for a new place to live, near a well-known area called XinZhuang
Keep going further past the outer ring and you'll be in the suburbs. These are best defined as satellite towns the encircle Shanghai but are like cities unto themselves. Songjiang is a perfect example out there southwest of downtown. Most of the new town was developed in the last several years. Other satellite towns would include Qingpu in the West, Lingang in the East, and Jiading in the north. About 5 million people live in the suburbs and growing.
Further out still you have the exurbs which is basically rural countryside, villages, and zillions of small towns. It's within Shanghai province, so that's how it explains somewhat confusing statements made like, "Come visit Shanghai's villages" This is where I did most of the motorcycle riding two years ago with my remote job. About 3 million people live in these areas, and that number is expected to remain steady.
Where things start getting really messed up is when you cross the provincial border, and I've gone over that in detail many posts back. My former job was merely 1km past the border into the next jurisdiction over. Using the reference point of downtown Shanghai I was in the exurbs, but the school was technically part of Suzhou, and also in the exurbs of that city! In short, it was like a kind of no-mans land which just added to the whole remoteness and adventure feeling.
I made multiple trips to Wujiang, the sub-city or district of Suzhou that was the primary jurisdiction over where I worked. Nearly every single one of those trips was a failure, and I only set foot into downtown Suzhou once the entire time there. Not that there's anything wrong with Suzhou, it's actually quite good. It's just that when the distance is 60km from the school to either downtown core, you take your pick and go with it.
Last post I mentioned the possibility of a motorcycle ban in Shanghai. Actually this is nothing new, back in 2003 the government wanted to ban all two-wheeled traffic from the inner ring road, including bicycles, and they wanted it done before the EXPO 2010. Obviously that hasn't happened and the throngs of two-wheeled vehicles still own the city, making life difficult for those driving cars, and making the government respond harder to please the rich people in cagers.
Even so, a complete motorcycle ban, if it happened, would only affect the inner ring road. This is consistent with other cities like Guangzhou who were able to pull it off. They could do it because Guangzhou's downtown core is relatively small, and the whole thing is an island. So the bikes were simply forced outside of downtown and police patrols were set up on bridges leading into downtown to confiscate any bikes coming back.
It would be harder to enforce such a ban in Shanghai if they did that, but the inner ring would be the perfect place to contain the ban, such that the police could concentrate their efforts.
Meanwhile, in Guangzhou, you can still find bikes everywhere if you go to the suburbs. It would stay for years to come in Shanghai also. For that matter, I can't see any point in going for a downtown license plate, and it seems likely that suburban plates are still being issued.
It's all looking like midburbs, here I come.
Locals define downtown Shanghai as anything within the inner ring road. I'm barely inside the ring where I live, similarly to work, so this qualifies.
This covers an area of about 400 square kilometers and roughly 10 million people live there. Do the math, that's about 25,000 people per square kilometer which of course is packed, and economic realities are making people leave.
The midburbs are between the inner and outer ring roads, extending outwards in some cases. By this definition, most of Pudong is considered midburbs. That area, along with the southern and western midburbs, is the most prosperous. The Hongqiao area in the west, along with Qingpu district, is undergoing some massive changes and the government wants to develop a 'hyper economic zone' there to rival Pudong. The northern midburbs are the least developed, and the government also wants to attract people over there to live and ramp up the construction of new housing there. Roughly 7 million people live in the midburbs and growing fast.
I'm eyeing the southwestern midburbs for a new place to live, near a well-known area called XinZhuang
Keep going further past the outer ring and you'll be in the suburbs. These are best defined as satellite towns the encircle Shanghai but are like cities unto themselves. Songjiang is a perfect example out there southwest of downtown. Most of the new town was developed in the last several years. Other satellite towns would include Qingpu in the West, Lingang in the East, and Jiading in the north. About 5 million people live in the suburbs and growing.
Further out still you have the exurbs which is basically rural countryside, villages, and zillions of small towns. It's within Shanghai province, so that's how it explains somewhat confusing statements made like, "Come visit Shanghai's villages" This is where I did most of the motorcycle riding two years ago with my remote job. About 3 million people live in these areas, and that number is expected to remain steady.
Where things start getting really messed up is when you cross the provincial border, and I've gone over that in detail many posts back. My former job was merely 1km past the border into the next jurisdiction over. Using the reference point of downtown Shanghai I was in the exurbs, but the school was technically part of Suzhou, and also in the exurbs of that city! In short, it was like a kind of no-mans land which just added to the whole remoteness and adventure feeling.
I made multiple trips to Wujiang, the sub-city or district of Suzhou that was the primary jurisdiction over where I worked. Nearly every single one of those trips was a failure, and I only set foot into downtown Suzhou once the entire time there. Not that there's anything wrong with Suzhou, it's actually quite good. It's just that when the distance is 60km from the school to either downtown core, you take your pick and go with it.
Last post I mentioned the possibility of a motorcycle ban in Shanghai. Actually this is nothing new, back in 2003 the government wanted to ban all two-wheeled traffic from the inner ring road, including bicycles, and they wanted it done before the EXPO 2010. Obviously that hasn't happened and the throngs of two-wheeled vehicles still own the city, making life difficult for those driving cars, and making the government respond harder to please the rich people in cagers.
Even so, a complete motorcycle ban, if it happened, would only affect the inner ring road. This is consistent with other cities like Guangzhou who were able to pull it off. They could do it because Guangzhou's downtown core is relatively small, and the whole thing is an island. So the bikes were simply forced outside of downtown and police patrols were set up on bridges leading into downtown to confiscate any bikes coming back.
It would be harder to enforce such a ban in Shanghai if they did that, but the inner ring would be the perfect place to contain the ban, such that the police could concentrate their efforts.
Meanwhile, in Guangzhou, you can still find bikes everywhere if you go to the suburbs. It would stay for years to come in Shanghai also. For that matter, I can't see any point in going for a downtown license plate, and it seems likely that suburban plates are still being issued.
It's all looking like midburbs, here I come.
Pretty Good Week
Today's weather: High = 21 Low = 11
Sunny and couldn't ask for any better!!
Ah, April --- really, it's the best month to be in Shanghai. It is that month when the temperatures are at their optimum, not much rain, and not requiring the use of an aircone. October is a similarly excellent month.
The rest of the time, unfortunately, it's either freezing cold or it's hot and humid. The transition seasons are short, so we enjoy them while they last. Actually I don't mind the humid weather. It's the cold that's the real culprit.
This week is going far better than last week did. Very smooth actually, thank goodness!
Been reading up like the dickens on motorcycle legalities and registration, a process which is no doubt complex. Yet the website 'My China Moto' www.mychinamoto.com and suggestions from friends are turning up all sorts of interesting leads.
Not all of it is good news. Information is hinting at a total ban of motorcycles in Shanghai within the next 5 years. There is no certainly of that, but if we look at past and current trends in the city, and compare with other southern cities like Hangzhou and Guangzhou which have done this despicable thing --- the possibility can't be ruled out.
The question has to be asked: why does Beijing have more favorable policies towards motorbikes when the weather and other conditions are less favorable for riding over there? Conversely, why do the southern cities crack down so hard on bikes when logic suggests those are the better places for riding bikes?
It would seem like a waste of money to pay 50,000 RMB for genuine downtown plates in Shanghai if those plates are only recycled from previous owners, and the city has stopped issuing new plates. Whether the same story applies for suburban plates is not clear, but a suburban residence (see below) would be needed for registering the plates, or else remaining downtown while procuring a fake suburban registration.
In the meantime, I recently got fake license plates for 300 RMB from a friend, and those have helped enormously for getting fuel from the downtown gas stations. Problem solved.
The looming decision I need to make before June is whether to rent a smaller house in the downtown area, or maintain a spacious house and move to the semi-suburbs. The current luxury of enjoying 110 square meters of spacious housing downtown is about to end, and that was to be expected really. Since the rent is being jacked up for next year, and accounts from friends confirm how darned expensive it really is for a nice place downtown, then living there cannot be sustainable. Combined with the trends that inflation is going to dog China for years, there is no stopping this monster of rising prices. That means either move to a much smaller place, or move out of downtown.
The Shanghai government would basically agree with this view. In their latest 5-year plan, they have earmarked areas of growth for people to move into, and the 'midburbs' are top on their list, specifically the northern midburbs. Latest census figures show nearly 25 million people within Shanghai province, and the bulk of this is downtown. The government wants people to move out of downtown, simply to reduce the population densities, which is about 20,000 people per square kilometer. As we all know, this means super expensive rents, traffic jams, noise, land scarcity issues, and other factors that make it unsustainable.
I'll say one thing though --- the house and close proximity to work has really been a nice deal. There is something to be said for the fact that I actually MISS the commuting I did in recent years! So maybe it's time to move to the suburbs again, but nowhere near as far as Songjiang. I'm gunning for a specific part of Minhang actually, which is about a 20-30 minute motorcycle ride from work, or 30-45 minutes using the subway. It's a fantastic neighorhood with a Carrefour nearby, clean air, new apartments, no noise thank goodness due to completed projects, and rents within the allowance that my company provides.
The main incentive for renting a spacious 2-bedroom place downtown has been to allow for guests to come over, but unfortunately that hasn't panned out very well. Related to the halfpat post, I mainly had to put up with guests who expected too much in the way of comfort, expected me to lead them around by the hand everywhere, and kept criticizing about how the Chinese do things because it's different from back home. I have zero time or patience for that kind of thing anymore. If the guests can't appreciate the awesome benefits of a spacious place downtown, if they can't figure stuff out on their own, and they still criticize China while staying in Shanghai (which is the best city), then I need to find better guests.
So I'm hoping that living further out of downtown will attract the more intrepid type of guests who don't mind a little discomfort, who can appreciate the positives of what is available, who can take care of themselves, and are more familiar with how the Chinese operate. Either that or I won't have any guests, in which case it's also fine. The sad part is that so many foreigners pack into the serviced apartments downtown, they get ayis (maids) serving them hand over foot, they pay through the nose for all this without flinching, and many still live miserable lives where they find a way to complain about the Chinese people in spite of all they've got.
Anyways, enough of this.
In general, this has been the best year in my overseas teaching career by a longshot. Reports from the principal about all the staff have been very positive. In particular he likes the fact that all of us have integrated into other parts of Shanghai life, in addition to the teaching. I've got several activities on the go obviously, as do most everybody else on staff. Three colleagues are involved in drama productions, we have two people on sports teams, others are doing language studies, one is involved in television, I've got the whole motorcycle hobby going on, and we even have a couple who registered for the Amazing Race!
I just love how the principal supports this involvement in "after school activities", for lack of a better word. The work hours are flexible enough so that we're done around 2pm most days, it's not so stressful, and there is plenty of time to pursue outside interests besides work.
This is a remarkable change from Maple Leaf, in both Dalian and Wuhan, where the only thing that happened was work. This whole "work is your life" mentality is a sickness. And along with that sickness, we have the idea that you only socialize with your workmates. With that in mind, I'm really fortunate to be living in Shanghai and at a school where it's not only possible to socialize outside of work, it is encouraged.
Sunny and couldn't ask for any better!!
Ah, April --- really, it's the best month to be in Shanghai. It is that month when the temperatures are at their optimum, not much rain, and not requiring the use of an aircone. October is a similarly excellent month.
The rest of the time, unfortunately, it's either freezing cold or it's hot and humid. The transition seasons are short, so we enjoy them while they last. Actually I don't mind the humid weather. It's the cold that's the real culprit.
This week is going far better than last week did. Very smooth actually, thank goodness!
Been reading up like the dickens on motorcycle legalities and registration, a process which is no doubt complex. Yet the website 'My China Moto' www.mychinamoto.com and suggestions from friends are turning up all sorts of interesting leads.
Not all of it is good news. Information is hinting at a total ban of motorcycles in Shanghai within the next 5 years. There is no certainly of that, but if we look at past and current trends in the city, and compare with other southern cities like Hangzhou and Guangzhou which have done this despicable thing --- the possibility can't be ruled out.
The question has to be asked: why does Beijing have more favorable policies towards motorbikes when the weather and other conditions are less favorable for riding over there? Conversely, why do the southern cities crack down so hard on bikes when logic suggests those are the better places for riding bikes?
