Monthly Archives: November 2005

Sheer stupidity

Posted on by
Reply

This made me laugh.
Taken from China Daily.

Chinese police officers look at shells unearthed from a construction site in Changchun, Northeast China’s Jilin Province Tuesday November 8, 2005. More than 1,500 shells have been excavated since October 20, with more still lying underground. The shells, their source unknown, are filled with TNT and may explode any time, experts said

Yes, may explode at any time. Standing around looking at them is a good idea then.

Even better, lets pick them up…
pickup bomb

Here’s the full text.

Massive arms dump found in Changchun.
CHANGCHUN: More than 3,000 US made artillery shells left over from World War II have been unearthed at a building site in Changchun.

Many of the shells are still live and could explode at any time, experts said.

According to Changchun Public Security Bureau, it is the largest munitions cache ever found in the city.

“My heart jumped into my throat when I heard the news that such a large number of bombs had been buried near my home for more than 50 years and could have exploded at any time,” said one nearby resident.

“Though the police and army are on guard 24 hours, I am still worried,” she added

Half the munitions, including hand grenades, mortars and flares, have been safely disposed of, while around 1,500 are still stored on the building site, awaiting destruction.

According to a survey, which checked to a depth of two metres, there are no more weapons buried on the site.

However, making safe the excavated weapons has been hampered by the high cost of transporting them and hiring a safe place where they can be detonated, said Zhu Yu, deputy chief of the security management department of Changchun Public Security Bureau.

The first 107 shells were discovered on October 20, by a construction team working in Fanrong Road. Over the next 23 days, weapons excavated from the site continued to pile up.

Well preserved after more than 50 years underground, experts say the weapons belonged to the Kuomintang (KMT), which received military help from the United States during the 1930s and 40s.

The munitions might have been abandoned when the KMT troops withdrew from the Northeast ahead of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

“Construction work will resume soon,” said Gui Guangli, deputy secretary-general of Changchun municipal government.

Changchun’s history over the first half of the 20th century is chequered with visits from various armies from home and abroad.

Japanese, Soviet Union and KMT forces all once called the town home.

According to Li Wansen, an 82-year-old retired policeman, the discovery of abandoned munitions in the area ties in with the city’s military past.

Okay these may be 50 odd years old, but still. Come on! Do you have a grain of common sense!
Imagine if just a few of these went off what chaos it would cause. These people don’t think about the consequences of their actions, maybe they’re just total idiots or more likely, both.

would you pick up an unexploded shell?

Bus fight

Posted on by
2

I can’t sleep, it’s 3am.

Saw a fight on the bus today. A woman and a man came to blows over a seat, the woman who had a young child was unhappy that the man took the free seat from under her nose. This is not the first time I have seen this on the bus, however this time, the driver stopped the bus and got involved.

The man was basically being an arsehole, yet nobody was willing to help the woman and her child.

I felt sorry for the woman and her child, if the man had an ounce of decency he wouldn’t have pushed them out of the way to get the seat. Anyway a fight of sorts ensued, lots of swearing and bad words exchanged. Strangely – and I have noticed this diference in China – everyone (about 25 people) on the bus just stood back and watched, as if nothing was happening. As if you turn your back and you can’t see it, it’s not happening – so there is no problem. Like how a 5 year old child thinks.

Naturally, I felt as if i should do something, but i refrained from getting inolved. This is because I have heard some horrible tales of foreigners getting involved in disputes like this and ending up being rounded upon by the others. So I will never get involved in any sort of dispute that doesn’t initially involve me, even though it is against the way I would normally do things.

Reflection

Posted on by
4

Having just read through my last few posts this blog has become somewhat pejorative in its tone. I started this blog, as a way of telling of my experiences here in Changchun – especially the experiences that are wonderfully different to what happens back home.

I have had the rug pulled from under me, and as such, this has become the primary topic in my life.
However, despite what I have been dragged through, I still really like this city and country. I distinguish the former from the authorities and government, which, I now thoroughly despise with every grain of my soul.

I know that many foreigners love to ‘china bash’ and complain that ‘this isn’t how it is like back home’. I hate this kind of reasoning, however, I accept that I to an extent, have become cynical and jaded over the last few weeks.
I remember when I first got off the plane, being driven through the city to my new home, just how excited and energised I felt. Being in a place so unfamiliar, where I couldn’t even say ‘hello’, had no friends, couldn’t even read or write. Of course this has now changed, I now have friends here, and I can speak and read, though I still can’t write very well!

