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Watch: Foreigner Faints on Shanghai Metro, Other Passengers Run Away

Posted: 08/20/2014 11:46 am

Ten seconds is apparently all it takes to empty a subway car full of passengers.

That’s what happened on August 9 at 9:34pm when an unidentified foreigner entered a subway car on Line 2 of the Shanghai Metro at Jinke Station. After taking a seat, the man was seen shifting towards his right, his head nearly touching the shoulder of the middle-aged woman sitting next to him.

Soon after, the man suddenly fell on the floor and appeared to have lost consciousness, reports iFeng.

The first reaction from the five passengers sitting across from the foreigner was to run away. As seen in a surveillance video on board the subway (below), all passengers rushed out of the car within ten seconds of the man falling to the ground.

News of “an incident” spread to adjoining trains, and caused a panic among the passengers. At the next station, subway commuters started spilling out of the train. In the ensuing stampede, a middle-aged man fell down and a woman slammed into a partition.

Throughout the entire time, no passengers were seen providing any assistance to the passed-out foreigner.

Metro staff boarded the train at the next stop to provide assistance, but by then the foreigner had regained consciousness. He stood up on his own and exited the train.

The man’s condition, like his identity, is unknown.

Here is the surveillance video from the incident:

Photos: iFeng, Beijing Youth Daily

Haohao

Armed Thief Ties Up Dongguan Expat in Own Home

Posted: 08/14/2014 3:11 pm

Masquerading as a kuaidi express courier, a robber armed with a knife forced his way into the residence of a Dongguan expat and stole cash and property totaling RMB 450,000. The victim of the robbery is identified as “David”, a 54 year-old man from Australia, reports XKB.

On August 9 at 8am, a man approached the No. 7 Dijingtai building of the New World Gardens residential area in Dongcheng District. The man identified himself as a courier, so David opened to the door only to be confronted by a man who forced his way into the home wielding a knife.

The intruder subdued David by tying him up, and then proceeded to loot David’s apartment. RMB 60,000, HK$80,000, 150,000 New Taiwan Dollars and US$11,000 were all taken in cash. The robber also made off with four watches, a phone, and various rings and jewelry.

Police used surveillance video to track down a suspect, who was arrested on August 10. The man is a 28 year-old surnamed Kong from Xianning, Hubei Province. He apparently handed over all the property from David’s apartment.

Kong operates a computer store and is several tens of thousands of yuan in debt. He told police he got the idea to commit robbery when his wife left him as a way to alleviate his financial problems.

[h/t HereDG]

Photos: t55, soufang

Haohao

Air France Staff Praised For Helping At Scene of Shanghai Car Crash

Posted: 07/28/2014 1:56 pm

Foreigners who helped out at the scene of a traffic accident in Shanghai have been hailed as “foreign Lei Fengs”, reports iFeng.

It started in the morning of July 27 when two cars headed towards Pudong Airport were involved in a traffic collision. Five people in one of the vehicles were hurt, and another four were ejected from the car. One of those has sustained life-threatening injuries.

It just so happened that at the same time, some Air France staff were driving by the scene and got out of their vehicle.  The French airline staff provided medical aid and directed traffic with safety vests on.

The report emphasizes the airline personnel were not directly involved in the accident, but were simply passing by when they decided to get involved.

Related:

Photos: iFeng, Guangzhou Daily

Haohao

Chinese Guy Dresses Up As Laowai To Sneak Through Customs

Posted: 07/16/2014 5:40 pm

A still from the film, “Death Ray on Coral Island” (1980).

A Chinese citizen who attempted to sneak past customs by dressing up as a “laowai” was busted by police because his English was so poor, reports Sohu.

Chengdu border police officer Xiao Liu first had doubts about the suspect when he saw a discrepancy between the suspect and the suspect’s passport picture. Xiao Liu’s suspicions were confirmed when the suspect displayed an incredibly poor English ability.

When confronted, the man admitted he bought the passport. The man said he had dyed his beard and gotten a perm in order to disguise himself as a foreigner in order to sneak through customs.

Photo: Asia Obscurra

Haohao

Foreign Students Earn RMB 2,500 a Night as Prostitutes in Shanghai

Posted: 07/8/2014 1:55 pm

A Shanghai man has been sentenced to seven years in jail for his role in operating a prostitution ring that employed foreign exchange students studying in China, reports Xinhua.

Wang, a recent university graduate, set up an escort business with expats and solicited clients on the internet. The prostitutes could earn upwards of RMB 2,500 per client, but had to split the profits with Wang, who was acting as an intermediary.

Wang was able to provide a number of people from various countries, but most were foreign exchange students he had met in Shanghai. Wang was able to set up 15 transactions from 2012 to 2013.

Wang was sentenced along with two others, Xia and Liu. In passing its verdict, the People’s Court of Huangpu District said:

Xia was involved in the feet washing business. According to the illegal demands of clients, he would introduce them to prostitutes. At the same time, Wang provided prostitutes as per the clients’ demands. 

