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.
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