Another thing is that my studying over the last three weeks has been almost non-existant, I havn’t been able to achieve very much.

Anyway, back to the perennial subject of the weather. Compared to last year at this time, it’s still pretty warm! I rememember last year there being snow, lots of it, by the end of october – and that I was wearing my big warm jacket. As of today, I am yet to wear the big-black -jacket, we have had very little snow – not enough to settle. I still look forward to the winter proper beginning. Everything will be frozen ’til march, all greenery ceases to exist – and the paths and roads become semi-permenant skating-rinks!

生日快乐。

Posted on by
4

So i’m 24 today!

shame I have had no time to celebrate it! I have had 15 hours of classes over the last two days, not to mention the time spent travelling to class and back.

I’ve just got in(9pm) after leaving at 8am this morning. Yesterday was the same! Tomorrow i’m sleeping all day. I’m too shattered to think. All I can think of now is sleep, and that I never want to have to teach children ever again. It’s so much more demanding than teaching university students or adults, I don’t know how other people do it; I think It’s just something i’m not cut out for!

Name and Shame

Posted on by
Reply

I feel that this has to be said, I don’t want others going through what I have experienced, and if this can help then great. All of this information is based upon what has happened to me. It is fact.


Jilin Province Star Education Consulting Co.,Ltd.

Room 1606,
Bank of China Building,
Block A , No.727
Xi’an Road
130061
Changchun
Jilin Province

Jilin Province Star Education Consulting Co.,Ltd is a legitimte agent
recuruiting foreign teachers for education providers in northeastern China’s
Jilin Province. –Taken from one of their advertisements

Not true.

The truth is that they are impersonating this company: Jilin Star International Education Institution These people ARE legal, and have a good reputation – and in a ironic twist of fate are now trying to help me get a visa!

They are infact Totally Illegal. You will deal with a woman called ‘Linda’ and she is as bent as a nine bob note. Never in my whole life, have I met such a serial liar. You will start to get suspicious after a few weeks of working, after her lies start to contradict one another.

There are criminal elements within this organisation. I have reason to believe that this organisation is all about getting foreign passports, and using them to do things illegally. I know that they are used to buy cars (with or without your consent!) and that this could get YOU in serious trouble. I have been told (by someone in the know) because the car has been bought using your details, if it is re-registered (i.e. sold) – YOU are liable to pay back the tax saved. This can be a serious amount of money, especially if the car costs 100K US and 20% is saved.
This does not include things such as; what happens if the car hits someone and they are killed. I’ve been reliably told that YOU would be the fall guy for this, and based on the my last few weeks experience, I can believe it. So Beware. Many foreigners, stupid foreigners in my eyes, actually do this. They are offered 2000RMB, yes 2000RMB!! for doing this. This makes me think, no-wonder these organisations flourish, if idiotic, money driven foreigners are willing to do this for 2000RMB, which is £142 Sterling.

I believe that this is the tip of the iceberg, and there are many other things (that I don’t know about) that are being done using passports. (I can’t prove this of course, and even if i could it wouldn’t make a difference!)

You will never actually meet the real people who run this organisation, they’ re shady and highly connected in Changchun. Furthermore, I have learned that the man who runs this business is the brother of the president of the city – serious guanxi. No wonder I got screwed by the police.
So I warn anyone that is considering doing business with these people; DO NOT . They will lie and lie and lie, and try to gain your trust; show you fake documents backing up their cause; however, they have NO authority to hire foreigners.
It’s funny, almost all of the people that I have spoken to about this, recommend that I leave the city. Provinces, and cities (to an extent) in China, are fiefdoms. They have massive, arbitrary powers – and can act with total impunity. However I don’t want to leave the city, not just yet anyway!

.

Improving…

Posted on by
4

The situation has started to improve. Through a friend of a friend (they way things seem to work here) I managed to get my passport away from the corrupt clutches of the jingcha. It’s now with my new boss (I have a new job!) who is processing the visa ASAP, because I am visa-less and so technically illegal. Another thing that pissed me off is that I will have to do the physical yet again – and i’m paranoid of getting some terrible incurable disease through taking the bloodtest (I just don’t trust anything here anymore!) or being irradiated via xray.