It would seem like a waste of money to pay 50,000 RMB for genuine downtown plates in Shanghai if those plates are only recycled from previous owners, and the city has stopped issuing new plates. Whether the same story applies for suburban plates is not clear, but a suburban residence (see below) would be needed for registering the plates, or else remaining downtown while procuring a fake suburban registration.
In the meantime, I recently got fake license plates for 300 RMB from a friend, and those have helped enormously for getting fuel from the downtown gas stations. Problem solved.
The looming decision I need to make before June is whether to rent a smaller house in the downtown area, or maintain a spacious house and move to the semi-suburbs. The current luxury of enjoying 110 square meters of spacious housing downtown is about to end, and that was to be expected really. Since the rent is being jacked up for next year, and accounts from friends confirm how darned expensive it really is for a nice place downtown, then living there cannot be sustainable. Combined with the trends that inflation is going to dog China for years, there is no stopping this monster of rising prices. That means either move to a much smaller place, or move out of downtown.
The Shanghai government would basically agree with this view. In their latest 5-year plan, they have earmarked areas of growth for people to move into, and the 'midburbs' are top on their list, specifically the northern midburbs. Latest census figures show nearly 25 million people within Shanghai province, and the bulk of this is downtown. The government wants people to move out of downtown, simply to reduce the population densities, which is about 20,000 people per square kilometer. As we all know, this means super expensive rents, traffic jams, noise, land scarcity issues, and other factors that make it unsustainable.
I'll say one thing though --- the house and close proximity to work has really been a nice deal. There is something to be said for the fact that I actually MISS the commuting I did in recent years! So maybe it's time to move to the suburbs again, but nowhere near as far as Songjiang. I'm gunning for a specific part of Minhang actually, which is about a 20-30 minute motorcycle ride from work, or 30-45 minutes using the subway. It's a fantastic neighorhood with a Carrefour nearby, clean air, new apartments, no noise thank goodness due to completed projects, and rents within the allowance that my company provides.
The main incentive for renting a spacious 2-bedroom place downtown has been to allow for guests to come over, but unfortunately that hasn't panned out very well. Related to the halfpat post, I mainly had to put up with guests who expected too much in the way of comfort, expected me to lead them around by the hand everywhere, and kept criticizing about how the Chinese do things because it's different from back home. I have zero time or patience for that kind of thing anymore. If the guests can't appreciate the awesome benefits of a spacious place downtown, if they can't figure stuff out on their own, and they still criticize China while staying in Shanghai (which is the best city), then I need to find better guests.
So I'm hoping that living further out of downtown will attract the more intrepid type of guests who don't mind a little discomfort, who can appreciate the positives of what is available, who can take care of themselves, and are more familiar with how the Chinese operate. Either that or I won't have any guests, in which case it's also fine. The sad part is that so many foreigners pack into the serviced apartments downtown, they get ayis (maids) serving them hand over foot, they pay through the nose for all this without flinching, and many still live miserable lives where they find a way to complain about the Chinese people in spite of all they've got.
Anyways, enough of this.
In general, this has been the best year in my overseas teaching career by a longshot. Reports from the principal about all the staff have been very positive. In particular he likes the fact that all of us have integrated into other parts of Shanghai life, in addition to the teaching. I've got several activities on the go obviously, as do most everybody else on staff. Three colleagues are involved in drama productions, we have two people on sports teams, others are doing language studies, one is involved in television, I've got the whole motorcycle hobby going on, and we even have a couple who registered for the Amazing Race!
I just love how the principal supports this involvement in "after school activities", for lack of a better word. The work hours are flexible enough so that we're done around 2pm most days, it's not so stressful, and there is plenty of time to pursue outside interests besides work.
This is a remarkable change from Maple Leaf, in both Dalian and Wuhan, where the only thing that happened was work. This whole "work is your life" mentality is a sickness. And along with that sickness, we have the idea that you only socialize with your workmates. With that in mind, I'm really fortunate to be living in Shanghai and at a school where it's not only possible to socialize outside of work, it is encouraged.
Monday 18 April 2011
Chinese Halfpat Culture Shock
Today's weather: High = 19 Low = 10
Sunny and couldn't be better
An expat, or expatriate, is a person who is living as a resident in a country other than one's nationality. By definition, an expat is not a registered resident of his home country, even though he is a citizen of that country.
A halfpat is basically a modified version of an expat who has taken on some of the identities of the adopted foreign country. I think I qualify for this, since I hold a Chinese drivers license and other Chinese documentation, even though I am obviously not local. Having been in China for over 9 years now, yeah, I'd qualify for halfpat status. The Chinese nickname for a person like this is called 'zhong guo tong' which I've heard fairly often these days.
A repat is someone who used to be an expat but moved back to the home country.
A nopat is someone who never left his home country.
Generally speaking, expats earn much higher salaries and they enjoy benefits packages like health insurance, free schooling for kids, subsidized housing, and so forth. The standard of living is much better than found back home, but the flipside is that expats don't really enjoy much local contact with the adopted foreign country. In other words, they surround themselves mostly with other expats and live the expat life.
Halfpats earn less than expats do, and less than they'd earn back in their home countries. Because of this, they learn to do as the locals do, and save money on things like food, rent, and so forth. They speak the local language. They generally have more local friends, and considerably more local contact with the culture than expats do. They also meet with expats regularly, and so the halfpats (as the name suggests) are halfway between the expats and the locals and are really bi-cultural in this sense.
Fittingly enough, there are two websites that match each type of group. The first is Shanghai Expat (shanghaiexpat.com) and the other is Shanghai Halfpat (shanghaihalfpat.com)
I started off in Shanghai as an ESL teacher and was a tried and true halfpat from the beginning. Actually, my initial salary would put me below the poverty line if translated into back-home terms. Those first three years were seriously intense Chinese language and culture learning, and I learned more in those years than any others. Having moved up the career ladder to a math teacher in a semi-international school, it has gotten me a higher salary, but I will forever be rooted in my halfpat identity. That means doing the same things at the beginning to optimize the use of Chinese language, make local friends, get local prices, and do as much as possible to fit in.
Expats often complain of the culture shock of trying to fit into China, and understand why the Chinese do things as they do. Halfpats also experience the same shock, yet they don't complain as much. This is because halfpats may not agree with how the Chinese locals do something, but they still want to understand the reasons why they do it, and to strike a compromise as much as possible. For instance, the latest posts on why it is so difficult to get a drivers license processed, and the details with police registration, etc. The bureaucracy really sucks, but I also enjoy the challenge, adventure, and accomplishment of what I have been able to do in China.
Another type of halfpat culture shock is trying to explain to expats, repats, or nopats about how the Chinese do things and how the way the Chinese do things affects my life in absolute realities. One of the overarching themes of this blog is to do exactly that. Since I have many non-Chinese readers here, the idea is to present as much information as possible about how things really work in China, to the best of my ability to do this.
Unfortunately, there are times when this whole thing breaks down and the consequences can be less than pleasant.
A perfect example of this is with Chinese holidays. It is a well known fact for expats and halfpats alike that the Chinese schedule their holidays a week or two in advance. There are general dates for stat holidays, but the Chinese government drafts up a specific schedule for companies to follow and then releases it a week or two beforehand. For a stat holiday that falls midweek, they give a Monday off to make a longer weekend, but they also require a "make up work day" such as a Saturday or Sunday before or after.
For example, with the upcoming May holiday, you ask any of the local colleagues in our office about what days we have and they would say, "I don't know" or "Maybe we work Saturday". By next week, the information will be clearer.
Halfpats and expats find this frustrating, but since we live in China there isn't much that can be done about it. That's how the Chinese do things, we need to follow along. Fair enough.
But the conflict arises when trying to plan holidays with others (i.e. nopats and repats) who don't live in China, don't have a clue about this type of scheduling, and frankly, they don't care since they don't live in China. These people are used to scheduling holidays months in advance, taking for granted that the holiday will be guaranteed on that specific day. When I try to explain how the Chinese do it and how it affects my life, I often hear, "That is so strange" or "How can anyone plan ahead", etc. even though the Chinese have demonstrated for years they can function in this reality.
So I usually wait until I know the holidays, then start booking flights.
Another example is with visas and bureaucracy. Love it or hate it, the Chinese are the most thorough people on the planet. They will take their time, they will check, they will double check, and the process will not be efficient. They must sacrifice speed for accuracy, because they have huge volumes of visas to process. Any mistake with the visas would cause a police officer to get fired on the spot, so they'd rather be over-careful.
When starting a new school term, it is not guaranteed that the school can issue the proper work visas and paperwork before the first holiday, that is the October holiday or National Day. It would nice if they could, and sometimes they can do it on time. Combined with the last-minute scheduling, it's usually best for teachers not to plan trips on National Day and make it a staycation instead.
But try explaining all that to people who don't live in China. Unfortunately, I got seriously hosed last year due to this, and am still suffering the consequences. Love it or leave it, that's the way it goes.
There are untold many other examples like this, but any seasoned expat or halfpat would get the idea of what I'm going on about here.
Sunny and couldn't be better
An expat, or expatriate, is a person who is living as a resident in a country other than one's nationality. By definition, an expat is not a registered resident of his home country, even though he is a citizen of that country.
A halfpat is basically a modified version of an expat who has taken on some of the identities of the adopted foreign country. I think I qualify for this, since I hold a Chinese drivers license and other Chinese documentation, even though I am obviously not local. Having been in China for over 9 years now, yeah, I'd qualify for halfpat status. The Chinese nickname for a person like this is called 'zhong guo tong' which I've heard fairly often these days.
A repat is someone who used to be an expat but moved back to the home country.
A nopat is someone who never left his home country.
Generally speaking, expats earn much higher salaries and they enjoy benefits packages like health insurance, free schooling for kids, subsidized housing, and so forth. The standard of living is much better than found back home, but the flipside is that expats don't really enjoy much local contact with the adopted foreign country. In other words, they surround themselves mostly with other expats and live the expat life.
Halfpats earn less than expats do, and less than they'd earn back in their home countries. Because of this, they learn to do as the locals do, and save money on things like food, rent, and so forth. They speak the local language. They generally have more local friends, and considerably more local contact with the culture than expats do. They also meet with expats regularly, and so the halfpats (as the name suggests) are halfway between the expats and the locals and are really bi-cultural in this sense.
Fittingly enough, there are two websites that match each type of group. The first is Shanghai Expat (shanghaiexpat.com) and the other is Shanghai Halfpat (shanghaihalfpat.com)
I started off in Shanghai as an ESL teacher and was a tried and true halfpat from the beginning. Actually, my initial salary would put me below the poverty line if translated into back-home terms. Those first three years were seriously intense Chinese language and culture learning, and I learned more in those years than any others. Having moved up the career ladder to a math teacher in a semi-international school, it has gotten me a higher salary, but I will forever be rooted in my halfpat identity. That means doing the same things at the beginning to optimize the use of Chinese language, make local friends, get local prices, and do as much as possible to fit in.
Expats often complain of the culture shock of trying to fit into China, and understand why the Chinese do things as they do. Halfpats also experience the same shock, yet they don't complain as much. This is because halfpats may not agree with how the Chinese locals do something, but they still want to understand the reasons why they do it, and to strike a compromise as much as possible. For instance, the latest posts on why it is so difficult to get a drivers license processed, and the details with police registration, etc. The bureaucracy really sucks, but I also enjoy the challenge, adventure, and accomplishment of what I have been able to do in China.
Another type of halfpat culture shock is trying to explain to expats, repats, or nopats about how the Chinese do things and how the way the Chinese do things affects my life in absolute realities. One of the overarching themes of this blog is to do exactly that. Since I have many non-Chinese readers here, the idea is to present as much information as possible about how things really work in China, to the best of my ability to do this.
Unfortunately, there are times when this whole thing breaks down and the consequences can be less than pleasant.
A perfect example of this is with Chinese holidays. It is a well known fact for expats and halfpats alike that the Chinese schedule their holidays a week or two in advance. There are general dates for stat holidays, but the Chinese government drafts up a specific schedule for companies to follow and then releases it a week or two beforehand. For a stat holiday that falls midweek, they give a Monday off to make a longer weekend, but they also require a "make up work day" such as a Saturday or Sunday before or after.
For example, with the upcoming May holiday, you ask any of the local colleagues in our office about what days we have and they would say, "I don't know" or "Maybe we work Saturday". By next week, the information will be clearer.