Related:

Photos: Xinhua

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Drug Crimes By Foreigners in China Up 17%, Guangdong A Particular Problem

Posted: 06/26/2014 2:18 pm

Foreigners are committing more drug crimes in China, and it appears Guangdong is one of their favorite spots to operate. There has been a 17% increase in drug-related crimes by foreigners across the country in the past year, with police focusing on Guangdong as a particular problem, reported China Daily.

Liu Yuejin, director of the narcotics control bureau for the Ministry of Public Security, described the drug problem:

“Due to high market demand, the desire for profits, and loose management, foreign drug gangs are active in southern China, including Guangdong and Yunnan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region,”

READ: Drug Sting At Hotel in Guangzhou Nets 10 Foreigners

There were 1,491 drug-related crimes involving foreigners last year in China, a year-on-year increase of 15.4%. This lead to the arrests of 1,963 foreign drug suspects, an increase of 17.3% from the year before.

Liu said the majority of foreign suspects are of African origin, and they tend to smuggle heroin from the Golden Crescent (consisting of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan) or marijuana and cocaine from Africa and South America.

Cui Qingchao, deputy director of the Guangzhou customs anti-smuggling department, said foreign traffickers are able to cheaply purchase methamphetamine in the Guangdong cities of Lufeng and Jieyang.

READ: Nigerian Man Caught Using Chinese Girlfriend to
Smuggle Drugs Out of Guangdong

Cui said that some African drug suspects serve as “agents” for Pakistani drug lords. Cui goes on to say,

“After obtaining drugs from these drug lords, they usually hire foreign traffickers who hide the drugs in their bodies or luggage. They take the drugs to Beijing and Shanghai or send them to Guangdong and other provinces through express mail services.”

Despite language barriers and a predisposition to commit violence posed by these foreigners, Liu said authorities will increase supervision of foreign residents, especially in Guangdong.

Related:

Photos: Georgia Expunge

Haohao

Foreigners Ripped Off After Being Lured Into Shanghai Karaoke Den

Posted: 06/26/2014 10:38 am

Foreigners have been the target of many scams in China: they’ve been befriended by a stranger and taken to tea or cajoled into buying overpriced traditional art. And then there’s the one where someone comes up to you, asking if you want to ‘party’ at a karaoke bar, that one thing you’ve always meant to do.

For all the times this last scam has targeted foreigners, someone has finally gotten caught.

Fifteen members of a criminal gang based in Pudong have been arrested by Shanghai police for fleecing foreigners of their money by “luring them into a karaoke honey trap”, reports the Shanghai Daily.

Foreigners were reportedly targeted by the gang, which intimidated them into paying exorbitant fees or be held at the club.

Police were alerted to the diabolical plan by one of the gang’s victims, who had fallen prey to the scam. On April 15, a man of Egyptian nationality had agreed to go back to a local karaoke club in Pudong while taking a nighttime stroll outside his hotel, having been told beautiful ladies would be present.

However, at the club the man was approached by a group of burly men who demanded they be paid RMB 29,000 (US $4,600) for the man’s unspecified amount of time spent at the karaoke club.

However, being that the man was in the middle of taking a nighttime stroll, he was only able to pay with the RMB 11,000 (US $1,800) that he had on him. Unsatisfied, the burly men threw the victim into a car and drove him back to his hotel where they expected to be paid the remainder of the fees.

When stopped at a red light, the victim jumped out of the car and ran to a nearby police car.

On June 13, Shanghai police took 15 suspects into custody, who all confessed to committing seven similar crimes that earned over RMB 200,000.

Photos: timetotalkbeauty

Haohao

Taxi Driver Violently Attacked by Foreigner in Shanghai [GRAPHIC]

Posted: 06/5/2014 5:01 pm

[This story contains violent images]

Mr Zhang, a taxi driver in Shanghai, was on his way home last night when he stopped at a red light at the intersection of Jiangsu Road and Wuding West Road in Changning District at around 11pm. That is when he encountered something very strange: a cyclist on a motorbike stopped right in front of his car, blocking it.

As QQ reports, this person entered the taxi via the front passenger door and violently beat Zhang for a full minute. Zhang was unable to exit the vehicle, and could only try his best to defend himself. After the attacker escaped, Zhang was left with multiple injuries: his right brow is cracked, his nose broken, and he has suffered multiple contusions, especially to his hands.

Zhang said he has never met this laowai before, nor had he any reason to expect someone would want to assault him. Zhang described the attacker as a foreigner, but the report didn’t go into any other specifics.

Police say an investigation is underway.

Photos: QQ

Haohao

Opinion: Laowai is a Four Letter Word

Posted: 06/3/2014 12:00 pm

laowai foreigner t-shirt[The following is a blog originally published at Sinopathic on December 23, 2013 as written by terroir, and is reprinted here with permission.]

It’s thrown around by our colleagues, the jianbing seller, taxi driver, your students, and maybe even your friends. Even though it’s such a ubiquitous term, nobody seems to be quite sure what “laowai” really means. Should you feel good to be referred to that way, as a member of a prestigious club? Or should you be taken aback at being singled out as something different?