It’s also totally unnecessary – since if I have any disease – it will be from China, as I’m still yet to leave the country. I understand the paranoia the Chinese government has over foreigners bringing diseases to China (AIDS, STDs etc…), but if they were to take this seriously – why isn’t every foreigner (tourists included) subjected to this treatment. And more to the point, if they are so worried over the spread of AIDS – howabout the massive prostitution industry in this country and the (mostly Chinese) rich men who frequent these places.

It’s a very Chinese way to combat a problem, and of course, totally ineffective – ironically you’re probably more likey to catch AIDS through a dirty needle, during your medical exam!

The Weather has been really strange recently. On Friday It was back to T-shirt again. Got some really strange looks, one guy couldn’t contain himself when he saw me walking around. He asked me if I was cold, and didn’t believe me when I said it was too hot today.
He – like all the other Chinese people – was wrapped-up in a thick jacket, and probably wearing at least one layer of long-johns! Sometimes, I am almost convinced, that i’m living on another planet.

Took this with my phone the other night. It’s people burning paper money, which i’m told, is for their deceased relatives and friends who are now living the afterlife. Some evenings, on every street corner, there is a group or several groups of people standing around burning fires.
fire

Oh dear. The preverbial has hit the fan…

Posted on by
Reply

The last few days have been pretty crazy.

The story begins on last Wednesday afternoon when we got paid. Our boss gave us our pay, but charged us 1000¥ for the visa. I was not happy about this for various reasons.

Firstly, that I did not have my visa yet, and I never pay for something before I get the goods in China. Secondly, I was not convinced that the visas they were getting were the correct visas or genuine. Mike – who has already got his visa – does not have the red Foreign Experts Certificate book. I know for a fact that we should have this along with the Residence permit for foreigners sticker in the passport. When I challenged my boss about this, she said that they were no longer issuing such a red book. I did not believe this for one second. I know that the FEC is being changed, but I also know that this is not until 2006. I also know other teachers who have recently got theirs.
I then said is this a business visa, F visa, but my boss was adamant and insisted that the FEC no longer was issued and that this was the correct visa.

I asked where was my passport, do you have it? I need it back. She replied with saying that it’s still with the PSB. Still with the PSB for 2 months ?(we had all given her our papers at the beginning of September) Why have you taken so long to do this? Her answer didn’t make any sense. She said because your visa doesn’t expire until 6th November, so we only started the process yesterday. So then why did you keep on telling for the last two months that my visa was being processed at the PSB – and that you didn’t have it? Anyway to cut this short, she continued to lie. Even concocting a story that the officer in charge of issuing visas was on holiday for 15 weeks in Germany!!!

So, we all took out pay – thankful that we got anything – and left. I then decided that for me at least, enough was enough. I called her office and gave her an ultimatum. You will have my passport – with or without visa – in my hand by 1pm this afternoon. Failing this, I am calling informing my embassy that you are withholding a
government document. This proved to be a very bad thing to do.

The day after this, I also found out from a close colleague of mine that they were using foreign passports to buy cars, because with a foreign passport you can pay half the amount of tax. Some of the other foreign teachers agreed to this (why?? clearly blinded by money) for the poor sum of 2000RMB. My friend refused. He was then asked to meet with my boss, in the back of a blacked-out-Audi (the car of choice in Changchun for commie officials) to discuss this.

What happend next is disgraceful, and could only happen in a country like China.

In the front seats of the car were two shady looking people, that were introduced our our boss’s boss.
Mike was then handed a document indicating that a car had been bought ( a Mercedes Benz no less) for 100,000 US Dollars- he was told that he must sign this to confirm the sale of the car. Naturally he refused, yet they insisted to the point where they said – if you don’t sign this, we’ll fire you and cancel you visa. He still refused and left the car.