Halfpats and expats find this frustrating, but since we live in China there isn't much that can be done about it. That's how the Chinese do things, we need to follow along. Fair enough.
But the conflict arises when trying to plan holidays with others (i.e. nopats and repats) who don't live in China, don't have a clue about this type of scheduling, and frankly, they don't care since they don't live in China. These people are used to scheduling holidays months in advance, taking for granted that the holiday will be guaranteed on that specific day. When I try to explain how the Chinese do it and how it affects my life, I often hear, "That is so strange" or "How can anyone plan ahead", etc. even though the Chinese have demonstrated for years they can function in this reality.
So I usually wait until I know the holidays, then start booking flights.
Another example is with visas and bureaucracy. Love it or hate it, the Chinese are the most thorough people on the planet. They will take their time, they will check, they will double check, and the process will not be efficient. They must sacrifice speed for accuracy, because they have huge volumes of visas to process. Any mistake with the visas would cause a police officer to get fired on the spot, so they'd rather be over-careful.
When starting a new school term, it is not guaranteed that the school can issue the proper work visas and paperwork before the first holiday, that is the October holiday or National Day. It would nice if they could, and sometimes they can do it on time. Combined with the last-minute scheduling, it's usually best for teachers not to plan trips on National Day and make it a staycation instead.
But try explaining all that to people who don't live in China. Unfortunately, I got seriously hosed last year due to this, and am still suffering the consequences. Love it or leave it, that's the way it goes.
There are untold many other examples like this, but any seasoned expat or halfpat would get the idea of what I'm going on about here.
Sunday 17 April 2011
Looking for New Apartment
As they say, it doesn't rain, it pours.
Last week was a perfect storm, if you will, of a bunch of things all happening at once in a chaotic sort of way. If you've ever lived in China for any length of time, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
After a relative period of stability and things running smoothly, a bunch of urgent things will happen all at once and you have to deal with it on the spot. Then, once you've put out the fires, things get back to normal again. This is what the perfect storm of last week looked like:
1. Term marks were due and needed to be inputed for the report cards, with glitches in the computer system.
2. One of my students got kicked out of school and raised a ruckus with his parents. The homeroom teacher may be fired.
3. Gr 12 students were taken out of two of my classes this week for the math contest and their English provincial exams. As a result, my teaching schedule is out of sync, and it was very hard to keep focus!
4. Drivers license needed to replaced and that didn't work out
5. The host and a co-leader of a group I lead on weekends had an emotional confrontation, and we had to pull the group out of that person's house at the last minute, thus needing a quick change of location
6. My secretary talked to my landlord, and they confirmed the rent is going up to 6000 RMB for next year, starting in June. This is well beyond the allowance given by the school, and so I'm going to move out.
Regarding the last point, I got so upset I texted my secretary right away and told her forget it, I won't be signing any rental contracts next year for that price. She didn't flinch on that point, but it did get the school to raise the allowance. Even so, I still plan to move out of the downtown areas and start looking for a place in the "midburbs" for lack of a better word. Basically something near the outer ring road, preferably in Minhang District, for around 4000-4500 RMB a month, in an established high quality apartment complex.
The downtown place I'm now has been *excellent* all around, but there are two concerns and reasons why a move to the midburbs may end up being the best bet.
One is that I'm aiming to get legal motorcycle plates, and the HU C suburban plates are the cheaper deal at around 5000 RMB. But in order to use them, the registered address has to be a suburban one - outside the ring road. Staying in the downtown area would make those plates not possible. Downtown plates, to my knowledge, are either unavailable or else they float with the prices of the car plates which are approaching 50,000 RMB. Not exactly attractive.
Secondly, they have revitalized a construction project next door after the EXPO finished up, and the noise has been a real problem. The site goes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I now sleep in the guestroom which is quieter, but pity for any guest who would now sleep in the room facing the construction site. Then again, downtown Shanghai is famous for being noisy. If it weren't for the construction, the constant rumbling of the subway trains down below is another issue.
Going for a semi-suburban location in an established complex would cut down on the noise factor big time.
The time to start looking is now, basically, and the goal is to get something arranged for mid June. Given that my current contract for the apartment ends on June 21, this leaves a week or two to move things over.
A key issue here is that the school's housing allowance does not extend into the summer months. If they jack up the rent to 6000 RMB, that would take immediate effect in June, and I'd be hosed for two months when I'm not even planning to live there and not getting compensated!! Of course, the same thing would apply in a cheaper location in the midburbs which I'm aiming for, but perhaps a deal could be struck with the landlord. To my knowledge, there are no businesses in Shanghai that offer storage lockers.
Even if storage is not an option, I'd rather get a house lease arranged in June as opposed to September. This has always been my way of doing things over the last few years, simply because the lease ends in June along with the school year. So then as the year wraps up, you can then decide if you want to change jobs or change locations with a minimum of hassle. If your house lease is from Sept - Sept, you lose out if you decide you're not happy with the current employer, or where you live, or both of these. In some cases, you forfeit the 2-month rental deposit as most Chinese landlords are sticklers for doing a 12 month contract, and following it to the letter.
More updates on this one as they happen.
Last week was a perfect storm, if you will, of a bunch of things all happening at once in a chaotic sort of way. If you've ever lived in China for any length of time, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
After a relative period of stability and things running smoothly, a bunch of urgent things will happen all at once and you have to deal with it on the spot. Then, once you've put out the fires, things get back to normal again. This is what the perfect storm of last week looked like:
1. Term marks were due and needed to be inputed for the report cards, with glitches in the computer system.
2. One of my students got kicked out of school and raised a ruckus with his parents. The homeroom teacher may be fired.
3. Gr 12 students were taken out of two of my classes this week for the math contest and their English provincial exams. As a result, my teaching schedule is out of sync, and it was very hard to keep focus!
4. Drivers license needed to replaced and that didn't work out
5. The host and a co-leader of a group I lead on weekends had an emotional confrontation, and we had to pull the group out of that person's house at the last minute, thus needing a quick change of location
6. My secretary talked to my landlord, and they confirmed the rent is going up to 6000 RMB for next year, starting in June. This is well beyond the allowance given by the school, and so I'm going to move out.
Regarding the last point, I got so upset I texted my secretary right away and told her forget it, I won't be signing any rental contracts next year for that price. She didn't flinch on that point, but it did get the school to raise the allowance. Even so, I still plan to move out of the downtown areas and start looking for a place in the "midburbs" for lack of a better word. Basically something near the outer ring road, preferably in Minhang District, for around 4000-4500 RMB a month, in an established high quality apartment complex.
The downtown place I'm now has been *excellent* all around, but there are two concerns and reasons why a move to the midburbs may end up being the best bet.
One is that I'm aiming to get legal motorcycle plates, and the HU C suburban plates are the cheaper deal at around 5000 RMB. But in order to use them, the registered address has to be a suburban one - outside the ring road. Staying in the downtown area would make those plates not possible. Downtown plates, to my knowledge, are either unavailable or else they float with the prices of the car plates which are approaching 50,000 RMB. Not exactly attractive.
Secondly, they have revitalized a construction project next door after the EXPO finished up, and the noise has been a real problem. The site goes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I now sleep in the guestroom which is quieter, but pity for any guest who would now sleep in the room facing the construction site. Then again, downtown Shanghai is famous for being noisy. If it weren't for the construction, the constant rumbling of the subway trains down below is another issue.
Going for a semi-suburban location in an established complex would cut down on the noise factor big time.
The time to start looking is now, basically, and the goal is to get something arranged for mid June. Given that my current contract for the apartment ends on June 21, this leaves a week or two to move things over.
A key issue here is that the school's housing allowance does not extend into the summer months. If they jack up the rent to 6000 RMB, that would take immediate effect in June, and I'd be hosed for two months when I'm not even planning to live there and not getting compensated!! Of course, the same thing would apply in a cheaper location in the midburbs which I'm aiming for, but perhaps a deal could be struck with the landlord. To my knowledge, there are no businesses in Shanghai that offer storage lockers.
Even if storage is not an option, I'd rather get a house lease arranged in June as opposed to September. This has always been my way of doing things over the last few years, simply because the lease ends in June along with the school year. So then as the year wraps up, you can then decide if you want to change jobs or change locations with a minimum of hassle. If your house lease is from Sept - Sept, you lose out if you decide you're not happy with the current employer, or where you live, or both of these. In some cases, you forfeit the 2-month rental deposit as most Chinese landlords are sticklers for doing a 12 month contract, and following it to the letter.
More updates on this one as they happen.
Motorcycle Maintenance
Today's weather: High = 21 Low = 12
Sunny
This weekend was pretty relaxed after the most hectic week! A good time to head for the famous 'Zhaoji Lu' motorcycle / scooter market and do some maintenance on the bike.
This is the place where Shanghai's scooter and motorcycle riders converge, and it's the shop that can do just about anything for you. Business has understandably been slack in recent months due to the fuel restrictions. Read about a month back where the Shanghai authorities issed a regulation where unregistered bikes or out-of-town bikes cannot get fuel at the gas stations anymore.
The way to deal with this is head for gas stations that don't have the ban. These are of course found in the suburbs, but as we discovered on the weekend, they needn't actually be that far out! There is a station that will fill bikes only 5km from the scooter market.
Another option is to head for the private gas stations, i.e. the ones that are not the red SINOPEC brand. These private stations, like TOTAL or EASYJOY have an unspoken deal where they still refuel your bike if you agree to purchase goods at the convenience store.
Of course, there is also the underground market for fuel which has recently emerged, and the guys at the scooter shop will no doubt hook you up. Basically it involves a guy who legally fuels up a large van and then siphons it off to customers at the scooter market.
Alternatively, if you want, you can buy fake license plates from them in order to get fuel from the downtown SINOPEC stations which would otherwise refuse a fill up. Most of the attendants just take a look at the license plates if they see one, and don't ask for other documents. This could easily change in future if the sales of fake plates continue to be brisk, as they have been.
Personally I just go to the suburbs as it makes for a fun ride anyway. For example, the last few unsuccessful attempts to head to Wujiang and replace a drivers license were also a great chance to fuel up. The tank can hold enough gas to last 500+ km so it's worth it.
While at the scooter shop, along with the customary oil and filter changes, a washup, and some general repairs on the brakes and clutch levers, they also suggested I shorten the chain and get more efficiency. I tried this and it makes a world of difference! There is much more tightness in the riding of the bike, and it feels like more horsepower has been added to the 125cc engine. Actually that has not happened, but the efficiency has gotten a lot better and I can accelerate and change gears a lot more easily.
This motorcycle riding hobby is now turning into an obsession and I've got a long-term plan to be squeaky clean legal by the end of this year.
Sunny
This weekend was pretty relaxed after the most hectic week! A good time to head for the famous 'Zhaoji Lu' motorcycle / scooter market and do some maintenance on the bike.
This is the place where Shanghai's scooter and motorcycle riders converge, and it's the shop that can do just about anything for you. Business has understandably been slack in recent months due to the fuel restrictions. Read about a month back where the Shanghai authorities issed a regulation where unregistered bikes or out-of-town bikes cannot get fuel at the gas stations anymore.
The way to deal with this is head for gas stations that don't have the ban. These are of course found in the suburbs, but as we discovered on the weekend, they needn't actually be that far out! There is a station that will fill bikes only 5km from the scooter market.
Another option is to head for the private gas stations, i.e. the ones that are not the red SINOPEC brand. These private stations, like TOTAL or EASYJOY have an unspoken deal where they still refuel your bike if you agree to purchase goods at the convenience store.
Of course, there is also the underground market for fuel which has recently emerged, and the guys at the scooter shop will no doubt hook you up. Basically it involves a guy who legally fuels up a large van and then siphons it off to customers at the scooter market.
Alternatively, if you want, you can buy fake license plates from them in order to get fuel from the downtown SINOPEC stations which would otherwise refuse a fill up. Most of the attendants just take a look at the license plates if they see one, and don't ask for other documents. This could easily change in future if the sales of fake plates continue to be brisk, as they have been.
Personally I just go to the suburbs as it makes for a fun ride anyway. For example, the last few unsuccessful attempts to head to Wujiang and replace a drivers license were also a great chance to fuel up. The tank can hold enough gas to last 500+ km so it's worth it.
