Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The time I was turned away from China

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 117 posts

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#21

Post by yorwba »

mstaoru wrote: post #11

It is a classic example of "rule by law" which is in full effect in PRC. You're required to register within 24 hours at the "police station", no details of the said station, no opening hours or any further information is given. The process is quite slow, the queues are long, and the officials are visibly irritated every time you come and wake them up from their slumber. Then there are people flying 3-4 times per week…

> no details of the said station, no opening hours or any further information is given

If you are staying in a hotel, you don't need to go to a police station. Otherwise, the person you are staying with should be able to help you find it.

> The process is quite slow, the queues are long, and the officials are visibly irritated every time you come and wake them up from their slumber.

Not my experience, but maybe I just got lucky.

> Then there are people flying 3-4 times per week to Hong Kong or Seoul on business, technically they are required to register every single time they enter China.

Those people presumably have some kind of permanent residence. It would be news to me if that required re-registration after each re-entry.

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#22

Post by Taniwha »

cperciva wrote: post #16
selectodude wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Due to its geography, I can't think of any other country in the world where it would make sense to fly via the US. Mexico and Canada are the only two that would happen, and both have their own large international gateways.

The USA is a very common transit country for Europe-South America and Asia-South America. It's not uncommon for travel between Europe and New Zealand or the East coast of Australia either.

I travel from NZ, these days I choose to go through HKG (and visit the Shenzhen markets, in China) to Europe.

My normal experience of entering China is always fast and courteous, entering the US is frankly scary every time, lots of questions about what you're going to do - I show the same business APEC card at both borders (unlike China it's not a visa for the US border, the US is not a full member of APEC, but it does get me in the crew line, and identifies me as a frequent business traveller)

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#23

Post by yorwba »

em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #17

> "sign a piece of paper that was written in Mandarin" "Mandarin" is NOT a written language, but rather is a group of spoken dialects in Northern China [1]. The Chinese written language is called "hàn zì" [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters

If you use Hanzi to write down something spoken in Mandarin, I'd call the result "written Mandarin". Of course it might at the same time be valid as Cantonese or any of the other languages and dialects spoken in China.

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#24

Post by eddz »

The reporter comes off as a bit paranoid and slightly egotistical. Read up on the rules and follow them closely or risk facing consequences. If you aren't 100% sure, ask.

Personally, I was held overnight in a cell in KIX (Osaka International Airport) because after 6 hours of back and forth interviews, I couldn't provide a convincing enough reason for working for a Japanese company (my own company) without the correct visa. This was entirely due to miscommunication but something that would have been obvious – and easily remedied – had I consulted the right people. Fortunately, I was granted conditional entry the following morning. Though despite the inconvenience, the officers and warden were extremely pleasant and very accommodating.

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#25

Post by volgo »

desdiv wrote: post #7

>The reason, as it was explained to me, was that in 2015 I had broken Chinese law when I failed to present myself to authorities in Beijing when I had visited and stayed at an Airbnb residence on two different trips. Unbeknownst to me at the time — and something that was not communicated by Airbnb — foreigners are required to register at a local police station, but in most cases the hotels where they stay handle this…

Ya no fan of totalitarian policy, but if you try to skirt immigration laws anywhere, it won't work out well for you.

Here in the U.S., I have to notify ICE everytime I change my address.], or I would be deported. Never had the courage to test them...

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#26

Post by JoelTheSuperior »

diego_moita wrote: post #15

I understand that the author is British and not American, but I couldn't help avoid a little bit of schadenfreude, sorry. As a Latino, every time I'd have to go in transit through US I'd face similar treatment by American customs. I hope this has improved but it's been more than 8 years I've been able to avoid any American airport. So, yep it sucks. But never mind, there are plenty of interesting countries in the wor…

Honestly I'd say the UK border is just as bad if not worse than that of the United States

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#27

Post by schuke »

desdiv wrote: post #7

>The reason, as it was explained to me, was that in 2015 I had broken Chinese law when I failed to present myself to authorities in Beijing when I had visited and stayed at an Airbnb residence on two different trips. Unbeknownst to me at the time — and something that was not communicated by Airbnb — foreigners are required to register at a local police station, but in most cases the hotels where they stay handle this…

When I first went to the UK in 2004 as a student they had the same regulation. Register with local police within something like 7 days. Though this later turned out to be not very strictly enforced.

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#28

Post by my_first_acct »

em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #17

> "sign a piece of paper that was written in Mandarin" "Mandarin" is NOT a written language, but rather is a group of spoken dialects in Northern China [1]. The Chinese written language is called "hàn zì" [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Chinese [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters

Disclaimer. I neither speak nor write any form of Chinese, but I've read a bit on the subject.

So: Cantonese (to choose one example) is a separate language from Mandarin (or a separate "variety", if you prefer [1]), but it uses the same writing system as Mandarin. Here is a random internet forum that supports the idea that two separate Chinese languages/varieties/dialects are using a single writing system: [2]. If this is really the case, it would be perfectly reasonable to describe a piece of paper as being written in Mandarin.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varieties_of_Chinese

[2] http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?1,111326,11...

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#30

Post by ekianjo »

desdiv wrote: post #7

>The reason, as it was explained to me, was that in 2015 I had broken Chinese law when I failed to present myself to authorities in Beijing when I had visited and stayed at an Airbnb residence on two different trips. Unbeknownst to me at the time — and something that was not communicated by Airbnb — foreigners are required to register at a local police station, but in most cases the hotels where they stay handle this…

> democratic countries like Japan

To be fair, Japan has only existed as a functioning democracy for a very, very short time, and it still keeps a number of aspects from its previous past as a feudal/centrally governed country.

Post reply on HN