Some may say that “laowai” is a neutral term that doesn’t contain any inherent meaning other than “foreigner”. If there are any negative connotations in the word, they stem from the context in which the word is used. But this ignores the latent meaning of the word, shrouding it behind the banality of daily repetition that grinds its significance into unfeeling, bureaucratic indifference.

Taken literally, “laowai” written in Chinese is 老外 (lǎowài). Individually, its components are 老 (lǎo) meaning “old”, and 外 (wài), meaining “outside”. “Laowai” most definitely does not mean “foreigner” in Chinese; instead, that term is written as “外国人” (wàiguórén) which is made up of “外国” for “foreign” and “人” for “person”.

There is no English equivalent of “laowai” in English; this mostly stems from the fact that most English-speaking cultures don’t inherently view the world as being divided between themselves and everyone else (most, I said).

There may be some confusion to what “laowai” actually means due to its individual components. “Old” is universally regarded in Chinese culture as a sign of respect. If someone is called “Old Wang”, then the Wangster is a person of a dignified position, regardless of his age. With this same thinking, a “laowai” should be a position that is equally respected—something absolutely true if it wasn’t for the second half of the term, “outside”.

Family is the most important component of Chinese society. As a way to endear themselves to others, many Chinese will address strangers with family roles; for example, to call a fellow man a “哥们儿” (gēmenr) is to afford him the respect of not just a fellow brother, but an elder one. After family, the respect commanded by any one person starts to thin out the further away they are located from the family home: friends, business associates, co-workers, neighbors… until it becomes a question of geography.

Being an outsider is pretty much the lowest scale to occupy on the Chinese social hierarchy. You are not trusted; your customs and habits are strange and unfamiliar; you are the unknown that stands in contrast to the family circle; your existence is a contradiction to all that which is Chinese.

So when when taken together, “laowai” means “respectable outsider” and not the “Hey, old whitey!” that Lonely Planet tried to convince me of at a more naive stage of my stay here. One could take it as as a backhanded compliment if one enjoys masochism in their majesty, but the word “laowai” is basically a system of control to always alienate a foreigner. No matter how well you speak Chinese, no matter how much you pander, no matter how much you love China – you don’t belong.

Respectfully speaking, of course.

***

Editor’s note: If you’re still not convinced, we’ve found a very simple process to both confirm the opinions expressed here as well as to give yourself the social advantage anywhere in China. Please use responsibly.

  1. The very instant you are personally referred to as a “laowai” during a conversation, stop everything. Interrupt the other party if you have to. Doesn’t matter if it is pouring rain and you are negotiating a fare for a taxi—grind the conversation to a standstill.
  2. Without raising your tone or showing any anger, pointedly demand answers to these questions: “Who are you calling a laowai?” (你叫谁是个老外?Nǐ jiào shuí shìgè lǎowài?) “Who’s a laowai? Am I a laowai?” (谁是个老外?我是个老外吗?Shuí shìgè lǎowài? Wǒ shìgè lǎowài ma?) “Where’s this laowai?” (老外在哪里?Lǎowài zài nǎlǐ?) Be firm, but not emotional.
  3. Do not waiver. Do not stray from your objective. Repeat yourself dozens of times if necessary. Do not change the subject, or allow the subject to be changed. Do not say anything other than the script in step #2. Again, do not escalate the situation by getting angry.
  4. Results will vary, but what we’ve seen is a slow grinding of cogs in the brain, after which the offending Chinese person will slap the brakes on and put it in reverse like a pizza delivery guy in the wrong driveway at the 29th minute. You may get an apology, get called the revised label of “foreign friend” (外国朋友, Wàiguó péngyǒu) and a conciliatory “好了好了好了” (Hǎole hǎole hǎole). This person will now try to quickly resume your original conversation to forget this unpleasantness, albeit at a disadvantage.
  5. Enjoy your new respect.

Photo: iQiLu

Haohao

Guangzhou, Foshan, and Zhaoqing to crack down on foreigners

Posted: 02/25/2014 9:25 am

Watch out, laowai. Guangzhou, Foshan and Zhaoqing are planning to introduce a mechanism to manage foreigners living in the three cities, Chinese state news portal China News reported on February 21.

The report said the mechanism will specifically target sanfei foreigners, or “three illegals”, referring to three groups of foreigners who illegally enter, stay or work in China. The three cities will standardize visa application procedures and jointly carry out enforcement against the groups, it added. Details of the mechanism, however, were not disclosed in the report.

The campaign to weed out sanfei foreigners is not a novelty in China. It first caught national attention in Beijing in 2012 when the capital police force announced a massive clean-up of the “three illegals” after a video surfaced showing a British man being beaten up by several Chinese for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in public in Beijing.

The campaign, however, could turn into a fiasco indulging xenophobia and nationalism that fuels more rants by CCTV Dialogue host Yang Rui.

According to Chinese law, foreigners who enter China or remain in China illegally could be detained, monitored or deported by any police bureau at or above the county level. A foreigner who illegally enters China could also face a fine between RMB1,000 ($164) and RMB10,000 ($1,640).

Home page photo credit: Caixin 

 

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