While at the scooter shop, along with the customary oil and filter changes, a washup, and some general repairs on the brakes and clutch levers, they also suggested I shorten the chain and get more efficiency. I tried this and it makes a world of difference! There is much more tightness in the riding of the bike, and it feels like more horsepower has been added to the 125cc engine. Actually that has not happened, but the efficiency has gotten a lot better and I can accelerate and change gears a lot more easily.
This motorcycle riding hobby is now turning into an obsession and I've got a long-term plan to be squeaky clean legal by the end of this year.
Thursday 14 April 2011
Songjiang Shakedown
Today's weather: High = 26 Low = 20
Cloudy
This just in from the newspaper. I used to live in this neighborhood two years ago, somewhat connected with my last post as I would ride to work daily from there.
Let's just say that the public is not exactly happy about the urban management officials. These guys, aka "cheng guan" are like the police, but not exactly. They are mainly responsible for keeping order on the streets and cracking down on street vendors. The public wants cheap and convenient snacks. Demand remains strong for those street vendors, and the public is really not fond of the cheng guan. Neither am I, after repeated stories in the newspaper about the cheng guan beating up the little guys.
The public said enough is enough, took a protest to the streets in the thousands, and began torching police vehicles.
Accounts differ in the newspaper from one day to the next about what really happened. I guess we'll never know the full story, but it made for riveting reading nonetheless
--------------------------------------------
Account #1 - From the victim's point of view
--------------------------------------------
THOUSANDS of residents gathered in the streets in Shanghai's Songjiang District yesterday to protest after several urban management officials beat up a pedestrian over an alleged traffic dispute.
An angry crowd of witnesses to the incident began to gather in the area facing down the police and demanding that the officials be punished.
The confrontation later became more serious and lasted until after midnight with more and more residents and police joining in.
Motorcycles were set ablaze at the scene in Jiuting Town in Songjiang, according to witnesses and posts on the weibo.com last night.
Early this morning, Shanghai police confirmed that a protest had taken place but said that they were still unclear what had caused it.
More detailed information will be released today, they said.
The initial incident happened at about 3:30pm on Huting Road N near Husong Highway when an urban management vehicle had a traffic dispute with a pedestrian, witnesses said.
The vehicle was trying to run a red light while the pedestrian refused to give way, witnesses said. A quarrel broke out, during which about eight urban management officials jumped from the vehicle and started attacking the pedestrian.
The pedestrian, not identified, refused to leave and remained lying on the ground while a crowd of passersby gathered round him in support.
Police later cordoned off the scene with part of the Husong Highway closed after more and more people continuing to arrive.
"It was a mess," said a witness surnamed Yang who got off the Metro Line 9 in Jiuting Station at about 10:30pm.
"Thousands of people were gathering at the intersection and shouting for something which I didn't hear clearly as the scene was noisy."
Yang said bus lines near the Jiuting Station were also affected by the confrontation and many passengers were delayed at the Metro station.
Yang said she finally had to walk in the opposite direction to hail a taxi and take a detour to get home.
-------------------------------------------------
Account #2 -- From the Cheng Guan's point of view
-------------------------------------------------
POLICE have detained several people involved in a violent dispute between urban management officials and a motorcyclist that attracted a mob of onlookers who had to be dispersed by riot police in suburban Songjiang District on Wednesday.
The Shanghai Public Security Bureau posted a statement on its website yesterday saying "they will handle the case in a justified way."
The bureau didn't give further details and didn't say how many people were detained.
Police said the case started over a traffic dispute involving a truck and a motorcycle at the intersection of Huting Road N. and Laiyin Road about 3:20pm. The dispute later turned violent and there are different accounts of what happened.
Urban management officials were in the truck, which lightly bumped a motorcycle that was going through a red light, said Tao Guoping, deputy Party secretary of the Songjiang District Greenery & Public Sanitation Administration.
"It was a tiny incident, but the motorcyclist wanted to make the most of it because we are urban management officials," Tao said.
The deputy said six of his officials, one officer and five assistants, were involved in the "body contact" and were at a police station last night as officers continued their investigation. The involved officials will be fired if they are guilty, Tao said.
Tao told Shanghai Daily the motorcyclist tried to hit one of the officials with a brick. The other five jumped out of the truck to protect the official and the "body contact" just happened, Tao said.
Witnesses said the motorcyclist was beaten up by the six officials and later started lying on the ground to attract attention.
Police soon arrived.
"He had agreed to go to a hospital for treatment and was about to get in an ambulance," Tao said. "But he was stopped by two of his relatives who insisted he make the case bigger by lying on the road to block traffic."
More and more people were attracted to the scene and started sympathizing with the motorcyclist lying in the middle of the road.
Eventually thousands of people blocked the intersection and some vehicles were set on fire. The mob demanded police hand over the urban management officials in the name of justice.
Riot police with helmets and shields were dispatched to the seen late on Wednesday night and the crowd was dispersed around midnight.
Cloudy
This just in from the newspaper. I used to live in this neighborhood two years ago, somewhat connected with my last post as I would ride to work daily from there.
Let's just say that the public is not exactly happy about the urban management officials. These guys, aka "cheng guan" are like the police, but not exactly. They are mainly responsible for keeping order on the streets and cracking down on street vendors. The public wants cheap and convenient snacks. Demand remains strong for those street vendors, and the public is really not fond of the cheng guan. Neither am I, after repeated stories in the newspaper about the cheng guan beating up the little guys.
The public said enough is enough, took a protest to the streets in the thousands, and began torching police vehicles.
Accounts differ in the newspaper from one day to the next about what really happened. I guess we'll never know the full story, but it made for riveting reading nonetheless
--------------------------------------------
Account #1 - From the victim's point of view
--------------------------------------------
THOUSANDS of residents gathered in the streets in Shanghai's Songjiang District yesterday to protest after several urban management officials beat up a pedestrian over an alleged traffic dispute.
An angry crowd of witnesses to the incident began to gather in the area facing down the police and demanding that the officials be punished.
The confrontation later became more serious and lasted until after midnight with more and more residents and police joining in.
Motorcycles were set ablaze at the scene in Jiuting Town in Songjiang, according to witnesses and posts on the weibo.com last night.
Early this morning, Shanghai police confirmed that a protest had taken place but said that they were still unclear what had caused it.
More detailed information will be released today, they said.
The initial incident happened at about 3:30pm on Huting Road N near Husong Highway when an urban management vehicle had a traffic dispute with a pedestrian, witnesses said.
The vehicle was trying to run a red light while the pedestrian refused to give way, witnesses said. A quarrel broke out, during which about eight urban management officials jumped from the vehicle and started attacking the pedestrian.
The pedestrian, not identified, refused to leave and remained lying on the ground while a crowd of passersby gathered round him in support.
Police later cordoned off the scene with part of the Husong Highway closed after more and more people continuing to arrive.
"It was a mess," said a witness surnamed Yang who got off the Metro Line 9 in Jiuting Station at about 10:30pm.
"Thousands of people were gathering at the intersection and shouting for something which I didn't hear clearly as the scene was noisy."
Yang said bus lines near the Jiuting Station were also affected by the confrontation and many passengers were delayed at the Metro station.
Yang said she finally had to walk in the opposite direction to hail a taxi and take a detour to get home.
-------------------------------------------------
Account #2 -- From the Cheng Guan's point of view
-------------------------------------------------
POLICE have detained several people involved in a violent dispute between urban management officials and a motorcyclist that attracted a mob of onlookers who had to be dispersed by riot police in suburban Songjiang District on Wednesday.
The Shanghai Public Security Bureau posted a statement on its website yesterday saying "they will handle the case in a justified way."
The bureau didn't give further details and didn't say how many people were detained.
Police said the case started over a traffic dispute involving a truck and a motorcycle at the intersection of Huting Road N. and Laiyin Road about 3:20pm. The dispute later turned violent and there are different accounts of what happened.
Urban management officials were in the truck, which lightly bumped a motorcycle that was going through a red light, said Tao Guoping, deputy Party secretary of the Songjiang District Greenery & Public Sanitation Administration.
"It was a tiny incident, but the motorcyclist wanted to make the most of it because we are urban management officials," Tao said.
The deputy said six of his officials, one officer and five assistants, were involved in the "body contact" and were at a police station last night as officers continued their investigation. The involved officials will be fired if they are guilty, Tao said.
Tao told Shanghai Daily the motorcyclist tried to hit one of the officials with a brick. The other five jumped out of the truck to protect the official and the "body contact" just happened, Tao said.
Witnesses said the motorcyclist was beaten up by the six officials and later started lying on the ground to attract attention.
Police soon arrived.
"He had agreed to go to a hospital for treatment and was about to get in an ambulance," Tao said. "But he was stopped by two of his relatives who insisted he make the case bigger by lying on the road to block traffic."
More and more people were attracted to the scene and started sympathizing with the motorcyclist lying in the middle of the road.
Eventually thousands of people blocked the intersection and some vehicles were set on fire. The mob demanded police hand over the urban management officials in the name of justice.
Riot police with helmets and shields were dispatched to the seen late on Wednesday night and the crowd was dispersed around midnight.
A Fiasco Week (Part II)
Attempt #2: I finished classes at 2pm in Shanghai and made a fast track run to Luxu on my motorcycle, illegally of course, because I haven't been able to renew my drivers license. I know this road like the back of my hand now, and have done it 200+ times, most of it from two years back. I could do it in my sleep, but that would be a bad idea because driving in China is not like in the West. You either stay alert due to ever-changing conditions, or else you're a road pancake.
Unfortunately I got busy at work and couldnt' get out of there until 3pm and was running late, trying to make the police station before they closed. Thanks to major improvements on the Hu-Qing-Ping road, the trip only takes about 60 to 75 minutes now.
If you've actually read this far down and have seen my other detailed blog on how the Hu-Qing-Ping works, you know there are two checkpoints. The second one is at the Shanghai-Jiangsu border and is usually a problem, which can be bypassed with a farm road. The first one I've never had a problem with in all the 200+ times going through, except for this particular day!!!!!!
A policeman came out of nowhere and practically tackled me off the bike. He was pulling over anything that moved, including bicycles. Needless to say, I was forced to stop. Smarter people than me saw what was going on and drove on the opposite side of the road to avoid this. For every victim who got pulled over, I counted two more who avoided the check by going on the wrong side of the road. DAMNIT!! I should have anticipated this, but in all 200+ times it never even once occured to me that THIS checkpoint posed a problem.
In situations like these, you immediately play the role of the dumb foreigner. That means NO speaking Chinese whatsoever, and not even showing a hint of understanding it. I put the bike in neutral -- you'll see why later.
Unfortunately he could speak English. I ended up being detained at the police station for an hour while they decided what to do. They took down the details of the bike such as the numbers on the chassiz, the license plate, and asked to see my drivers license of course. I only had a copy which I showed the cop, and threw in a passport for good measure.
I was basically accused of driving a bike which wasn't mine, that my drivers license was for cars, and I didn't have the fapiao (receipt) to prove ownership of the bike. I was told it is dangerous to ride bikes, asked where I was going, and a bunch of other questions. He pointed to a locked up area behind the checkpoint where 5 other bikes were impounded. I figured this bike with over 7000 kilometers was going to die this way. After the death of the bike, I would then have to find another way to the school and the Luxu police station. In this area, it would mean walking another 1.5 hours, since the "chicken bus" which used to ply this road was also forced out of existence by this very same checkpoint.
Meanwhile, I saw the cops collecting plenty of fines from their new computerized system as they pulled over every single other vehicle, including cars, trucks, and vans. Bunch of fat bastards, every last one of them.
Because of no alternatives, nowadays it would be impossible to get to Sino Canada without a bike. A good thing that most of the teachers there don't even bother going to Shanghai as I found out. Oh, the shopping bus still runs once a month.
I got my documents back and, double checking I had everything, started wheeling my bike over to the impound lot, very slowly. At a critical moment I got my keys out (they were in my pocket the whole time), put them in the ignition, made a running start, and throttled out of there before the cops could do anything else.
Adrenaline running very high, I made it to the Luxu police station. But it was too late, they had gone off work. At least I could enjoy a quiet night's sleep at the Zplashes hotel for a super cheap deal, try to calm my nerves down, and then go back to work the next day.