So on Friday I spent most of the day at the police station explaining the situation. (Another mistake) The officer was very detailed and methodical in his questioning of me, I was initially quite impressed with this. He had on his desk a huge file with my passport on the outside, covered in various post-it notes. He said that who ever had applied for this was illegal, he showed us fake business licences, and other forged documents used for the application. He was most displeased with this, and asked me exactly who my boss is and for what company she ran. I gave him all the information he wanted, and this ended up taking a full 4 hours to complete.
He said – (only in china!! ) – that I should continue working for the university, as if i stopped it would prejudice me, as i would have broken the contract!!!! Despite the fact the contract was already illegal!!! He said come back on Monday morning to collect your passport, and he said he’d give us a few days to arrange a new visa. I felt quite pleased at the outcome of this, and naively thought justice might actually be done.

Fat Chance.

Come Monday the situation had turned on its head. For some reason unknown to us – we were now dealing with a different police officer, very senior and sinister looking.
His first question was ‘Where did you work last before’ then ‘Why did you work for this company’ then ‘How old is your boss’. This line of questioning was irrelevant and a waste of time. It was as if he was trying to give the perception of legitimacy. It was at the moment, that I started to regret coming to the police in the first place. Now, I could see what his game was – he was now accusing us of negligence for deciding to work for this company, because they are illegal. Despite the fact that we, before signing the contract, asked to see the licence to hire foreign teachers, and visas in others passports s proof of their status. And of course they said, over and over again they were legal to employ foreigners. Anyway this policeman was pining the blame on us, when the policeman on Friday said we had nothing to worry about.
He then said that because the company is illegal, YOU are illegal and so the contract is illegal. Therefore the contract is terminated by the government of the PR China. Therefore you are fired. But the company is free to continue trading – It still has at least 7 other foreigners working illegally for it – this was becoming a stitch-up. The stench of corruption was overpowering.

So because we (myself and a colleague) went to the police, about the illegal use of foreigners’ passports – in effect being forced to commit a criminal act, or face possible deportation for not having a valid visa – WE WERE WRONG!

Of course, i hear you say ‘ but this is China, you should have expected this’ – and I know that this is a danger of coming to a country riddled with corruption and the lack of a basic rule of law. But, I never thought anything like this could happen, and I never assumed it would have such serious consequences.

This is where the story turns really nasty. Now, the police (FYI they are the police at the Renmin Guangchang station, foreign affairs unit, Changchun; a certain Mr li.) have done this, I have no visa. my visa is void. and being China – this is completely MY FAULT!! So the police said they would give us a few days to find new jobs, whereupon the new employer can get a new working visa issued. Straight forward you might think, however the police refuse to hand over our passports – saying they are doing us a favour – by giving us time to find a new job. And so the new employer has to phone them directly to apply for the visa – i have been told that this is highly irregular.
I had a new job lined up at another university i had been working closely with for a few months, and they offered me a position. However, of course, they needed my passport to start the application process and to get this they had to call the police station.
I received a reply from the university FAO office that they could no longer offer me the position. What the Hell! WHY??? – apparently they got a call from their superior telling them not to hire me.

In other words, I was, and still am being screwed. I now know that my former employer has very serious guanxi (connections) in this city, and i suspect that they are now being used to make my friends and my own life, as difficult as possible.


Another strange thing which happend, is that the police introduced me to a company called TianShuo. (They too have serious guanxi with the PSB here ) I know what a disgusting reputation this company has, but didn’t tell them of this. (BTW – They are known to illegally withold passports, and generally give foreign teachers a really hard time.) They showed me a contract. I have studied contract law as part of my degree, and I can safely say that this is BY FAR the most unfair, one sided contract i have ever seen in my life.
Anyone who would sign such a document must either have a gun held to their head, or be just be plain stupid.

So at the moment life has suddenly become really difficult. I have asked for help from everyone I know here, and many have said either leave the province or the country (!), and start again. I don’t want to do this, as i like it here – and i don’t want those bastards to win.

I have also got legal advice on this matter from some professionals, and sadly as i thought, the law is worthless.

I have to thank all of my students who have been absolutely brilliant in supporting me throughout this difficult situation, in giving me advice and helping me in what I should do. I owe you all.

You’re maybe thinking why I haven’t gone to my embassy about this yet; well this is my last resort. If I go there, I will get my passport back, but it will cause me problems in being able to stay in the country. And I’m not quite that desperate yet!!!
I now have a policy – when money is involved – to judge chinese people guilty until proven otherwise, this way I protect my own interests first

Yours

David