For a short time this week, it felt like I was re-living the whole commute experience of two years ago, this time in the reverse direction.
Attempt #3: With much more time to spare on the next trip to the Luxu police station, this time I went hunting for any backroads that would bypass this first checkpoint. Amazingly, I was able to find one! I only wish I had discovered this backroad two years ago, even though I had made exhausting hunts at the time for exactly this purpose.
This particular backroad even bypasses the checkpoint set up for the EXPO! Combined with the earlier known backroad to bypass the provincial border checkpoint, I can now say for certain there is a guaranteed way to go between Shanghai and Jiangsu provinces without going through a check. It is best to assess the checkpoints first and see what the police are doing to other vehicles, and then use the backroads if necessary. Otherwise it takes too much time for the detour.
That in itself was success enough, because the police registration attempt failed for the third time. We agreed to the fine, but they said it's better that I just go to Shanghai and register there. Back to square one. Whatever. At least I was able to procur a past registration form when I was a teacher in 2009, that was the extent of all this work.
As a friend said, so much work for so little results. But this is China right? I had to at least try.
Next attempt won't be until about November when I actually get a motorcycle license from back home in Canada, get it translated, register again in Shanghai at a new house, wait 3 months, and then apply for the whole Chinese licnese over again, re-take the test, and use a different identity.
Unfortunately I got busy at work and couldnt' get out of there until 3pm and was running late, trying to make the police station before they closed. Thanks to major improvements on the Hu-Qing-Ping road, the trip only takes about 60 to 75 minutes now.
If you've actually read this far down and have seen my other detailed blog on how the Hu-Qing-Ping works, you know there are two checkpoints. The second one is at the Shanghai-Jiangsu border and is usually a problem, which can be bypassed with a farm road. The first one I've never had a problem with in all the 200+ times going through, except for this particular day!!!!!!
A policeman came out of nowhere and practically tackled me off the bike. He was pulling over anything that moved, including bicycles. Needless to say, I was forced to stop. Smarter people than me saw what was going on and drove on the opposite side of the road to avoid this. For every victim who got pulled over, I counted two more who avoided the check by going on the wrong side of the road. DAMNIT!! I should have anticipated this, but in all 200+ times it never even once occured to me that THIS checkpoint posed a problem.
In situations like these, you immediately play the role of the dumb foreigner. That means NO speaking Chinese whatsoever, and not even showing a hint of understanding it. I put the bike in neutral -- you'll see why later.
Unfortunately he could speak English. I ended up being detained at the police station for an hour while they decided what to do. They took down the details of the bike such as the numbers on the chassiz, the license plate, and asked to see my drivers license of course. I only had a copy which I showed the cop, and threw in a passport for good measure.
I was basically accused of driving a bike which wasn't mine, that my drivers license was for cars, and I didn't have the fapiao (receipt) to prove ownership of the bike. I was told it is dangerous to ride bikes, asked where I was going, and a bunch of other questions. He pointed to a locked up area behind the checkpoint where 5 other bikes were impounded. I figured this bike with over 7000 kilometers was going to die this way. After the death of the bike, I would then have to find another way to the school and the Luxu police station. In this area, it would mean walking another 1.5 hours, since the "chicken bus" which used to ply this road was also forced out of existence by this very same checkpoint.
Meanwhile, I saw the cops collecting plenty of fines from their new computerized system as they pulled over every single other vehicle, including cars, trucks, and vans. Bunch of fat bastards, every last one of them.
Because of no alternatives, nowadays it would be impossible to get to Sino Canada without a bike. A good thing that most of the teachers there don't even bother going to Shanghai as I found out. Oh, the shopping bus still runs once a month.
I got my documents back and, double checking I had everything, started wheeling my bike over to the impound lot, very slowly. At a critical moment I got my keys out (they were in my pocket the whole time), put them in the ignition, made a running start, and throttled out of there before the cops could do anything else.
Adrenaline running very high, I made it to the Luxu police station. But it was too late, they had gone off work. At least I could enjoy a quiet night's sleep at the Zplashes hotel for a super cheap deal, try to calm my nerves down, and then go back to work the next day.
For a short time this week, it felt like I was re-living the whole commute experience of two years ago, this time in the reverse direction.
Attempt #3: With much more time to spare on the next trip to the Luxu police station, this time I went hunting for any backroads that would bypass this first checkpoint. Amazingly, I was able to find one! I only wish I had discovered this backroad two years ago, even though I had made exhausting hunts at the time for exactly this purpose.
This particular backroad even bypasses the checkpoint set up for the EXPO! Combined with the earlier known backroad to bypass the provincial border checkpoint, I can now say for certain there is a guaranteed way to go between Shanghai and Jiangsu provinces without going through a check. It is best to assess the checkpoints first and see what the police are doing to other vehicles, and then use the backroads if necessary. Otherwise it takes too much time for the detour.
That in itself was success enough, because the police registration attempt failed for the third time. We agreed to the fine, but they said it's better that I just go to Shanghai and register there. Back to square one. Whatever. At least I was able to procur a past registration form when I was a teacher in 2009, that was the extent of all this work.
As a friend said, so much work for so little results. But this is China right? I had to at least try.
Next attempt won't be until about November when I actually get a motorcycle license from back home in Canada, get it translated, register again in Shanghai at a new house, wait 3 months, and then apply for the whole Chinese licnese over again, re-take the test, and use a different identity.
A Fiasco Week (Part I)
Today's weather: High = 25 Low = 17
Partly cloudy
With all the beautiful weather we're now having, it's a pity that this week has been so dreadful to enjoy much of it. I'm trying to make the most of it, but this week felt like we were on a high-speed train, someone sabotaged the tracks, and the train derailed.
So many things went wrong at the same time, and everything happened at lightning speed.
The host of the group that I co-lead on the weekends had an emotional outburst. She did some major major damage to our group and the guests, and we had to pull a last minute change of location. The fallout from that is still going on as I type.
Meanwhile at school, I was gathering marks for the report cards and inputting them, and the computer program crashed. Scrambling to get everything back online and teach a lesson at the same time, I finally made the deadline. That meant having to get to school at 5:30am. Later I found out a colleague was sick at the last minute which meant extra coverage, in addition to supervising a math context that day.
Shortly after, my secretary calls me up and says that the landlord is jacking up the rent next year to 6000 RMB a month which is colossal, and the school is not compensating accordingly. After several failed attemps to negotiate, I lost it and told my secretary over the phone, "Screw this, I'm moving out to Minhang District where I can actually afford the rent. I won't rent this place after June anymore."
I then relayed this to the boss of the school who then quickly replied with an email saying my allowance had now increased to 5000 RMB a month. Now the question is whether to keep the downtown place or not. I have friends looking around in Minhang right now as I type. Basically that district is about a 25-30 minute motorcycle ride away from work and it could very well pan out if I want to eventually register a motorcycle with Shanghai suburban "C plates". More on this in another post.
Amazingly enough, I still made 3 more return trips to Wujiang this week, as part of the ongoing saga of trying to replace my lost drivers license (see last post)
All 3 of this trips were a failure, details below. I'm now scrapping the plan to try and replace the license using my former address in Luxu town at Zplashes hotel. It is becoming so troublesome that I'm better off going through the hassle of re-taking the drivers test, this time using my Shanghai residence, and creating a new identity
Here's how it works: the former license uses the Chinese name "sure dee fen" who is registered in Wujiang, Jiangsu province. We know that "sure dee fen" lost his former passport along with his drivers licnese, so let's just consider him dead. When I re-take the test in Shanghai province with my current passport, I will then be a new person called "sure dee foo". Both names sound like Steve, and they will never know it's the same guy because inter-provincial communication is very poor in China.
That all said, I had to at least try the plan to go back to my former address at Zplashes hotel in Luxu, stay there for a few days, and register with the Luxu police station in order to procur a "registration of temporary residence" form. The idea would be to take that along with several other documents, and attempt to get a replacement drivers license from the main vehicle branch in Suzhou 'province'
3 attempts to try and do this all ended in failure, and I felt bad for the Chinese colleague who was helping me run this errand. It turns out that my current secretary (in Shanghai) didn't register me with the police, which the Luxu police insisted I have that form in order for them to do anything. Does a registration form from the hotel count? No, it doesn't.
Attempt #1: The Luxu police said I had to fax my Shanghai form over to them, and they didn't have a fax machine. We went next door to a shop that did have a machine, and I got a registration form faxed from Shanghai, but it was not recent enough to match the most recent stamp on my passport. So I'm told I had to re-register with the Shanghai police, or else pay a fine. OK, could I pay the fine in Shanghai or pay it here in Luxu? They said I could pay in Luxu but it would take 7 days to process the receipt and then issue the residence registration. They quoted 200 RMB for the fine which is a pretty good deal considering that failure to register in Shanghai would cost me 5000 RMB if I paid over there. This is all thanks to my school secretary who forgot to do this in the first place, or was just too lazy. So I said, OK, I agree to the fine, let's do this. But it was almost 5pm and there wasn't time, we'd have to come back tomorrow.
The registration secretary smiled mockingly and said, "It's time to go off work now!" I pretended not to understand this. She said we'd have to come back tomorrow. But then she said, "The policeman who does fines is here 24 hours a day." Who knows what anymore.
Partly cloudy
With all the beautiful weather we're now having, it's a pity that this week has been so dreadful to enjoy much of it. I'm trying to make the most of it, but this week felt like we were on a high-speed train, someone sabotaged the tracks, and the train derailed.
So many things went wrong at the same time, and everything happened at lightning speed.
The host of the group that I co-lead on the weekends had an emotional outburst. She did some major major damage to our group and the guests, and we had to pull a last minute change of location. The fallout from that is still going on as I type.
Meanwhile at school, I was gathering marks for the report cards and inputting them, and the computer program crashed. Scrambling to get everything back online and teach a lesson at the same time, I finally made the deadline. That meant having to get to school at 5:30am. Later I found out a colleague was sick at the last minute which meant extra coverage, in addition to supervising a math context that day.
Shortly after, my secretary calls me up and says that the landlord is jacking up the rent next year to 6000 RMB a month which is colossal, and the school is not compensating accordingly. After several failed attemps to negotiate, I lost it and told my secretary over the phone, "Screw this, I'm moving out to Minhang District where I can actually afford the rent. I won't rent this place after June anymore."
I then relayed this to the boss of the school who then quickly replied with an email saying my allowance had now increased to 5000 RMB a month. Now the question is whether to keep the downtown place or not. I have friends looking around in Minhang right now as I type. Basically that district is about a 25-30 minute motorcycle ride away from work and it could very well pan out if I want to eventually register a motorcycle with Shanghai suburban "C plates". More on this in another post.
Amazingly enough, I still made 3 more return trips to Wujiang this week, as part of the ongoing saga of trying to replace my lost drivers license (see last post)
All 3 of this trips were a failure, details below. I'm now scrapping the plan to try and replace the license using my former address in Luxu town at Zplashes hotel. It is becoming so troublesome that I'm better off going through the hassle of re-taking the drivers test, this time using my Shanghai residence, and creating a new identity
Here's how it works: the former license uses the Chinese name "sure dee fen" who is registered in Wujiang, Jiangsu province. We know that "sure dee fen" lost his former passport along with his drivers licnese, so let's just consider him dead. When I re-take the test in Shanghai province with my current passport, I will then be a new person called "sure dee foo". Both names sound like Steve, and they will never know it's the same guy because inter-provincial communication is very poor in China.
That all said, I had to at least try the plan to go back to my former address at Zplashes hotel in Luxu, stay there for a few days, and register with the Luxu police station in order to procur a "registration of temporary residence" form. The idea would be to take that along with several other documents, and attempt to get a replacement drivers license from the main vehicle branch in Suzhou 'province'
3 attempts to try and do this all ended in failure, and I felt bad for the Chinese colleague who was helping me run this errand. It turns out that my current secretary (in Shanghai) didn't register me with the police, which the Luxu police insisted I have that form in order for them to do anything. Does a registration form from the hotel count? No, it doesn't.
Attempt #1: The Luxu police said I had to fax my Shanghai form over to them, and they didn't have a fax machine. We went next door to a shop that did have a machine, and I got a registration form faxed from Shanghai, but it was not recent enough to match the most recent stamp on my passport. So I'm told I had to re-register with the Shanghai police, or else pay a fine. OK, could I pay the fine in Shanghai or pay it here in Luxu? They said I could pay in Luxu but it would take 7 days to process the receipt and then issue the residence registration. They quoted 200 RMB for the fine which is a pretty good deal considering that failure to register in Shanghai would cost me 5000 RMB if I paid over there. This is all thanks to my school secretary who forgot to do this in the first place, or was just too lazy. So I said, OK, I agree to the fine, let's do this. But it was almost 5pm and there wasn't time, we'd have to come back tomorrow.
The registration secretary smiled mockingly and said, "It's time to go off work now!" I pretended not to understand this. She said we'd have to come back tomorrow. But then she said, "The policeman who does fines is here 24 hours a day." Who knows what anymore.
Monday 11 April 2011
Run Down, Many to Go
Today's weather: High = 26 Low = 9
Sunny
Fitting for this spring season, the temperature went through the roof (relatively speaking) for a short time, just as we were to participate in the Jinqiao 8K run, out in Pudong.
Actually, the weather couldn't have been more perfect.
Every year they hold the annual 8K run in a region of Shanghai that is filled with foreigners. That would of course be Jinqiao in Pudong, second only to Hongqiao in Puxi as the largest concentration of expats in our fine city.
It was rather amazing just to see how many physically fit foreigners actually live in Shanghai, as indicated by how many participated in the run. The count was in the thousands, matched by an equal number of locals. As a point of comparison, the total number of expats in Shanghai is about 300,000. They obviously come here for a reason, as it's the best city to live in China, if not the entire planet. They certainly wouldn't want to be living in Wujiang, as you can tell from my last post.
As an aside, a friend in the hotel development business was ordered by her boss to put Wujiang on the blacklist of places to do business in, because of all the corruption there. So it turns out my earlier posts to slam this region of China weren't all off-base. Other people have also suffered from high levels of curruption in Wujiang -- which I had been suspecting, based on my experiences. Let's just say that corrupt officials torpedoed a business opportunity and almost caused the entire project to fail, if it weren't for other developments in cleaner regions of China that saved the project.
Back to the running story, it was a nice start with thousands of people in yellow shirts going around two laps on major streets, causing quite the media frenzy. Every so often there were kilometer markings and water stations. I was in good shape to do this run, thanks to all the training on the treadmills prior to this. Unfortunately my running partner wasn't in such good shape, but we negotiated a time to meet after the event, and we did separate races.
This was hardly a competition, but the expats in Shanghai sure took it seriously. It felt more intense than the Vancouver 10K Sun Run, as a point in comparision. However, this event was low-tech and lacked all the devices like timing chips, etc. that would be found in the Vancouver run. Despite that, the people went crazy. I was going all out and still getting passed left, right, and center. Most annoying was the pant-pant-pant of others running behind me in close quarters, or the typical cutting off behavior in close proximity that would be more associated with Chinese than foreigners, yet both were the guilty parties.
The thing here was that the police allowed traffic to run on most of the streets and siphoned off the runners to the bicycle lane as the race progressed further from the start line .... hence all the close quarters. They did block off several of the roads near the start line, but it was only for a short distance. Even at 9am on a Sunday morning, this caused a ton of traffic jams, and the police understandably wanted to minimize that effect.
Nevertheless I checked in with 41 minutes and 40 seconds which I figure was pretty damn good. My average treadmill times were 50+ minutes for this distance, and I'm still not in ideal physical shape (i.e. still overweight)
Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice noodle lunch and coffee to relax.
This is part of the training I'm doing to eventually run a marathon by the end of this year. The next event will be a half-marathon around October, so it's now time to start training for that.
Sunny
Fitting for this spring season, the temperature went through the roof (relatively speaking) for a short time, just as we were to participate in the Jinqiao 8K run, out in Pudong.
Actually, the weather couldn't have been more perfect.
Every year they hold the annual 8K run in a region of Shanghai that is filled with foreigners. That would of course be Jinqiao in Pudong, second only to Hongqiao in Puxi as the largest concentration of expats in our fine city.
It was rather amazing just to see how many physically fit foreigners actually live in Shanghai, as indicated by how many participated in the run. The count was in the thousands, matched by an equal number of locals. As a point of comparison, the total number of expats in Shanghai is about 300,000. They obviously come here for a reason, as it's the best city to live in China, if not the entire planet. They certainly wouldn't want to be living in Wujiang, as you can tell from my last post.
As an aside, a friend in the hotel development business was ordered by her boss to put Wujiang on the blacklist of places to do business in, because of all the corruption there. So it turns out my earlier posts to slam this region of China weren't all off-base. Other people have also suffered from high levels of curruption in Wujiang -- which I had been suspecting, based on my experiences. Let's just say that corrupt officials torpedoed a business opportunity and almost caused the entire project to fail, if it weren't for other developments in cleaner regions of China that saved the project.
Back to the running story, it was a nice start with thousands of people in yellow shirts going around two laps on major streets, causing quite the media frenzy. Every so often there were kilometer markings and water stations. I was in good shape to do this run, thanks to all the training on the treadmills prior to this. Unfortunately my running partner wasn't in such good shape, but we negotiated a time to meet after the event, and we did separate races.
This was hardly a competition, but the expats in Shanghai sure took it seriously. It felt more intense than the Vancouver 10K Sun Run, as a point in comparision. However, this event was low-tech and lacked all the devices like timing chips, etc. that would be found in the Vancouver run. Despite that, the people went crazy. I was going all out and still getting passed left, right, and center. Most annoying was the pant-pant-pant of others running behind me in close quarters, or the typical cutting off behavior in close proximity that would be more associated with Chinese than foreigners, yet both were the guilty parties.
The thing here was that the police allowed traffic to run on most of the streets and siphoned off the runners to the bicycle lane as the race progressed further from the start line .... hence all the close quarters. They did block off several of the roads near the start line, but it was only for a short distance. Even at 9am on a Sunday morning, this caused a ton of traffic jams, and the police understandably wanted to minimize that effect.
Nevertheless I checked in with 41 minutes and 40 seconds which I figure was pretty damn good. My average treadmill times were 50+ minutes for this distance, and I'm still not in ideal physical shape (i.e. still overweight)
Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice noodle lunch and coffee to relax.
This is part of the training I'm doing to eventually run a marathon by the end of this year. The next event will be a half-marathon around October, so it's now time to start training for that.
Friday 8 April 2011
Wujiang Woes (Part III)
As a foreigner in China, there is so little I know of what is really going on. It may sound like I know a lot from these blogs and have almost at 10 years in this country. But the more I learn and the longer I stay here, the more I realize how little I really know of what goes on. There have been a few instances where people have said I know more than the Chinese about, for example, backroads on which to ride a motorcycle. That may be true, but it's only for localized areas.
Even locals, I seriously wonder how much they really know of their own country either. I think both foreigners and locals do serious perceptual damage with this whole 'us' vs 'them' mentality. That is to say, the whole thinking of we are Chinese, you are foreigner implies that all Chinese think alike.
Today's episode of Wujiang Woes shows that provincial and district borders matter an incredibly big deal in China. The experiences of being a local 'wai di ren', meaning someone from out-of-town or a migrant worker, are not all that different from a 'wai guo ren' or an actual foreigner. In fact, the former have it a lot worse, I would certainly imagine.
The 'wai guo ren' can always leave the country on a flight if things get frustrating enough to the point of actually wanting to do that. The option is available. But not so for the 'wai di ren' in a differnet city who has to put up with the same kind of bureaucratic BS and other frustrations on a daily basis.
If I get depressed after an afternoon in Wujiang of failure, imagine how the wai di ren must feel who has to put up with that for an entire lifetime. There must be untold millions of people who face failure on a daily basis simply because they moved to a new jurisdiction and they don't have the proper residence papers, or other documents that are required.
The worst of it was a story from a former colleague at the school I worked at in Wujiang. His son couldn't go to a local school because he lacked the hukou papers. They were originally from another prefecture called Lian Yun Gang, which was only 100km away for f*cks sake. But they may as well have been treated like total outsiders.
At least they'll be nice to a foreigner if something can't be done or they don't want to help. If it's a local wai di ren, they'll tell him to zou kai in his face.
The concept of freedom of mobility does not apply in China, even though it appears that way on a superficial level. While bullet trains may whisk you between cities in mere minutes, it still takes months to transfer paperwork from one city to another. Your mobile phone only works in one city. Same with your bank account. Provincial and district borders matter more than they ever did before, even if the train can go quickly between them.
Any way you look at it, people live very limited lives in this country. I can't help but feel grateful that I at least have the option to leave if I wanted, but I also feel compassion for the millions of masses who have no choice but to suffer as the red tape chokes the life out of them.
The parting words to my tout friend at the traffic police office were, "Shanghai is a good place." I was screaming to say "Wujiang is a bad place" but stopped myself at the last second.
Sorry Wujiang, it just hasn't worked out for the both of us. As I crossed the border back into Shanghai province, I opened the motorcycle throttle and did not look back. Maybe there is hope that Wujiang could pan out once again in the future, but when I've faced as much failure in one particular region, I think it's a telltale sign to get the hell out and never look back.
As I got back to my cozy apartment in the middle of downtown Shanghai, enjoyed a hot shower, and enjoyed a rest in a warm bed, watching a DVD with internet, I never felt more grateful than I did tonight.
Even locals, I seriously wonder how much they really know of their own country either. I think both foreigners and locals do serious perceptual damage with this whole 'us' vs 'them' mentality. That is to say, the whole thinking of we are Chinese, you are foreigner implies that all Chinese think alike.
Today's episode of Wujiang Woes shows that provincial and district borders matter an incredibly big deal in China. The experiences of being a local 'wai di ren', meaning someone from out-of-town or a migrant worker, are not all that different from a 'wai guo ren' or an actual foreigner. In fact, the former have it a lot worse, I would certainly imagine.
The 'wai guo ren' can always leave the country on a flight if things get frustrating enough to the point of actually wanting to do that. The option is available. But not so for the 'wai di ren' in a differnet city who has to put up with the same kind of bureaucratic BS and other frustrations on a daily basis.
If I get depressed after an afternoon in Wujiang of failure, imagine how the wai di ren must feel who has to put up with that for an entire lifetime. There must be untold millions of people who face failure on a daily basis simply because they moved to a new jurisdiction and they don't have the proper residence papers, or other documents that are required.
The worst of it was a story from a former colleague at the school I worked at in Wujiang. His son couldn't go to a local school because he lacked the hukou papers. They were originally from another prefecture called Lian Yun Gang, which was only 100km away for f*cks sake. But they may as well have been treated like total outsiders.
At least they'll be nice to a foreigner if something can't be done or they don't want to help. If it's a local wai di ren, they'll tell him to zou kai in his face.
The concept of freedom of mobility does not apply in China, even though it appears that way on a superficial level. While bullet trains may whisk you between cities in mere minutes, it still takes months to transfer paperwork from one city to another. Your mobile phone only works in one city. Same with your bank account. Provincial and district borders matter more than they ever did before, even if the train can go quickly between them.
Any way you look at it, people live very limited lives in this country. I can't help but feel grateful that I at least have the option to leave if I wanted, but I also feel compassion for the millions of masses who have no choice but to suffer as the red tape chokes the life out of them.
The parting words to my tout friend at the traffic police office were, "Shanghai is a good place." I was screaming to say "Wujiang is a bad place" but stopped myself at the last second.
Sorry Wujiang, it just hasn't worked out for the both of us. As I crossed the border back into Shanghai province, I opened the motorcycle throttle and did not look back. Maybe there is hope that Wujiang could pan out once again in the future, but when I've faced as much failure in one particular region, I think it's a telltale sign to get the hell out and never look back.
As I got back to my cozy apartment in the middle of downtown Shanghai, enjoyed a hot shower, and enjoyed a rest in a warm bed, watching a DVD with internet, I never felt more grateful than I did tonight.
Wujiang Woes (Part II)
I can't think of any other city in China where I've faced so much bureaucratic frustration and failure. For reasons unknown to me, every time I venture into downtown Wujiang, I feel as if the whole trip is going to be a wasted afternoon. Given that I'm now about 3 for 20 when it comes to accomplishing something productive in Wujiang, it is no small wonder I dread even thinking about that place now.
What's the deal with Wujiang anyway? As a friend said, the place hasn't been very good to me. Moving out of that cursed place and back to the promised land of Shanghai was the best choice I could have made.
To get some idea what's going on here, we need to understand a few things about Chinese administrative hierarchy. Wikipedia is an excellent source of information, combined with my past experiences living and working in a very unique area of China: the remote part of Wujiang prefecture which bordered on two other provinces. That's how I learned all the stuff on administrative hierarchy in the first place, or else I wouldn't have bothered.
What the Chinese call a 'city' is actually a prefecture -- a very large area of land. This can lead to somewhat humorous contradictions like I saw in the recent paper. One article read, "The city of Shanghai plans to hold a competition to attract tourists to its villages."
One would obviously ask, how can there be a village in a city?
It makes sense if we look at the original language. The Chinese use the word 'shi' to call a city, but it basically means a prefecture. The urban core of the prefecture is the actual city for which the entire prefecture is named after. So in this sense, Shanghai contains many small villages.
In my blogs, I often refer to the urban part as 'downtown Shanghai' or simply 'Shanghai' while the whole area I refer to as 'Shanghai province' to distinguish it from neighboring areas, even though Shanghai is not really a province.
Next door is Suzhou 'province', again not really a province, but it's about the same size as Shanghai province and plays a similar role. Suzhou contains several other smaller prefectures, similar to how Shanghai contains smaller districts. So in the case of Suzhou, we have: Kunshan, Changshu, Taicang, and Wujiang prefectures. Each of these prefectures still covers a significant chunk of land and has, in turn, smaller township governments .
So you might be thinking, why does this kind of thing matter anyway. I didn't give the whole land division system much thought until living near the border of 3 provinces. Then, it suddenly mattered a lot !! Actually, the longer I spend in China, the more I realize how important this kind of thing really is.
Two years ago I was working for a school in the remote regions of Wujiang. For all practical purposes, I used Shanghai as the downtown reference point. But to be consistent with the importance of jurisdiction, the school was actually part of Wujiang, and so "downtown" meant there, not Shanghai.
So, downtown Wujiang was about 30km away from the school, and the only time we went there was for administrative purposes. Such as:
1. Doing health checkups
2. Applying for residence permit and visa
3. Trying to replace a passport (what a nightmare)
4. Drivers license testing
Each one of these tasks required multiple trips, and multiple setbacks were encountered.
This experience got to be so common, that every single trip to Wujiang I would dread, just expecting that something wrong would occur and that hours of time would be wasted. That is exactly what did happen.
The stories are too numerous to recall in detail, but here are just a few:
-- The school was trying to process our work visas in time for the national holiday but there were numerous setbacks and delays in making this happen. One afternoon we got there, and the administrative office told us we had to go to Suzhou office first and take care of a matter, then come back. We did that, but the traffic jams caused us to arrive back in Wujiang just after 5pm when we saw a whole convoy of government vehicles drive off. At that point we knew we were doomed, and would have to come back again tomorrow. That we did, but by then my tourist visa had expired. We ended up having to spend the whole afternoon in the police station writing out self-criticism notes and my secretary bore the brunt of the burden trying to explain why we were now overstaying our visas.
-- On our way to a health checkup, our driver had barely enough fuel just as he pulled into a gas station along the rural road. The attendant said 'mei you' meaning there was no more fuel at the pumps. We drove a little further along and ran out of gas.
-- While trying to report a passport lost (the first out of two losses) the policeman at the Wujiang office said I had to go back to Dalian to report because that's where the passport was lost. But I told him I couldn't because I needed to work, and my job was in Wujiang so reporting here would make sense. He then asked how I managed to get back without a passport and I told him I took the bus. Then he put together a list of 3 places I had to visit first and obtain 3 reports: Luxu town, Wujiang prefecture, finally Suzhou prefecture. After going to all 3 places and doing as I was told with my secretrary helping me, the Suzhou office rejected my case. Finally I said screw all this, crossed the Shanghai border, and solved the problem by myself with an office that was much more accomodating. Eventually I got a new passport, but it still needed to have a replacement Wujiang residents permit.
-- After about 6 attempts, I finally got that residence permit in my new passport. By the sixth trip to Wujiang I was almost ready to give up and just quit China if it didn't work. Or failing that, survive on tourist visas from Shanghai where it would easier to get them, and then quit my job in June. In fact, I did eventually quit that job.
-- After multiple attempts I finally got a drivers license and it sure was difficult (see last blog) The license specifically says: Suzhou prefecture, Wujiang prefecture, Luxu Town, and then my former school address on it.
Unfortunately today's story is another one to add to the Wujiang woes.
The supposed logic here in China is that when you lose a document, you need to go back to the place that first issued the document.
In the case with my drivers license, I got it issued in Wujiang, so going back would make sense. Wrong. I figured they would have a record of it on their computers, and I had printed scans of the actual license online in case of something like this -- which I brought along with me.
The problem was that before even checking the police computers, they saw my current passport which was DIFFERENT than the old passport used to apply for the license. Worse yet, in this case, my current passport had a Shanghai residence permit inside it, as opposed to a Wujiang residence permit which my old passport had when I applied for the license.
Predictably, the clerks at the traffic police said, "We can't help you here because you have a residence permit from Shanghai, and your passport number is different than your old one."
I said, "But my license printout here says the license is Suzhou, Wujiang, Luxu, and it was issued from this office where I took the test two years ago. The license is valid until 2015, as you can see, and I got the license from this office, so that's why I am here. Besides, I came all the way from Shanghai."
They asked if I had a copy of my old passport and Wujiang residence permit. Unfortunately, I did not. They wrote down a list of things I had to do, which was frighteningly similar to what happened two years ago from the visa office:
1. Go to Luxu town and get a temporary registration form of residence from the local police
2. Go to the hospital and get a medical checkup receipt, similar to when I first got the license
3. Go to the Suzhou traffic police department office, as it is from the larger prefecture. They told me the license came from there originally, not from Wujiang.
The clerks may in fact be completely correct here about the process, but I have no confidence when it comes to this stuff anymore, and I don't even want to bother trying. All this was relayed back to my former secretary at the school I used to work with, who tried her best to help, but she could only do so much.
What happened next was the clerks at the traffic police office gave me back all the documents I had brought in. But on the way out, I noticed they ALSO mistakenly gave me the documents from a Taiwanese person who was applying for a license. They were dealing with this girl before me in the queue (if you can call it a queue) and somehow her documents got mishandled in the shuffle and they ended up in my hands.
About 30 minutes later I did the right thing and gave the documents back to the clerk, who was very grateful, otherwise it could have been a huge problem!! I kid you not, she could have lost her job over something like this. Unfortunately that nice little save didn't score me any brownie points for them to change their minds and process my case, even though I didn't hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity.
Immensely frustrated, right away aftewards, against my better judgment, I capitulated to the services of a tout who was lingering outside the traffic police office. It was problaby the same guy we saw 2 years ago. The system is so corrupt anyway, that there is nothing stopping these guys from standing right outside the testing center with their business cards where they try to solicit customers who would rather pay a bribe than take an honest drivers test.
I explained my predicament to the tout as best I could, but I don't think he got the idea of what was going on. He was used to reciting his line and said, "OK sir, for 800 RMB I'll get you that license with my help. If I get the license, you pay the money. If not, no fee. All you need is a passport, two photos, and a residence permit."
I said, "Is it OK if I use a Shanghai residence permit? And I already have a drivers license, I just need to replace the one I lost."
He didn't let me finish and said, "Shanghai residence permit, OK, no problem."
He then saw my motorcycle and said, "Did you ride all the way from shanghai? Wow!"
Yes sir, I did. He then got on the back of my bike and I ferried him and myself all around this godforsaken town.
As fate would have it, we ended up back at the very same drivers license center with the very same clerk I had already seen twice now! This time she was upset, understandably, that I had brought along a tout. And I admit, I had really screwedd this one up now. But I was desperate, damnit!!!!!!
The clerk repeated to me what she said earlier and added for emphasis, "You need to do these things by yourself." After the tout argued with her on my behalf, she told him to get lost in his face.
"Ni zou kai"
Ouch. The next 2 hours were a total waste of time as the tout directed me to all these different places to try and do the things on the list. We managed to get the health check done, but that was it. I paid him for his troubles after a lot of bargaining, and I was now out 50 RMB as well as a whole wasted afternoon. Thankfully we parted on good terms, and negotiating stopped it from becoming an even worse mess.
Oh, we also managed to visit his operation where he runs the illegal tests! He called it "studying for the test" but why study for the test using a full bank of computers with the exact same software as that is used for the actual drivers license test? No, we both knew what was really going on here. He picks someone off the street outside the traffic police center, takes them to this little secret office, and they write the test with all the help and hints they could ever need to pass with flying colors. The results are uploaded, the drivers license comes shortly after and it's a legit license obtained through fraudulent means.
F*ck Wujiang and this whole thing. I'm now going to do what I should have done the first time. Ask around locally here in Shanghai and see if the traffic police can replace the lost license from this end.
What's the deal with Wujiang anyway? As a friend said, the place hasn't been very good to me. Moving out of that cursed place and back to the promised land of Shanghai was the best choice I could have made.
To get some idea what's going on here, we need to understand a few things about Chinese administrative hierarchy. Wikipedia is an excellent source of information, combined with my past experiences living and working in a very unique area of China: the remote part of Wujiang prefecture which bordered on two other provinces. That's how I learned all the stuff on administrative hierarchy in the first place, or else I wouldn't have bothered.
What the Chinese call a 'city' is actually a prefecture -- a very large area of land. This can lead to somewhat humorous contradictions like I saw in the recent paper. One article read, "The city of Shanghai plans to hold a competition to attract tourists to its villages."
One would obviously ask, how can there be a village in a city?
It makes sense if we look at the original language. The Chinese use the word 'shi' to call a city, but it basically means a prefecture. The urban core of the prefecture is the actual city for which the entire prefecture is named after. So in this sense, Shanghai contains many small villages.
In my blogs, I often refer to the urban part as 'downtown Shanghai' or simply 'Shanghai' while the whole area I refer to as 'Shanghai province' to distinguish it from neighboring areas, even though Shanghai is not really a province.
Next door is Suzhou 'province', again not really a province, but it's about the same size as Shanghai province and plays a similar role. Suzhou contains several other smaller prefectures, similar to how Shanghai contains smaller districts. So in the case of Suzhou, we have: Kunshan, Changshu, Taicang, and Wujiang prefectures. Each of these prefectures still covers a significant chunk of land and has, in turn, smaller township governments .
So you might be thinking, why does this kind of thing matter anyway. I didn't give the whole land division system much thought until living near the border of 3 provinces. Then, it suddenly mattered a lot !! Actually, the longer I spend in China, the more I realize how important this kind of thing really is.
Two years ago I was working for a school in the remote regions of Wujiang. For all practical purposes, I used Shanghai as the downtown reference point. But to be consistent with the importance of jurisdiction, the school was actually part of Wujiang, and so "downtown" meant there, not Shanghai.
So, downtown Wujiang was about 30km away from the school, and the only time we went there was for administrative purposes. Such as:
1. Doing health checkups
2. Applying for residence permit and visa
3. Trying to replace a passport (what a nightmare)
4. Drivers license testing
Each one of these tasks required multiple trips, and multiple setbacks were encountered.
This experience got to be so common, that every single trip to Wujiang I would dread, just expecting that something wrong would occur and that hours of time would be wasted. That is exactly what did happen.
The stories are too numerous to recall in detail, but here are just a few:
-- The school was trying to process our work visas in time for the national holiday but there were numerous setbacks and delays in making this happen. One afternoon we got there, and the administrative office told us we had to go to Suzhou office first and take care of a matter, then come back. We did that, but the traffic jams caused us to arrive back in Wujiang just after 5pm when we saw a whole convoy of government vehicles drive off. At that point we knew we were doomed, and would have to come back again tomorrow. That we did, but by then my tourist visa had expired. We ended up having to spend the whole afternoon in the police station writing out self-criticism notes and my secretary bore the brunt of the burden trying to explain why we were now overstaying our visas.
-- On our way to a health checkup, our driver had barely enough fuel just as he pulled into a gas station along the rural road. The attendant said 'mei you' meaning there was no more fuel at the pumps. We drove a little further along and ran out of gas.
-- While trying to report a passport lost (the first out of two losses) the policeman at the Wujiang office said I had to go back to Dalian to report because that's where the passport was lost. But I told him I couldn't because I needed to work, and my job was in Wujiang so reporting here would make sense. He then asked how I managed to get back without a passport and I told him I took the bus. Then he put together a list of 3 places I had to visit first and obtain 3 reports: Luxu town, Wujiang prefecture, finally Suzhou prefecture. After going to all 3 places and doing as I was told with my secretrary helping me, the Suzhou office rejected my case. Finally I said screw all this, crossed the Shanghai border, and solved the problem by myself with an office that was much more accomodating. Eventually I got a new passport, but it still needed to have a replacement Wujiang residents permit.
-- After about 6 attempts, I finally got that residence permit in my new passport. By the sixth trip to Wujiang I was almost ready to give up and just quit China if it didn't work. Or failing that, survive on tourist visas from Shanghai where it would easier to get them, and then quit my job in June. In fact, I did eventually quit that job.
-- After multiple attempts I finally got a drivers license and it sure was difficult (see last blog) The license specifically says: Suzhou prefecture, Wujiang prefecture, Luxu Town, and then my former school address on it.
Unfortunately today's story is another one to add to the Wujiang woes.
The supposed logic here in China is that when you lose a document, you need to go back to the place that first issued the document.
In the case with my drivers license, I got it issued in Wujiang, so going back would make sense. Wrong. I figured they would have a record of it on their computers, and I had printed scans of the actual license online in case of something like this -- which I brought along with me.
The problem was that before even checking the police computers, they saw my current passport which was DIFFERENT than the old passport used to apply for the license. Worse yet, in this case, my current passport had a Shanghai residence permit inside it, as opposed to a Wujiang residence permit which my old passport had when I applied for the license.
Predictably, the clerks at the traffic police said, "We can't help you here because you have a residence permit from Shanghai, and your passport number is different than your old one."
I said, "But my license printout here says the license is Suzhou, Wujiang, Luxu, and it was issued from this office where I took the test two years ago. The license is valid until 2015, as you can see, and I got the license from this office, so that's why I am here. Besides, I came all the way from Shanghai."
They asked if I had a copy of my old passport and Wujiang residence permit. Unfortunately, I did not. They wrote down a list of things I had to do, which was frighteningly similar to what happened two years ago from the visa office:
1. Go to Luxu town and get a temporary registration form of residence from the local police
2. Go to the hospital and get a medical checkup receipt, similar to when I first got the license
3. Go to the Suzhou traffic police department office, as it is from the larger prefecture. They told me the license came from there originally, not from Wujiang.
The clerks may in fact be completely correct here about the process, but I have no confidence when it comes to this stuff anymore, and I don't even want to bother trying. All this was relayed back to my former secretary at the school I used to work with, who tried her best to help, but she could only do so much.
What happened next was the clerks at the traffic police office gave me back all the documents I had brought in. But on the way out, I noticed they ALSO mistakenly gave me the documents from a Taiwanese person who was applying for a license. They were dealing with this girl before me in the queue (if you can call it a queue) and somehow her documents got mishandled in the shuffle and they ended up in my hands.
About 30 minutes later I did the right thing and gave the documents back to the clerk, who was very grateful, otherwise it could have been a huge problem!! I kid you not, she could have lost her job over something like this. Unfortunately that nice little save didn't score me any brownie points for them to change their minds and process my case, even though I didn't hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity.
Immensely frustrated, right away aftewards, against my better judgment, I capitulated to the services of a tout who was lingering outside the traffic police office. It was problaby the same guy we saw 2 years ago. The system is so corrupt anyway, that there is nothing stopping these guys from standing right outside the testing center with their business cards where they try to solicit customers who would rather pay a bribe than take an honest drivers test.
I explained my predicament to the tout as best I could, but I don't think he got the idea of what was going on. He was used to reciting his line and said, "OK sir, for 800 RMB I'll get you that license with my help. If I get the license, you pay the money. If not, no fee. All you need is a passport, two photos, and a residence permit."
I said, "Is it OK if I use a Shanghai residence permit? And I already have a drivers license, I just need to replace the one I lost."
He didn't let me finish and said, "Shanghai residence permit, OK, no problem."
He then saw my motorcycle and said, "Did you ride all the way from shanghai? Wow!"
Yes sir, I did. He then got on the back of my bike and I ferried him and myself all around this godforsaken town.
As fate would have it, we ended up back at the very same drivers license center with the very same clerk I had already seen twice now! This time she was upset, understandably, that I had brought along a tout. And I admit, I had really screwedd this one up now. But I was desperate, damnit!!!!!!
The clerk repeated to me what she said earlier and added for emphasis, "You need to do these things by yourself." After the tout argued with her on my behalf, she told him to get lost in his face.
"Ni zou kai"
Ouch. The next 2 hours were a total waste of time as the tout directed me to all these different places to try and do the things on the list. We managed to get the health check done, but that was it. I paid him for his troubles after a lot of bargaining, and I was now out 50 RMB as well as a whole wasted afternoon. Thankfully we parted on good terms, and negotiating stopped it from becoming an even worse mess.
Oh, we also managed to visit his operation where he runs the illegal tests! He called it "studying for the test" but why study for the test using a full bank of computers with the exact same software as that is used for the actual drivers license test? No, we both knew what was really going on here. He picks someone off the street outside the traffic police center, takes them to this little secret office, and they write the test with all the help and hints they could ever need to pass with flying colors. The results are uploaded, the drivers license comes shortly after and it's a legit license obtained through fraudulent means.
F*ck Wujiang and this whole thing. I'm now going to do what I should have done the first time. Ask around locally here in Shanghai and see if the traffic police can replace the lost license from this end.
Wujiang Woes (Part I)
Today's weather: High = 20 Low = 11
Haze
After a short teaching week, most of this Friday afternoon was free so I set out for Wujiang (next province over) to try and replace my Chinese drivers license.
Two years ago I was teaching at a school in a town called Luxu, part of Wujiang prefecture, which is part of the larger Suzhou prefecture. As with all administrative matters, they had to be done in the downtown part of Wujiang which was about a 30km drive from the school.
Two years ago I successfully passed a written test, in order to have a Chinese drivers license issued in my name. The process for that was, you can imagine, rather complex. For those who are interested, and if you're up to the task:
1. Get a translated copy of a drivers license from your home country
2. Take a brief medical exam (this is the easiest part) and a certified receipt
3. Sign up for a 100 multiple choice test, in English, of various road signs and markings. You need 90% to pass. There are books to study for this. When I did the test, I had to study from a Chinese book. I'm sure now they have the book in English and it also depends, of course, on which city and district you write the test. I did it in Wujiang at the time.
If you don't pass the first time, you can have another crack right afterwards. If you don't pass the first two attempts, you'll need to come back the following week and take another crack at bat.
I passed on the third attempt with 98%. Since all four of us did the test in a group, we pooled our resources and made up review packages by requesting printouts of all the questions we got wrong at the time. We then memorized all kinds of potential questions, including wrong answers.
Why memorize wrong answers? Because on the first two failed attempts, we discovered that the test itself had multiple design flaws. Several correct answers were clearly marked as wrong on the test, and we could prove it by comparing the study manuals and the printout of our own failed tests. No amount of arguing with the traffic police would get them to acknowledge this fact or change our scores, so we had no choice but to memorize all the questions where we had to answer them wrong in order to get the marks.
That being done, we all passed by the time we made the 3rd trip to the traffic police office. The drivers license came shortly afterwards. Then I knew I should be cherishing that document, because replacing it would be oh so troublesome if it were ever to be lost.
As fate would have it, I did lose that drivers license in the summer of 2010 along with my passport, two computers, two cell phones, a graphing calculator, various house keys, bank cards, and all kinds of other valuables.
You can bet I was beating myself up that summer.
With time, most of the valuables were replaced and the year continued on a much better note. But in the back of my mind, I knew I would eventually have to tackle the last valuable document to be replaced: the drivers license.
Having put it off for so long, I eventually made an attempt today in Wujiang and it ended in utter failure.
Haze
After a short teaching week, most of this Friday afternoon was free so I set out for Wujiang (next province over) to try and replace my Chinese drivers license.
Two years ago I was teaching at a school in a town called Luxu, part of Wujiang prefecture, which is part of the larger Suzhou prefecture. As with all administrative matters, they had to be done in the downtown part of Wujiang which was about a 30km drive from the school.
Two years ago I successfully passed a written test, in order to have a Chinese drivers license issued in my name. The process for that was, you can imagine, rather complex. For those who are interested, and if you're up to the task:
1. Get a translated copy of a drivers license from your home country
2. Take a brief medical exam (this is the easiest part) and a certified receipt
3. Sign up for a 100 multiple choice test, in English, of various road signs and markings. You need 90% to pass. There are books to study for this. When I did the test, I had to study from a Chinese book. I'm sure now they have the book in English and it also depends, of course, on which city and district you write the test. I did it in Wujiang at the time.
If you don't pass the first time, you can have another crack right afterwards. If you don't pass the first two attempts, you'll need to come back the following week and take another crack at bat.
I passed on the third attempt with 98%. Since all four of us did the test in a group, we pooled our resources and made up review packages by requesting printouts of all the questions we got wrong at the time. We then memorized all kinds of potential questions, including wrong answers.
Why memorize wrong answers? Because on the first two failed attempts, we discovered that the test itself had multiple design flaws. Several correct answers were clearly marked as wrong on the test, and we could prove it by comparing the study manuals and the printout of our own failed tests. No amount of arguing with the traffic police would get them to acknowledge this fact or change our scores, so we had no choice but to memorize all the questions where we had to answer them wrong in order to get the marks.
That being done, we all passed by the time we made the 3rd trip to the traffic police office. The drivers license came shortly afterwards. Then I knew I should be cherishing that document, because replacing it would be oh so troublesome if it were ever to be lost.
As fate would have it, I did lose that drivers license in the summer of 2010 along with my passport, two computers, two cell phones, a graphing calculator, various house keys, bank cards, and all kinds of other valuables.
You can bet I was beating myself up that summer.
With time, most of the valuables were replaced and the year continued on a much better note. But in the back of my mind, I knew I would eventually have to tackle the last valuable document to be replaced: the drivers license.
Having put it off for so long, I eventually made an attempt today in Wujiang and it ended in utter failure.
Saturday 2 April 2011
QingMing Tomb Sweeping Holiday
Today's weather: High = 21 Low = 13
Cloudy
We get a 4 day holiday, I'm basically gonna be kicking back, relaxing, and watching DVDs.
The Chinese government changed the holiday schedule in recent years to allow for more of these shorter stat holidays which coincide with traditional cultural festivals. They tend to happen one month apart. There's the tomb holiday right now, otherwise known as the "April Holiday" which is closely followed by the labor day, or the "May Holiday". Then there's the Dragon Boat or the "June Holiday"
Previously they gave one week off for the May Holiday without extra days off on these other holidays. Now the May Holiday is no longer a full week but all these little holidays add up to the same time as before. Actually I prefer it better this way.
Qingming, right now, is when the Chinese go out to the tombs in the countryside and pay their respects to the ancestors. As a result, there is always a lot of traffic on the highways and traveling is not advsised.
As usual, there are weekend workdays to make up the time, so unfortunately we had to work on a Saturday the day before. Oh well, such is life.
Cloudy
We get a 4 day holiday, I'm basically gonna be kicking back, relaxing, and watching DVDs.
The Chinese government changed the holiday schedule in recent years to allow for more of these shorter stat holidays which coincide with traditional cultural festivals. They tend to happen one month apart. There's the tomb holiday right now, otherwise known as the "April Holiday" which is closely followed by the labor day, or the "May Holiday". Then there's the Dragon Boat or the "June Holiday"
Previously they gave one week off for the May Holiday without extra days off on these other holidays. Now the May Holiday is no longer a full week but all these little holidays add up to the same time as before. Actually I prefer it better this way.
Qingming, right now, is when the Chinese go out to the tombs in the countryside and pay their respects to the ancestors. As a result, there is always a lot of traffic on the highways and traveling is not advsised.
As usual, there are weekend workdays to make up the time, so unfortunately we had to work on a Saturday the day before. Oh well, such is life.
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