A brush with the law in Yunnan.

Lijiang 2

Really in China, True encounter. Lucky me I survived.

Now I get your attention I am going to tell you a hair-raising encounter, while I was traveling in Yunnan China.

For start, I am traveling in such a hectic pace for weeks in Yunnan province because I wanted to spend the remainder of my time exploring part of China before I am going back home to the US at the end of my work contract. By the time I get to Old Town Lijiang up in the mountain of Yunnan, I already been traveling for more than one and a half week. My problem started on the first day I arrived on Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, while checking in at the hostel, I discovered that my residence visa and my work visa were both expired. What is that means is that I am not suppose to be staying in China.

Before I go on. Lets explain some rules here first. In order to work in China, I must have a:

1.     Legal bonding contract from the company

2.     I must have a Residence Visa issued by the Chinese Govt.

3.     I must have a stamp on my US Passport to indicate my entry.

4.     I must have police record of my residence.

Usually the corporate lawyers handled these documents, if my visa expired; unless my contract indicated that I am still an employee then I can apply for extension inside China. Otherwise I must leave the mainland in order to apply for an extension.

I was not aware I was traveling with an expired visa, because I never look at the expiration date, and that is no one but my own fault. However when my employer reserved my return flight home months ago, they did not sound the alarm either, another mistake was that my visa expires before the end of my contract. Meaning everything was a huge oversight on everyone. I was also caught up on the excitement on my pending trips; everything was planned and went on accordingly. I was suppose to go on the holidays, return to then oversee the move of my stuff, then say farewell to friends, before heading home.

I had no problem passing security at the airport with expired document, when I got to Kunming, I was informed by the hostel my visa was expired, after they made some phone calls, everything seems alright they did not give me any trouble, so I went on holiday as planned.

Again, I got on the train thru security to Dali, same thing happen at the hostel there, but no warning, no problem arises. My luck was about to change when I check in the Hostel at Shuhe, Lijiang. The hostel owner told me that I must go to the police to get my visa taking care of, and it should be no problem, they had guest got expired visa before. Yes right, what happen to those guests? They disappeared.

The owner was very nice, they were just doing their job according to the law, she told me the police were at lunch break, she would escort me there at 3 PM when the office reopen. Really 3PM. How long a lunch break is that? It was only 11 AM. I suppose that was local custom.

At 3 PM, I met the owner at the hostel, she told me she talk to the police already, and then hand me a helmet to wear. Turn out it was Cambodia all over again, this little lady wanted to take me on her motorbike speeding thru the street of Lijiang to the city police office 2 miles away. That was another ride to hell. I hate motorbikes

Never the less, at the police station after about an hour and many phone calls later, and I swear to them that I am not aware that my visa expired before my trip. They were sympathetic to my situation, but told me the matter was out of their hand and I need to go to the foreigner affairs office. So off we go, I was escorted in the official police car to the foreign affairs office minus the siren of course.

On my arrival at the counter, the official there seems to know what my case was about. They pull out a stack of paper in Chinese and started to fill in the blanks. There is no expression on the official’s face, he spoke with monotone, accented English, some time is hard to understand, so I never answered just “YES” to any question.

Then I was ask to follow the officer to the basement, I was mistaken the official as the same police officer escorted me from the station. I was trying to be friendly on the way down to the basement of the office building trying to make small talks, he never response, until the door swung open I saw the classic setting of an interrogation room with white walls, absents of picture, a single chair where I supposed to be seated in front of the desk. Got it, just like the movies, minus the overhead lamp, it was replaced by the video camera now. That shut me up good. Stunned. Are they going to put me in jail now? When I talk to my office an hour ago, HR told me just pay the fine. This does not seem to be the case now…

I must have been there more than 2 hours, answering redundant questions over and over again. Finally it was all over, turn off the light, now I follow the official up to the main office again. He told me that he was sympathetic to my situation and believed that I unknowingly broke the law of China, however the facts remain. I was guilty. He repeatedly emphasis the “broken the law part” over and again, until I finally do as he wished admitted that I was sorry “I broke the law”, he then left me in a room in silence by myself to pledge my case with his Boss. That was what I was told.

The official return after the longest 30 minutes; while I was second guesting what would happen next, he told me that it was too late of the day to review my case that evening. I had to remain in the city they will contact me tomorrow, and I am not suppose to leave town either, that does not sit well with me, even though I really had no choice, I told them I was there to visit their beautiful Yunnan and had plans to visit sites outside the city of Lijiang the next day. Perhaps I can come back the day after, he was a little startled by my response, must be thinking this American must be crazy, trying to bargain while I am not in the position to do so. Never mind that, I did it, and he agrees to let me come back the day after. But he reminded me that I am still guilty.

I return to the office the day after, he told me that the office had made a decision, I am guilty as charged, so I need to pay the fine. I was over stay for 14 days, and 500 Yuan a day are the fine. I was shocked. He also inform me that the max extension the office can gave me was 8 days, that is barely cover the time I was going to spend in Yunnan, all my plans had to be rearrange. My heart sunk to the lowest point. He let me hang there for a while to absorb the news, then he turn around and told me that the boss took pity on me, and because I had a HK passport, they would reduce the fine to five days. I almost did not believe my good fortune. He then told me get out of there, go to the bank to pay my fine. It was a brief moment of relief, but don’t get out the cash yet.

It turned out I had to track across town to get to a branch of the bank, which is located in the Old Town of Lijian 2 miles away. By the time I finally find the bank in the middle of the massive town. The teller told me the person handle the fine is at lunch would be about in 2 hours before he came back, so this is classic lunchtime run around again. Never the less, I finally paid the fine, got the receipt headed back crosstown to the foreigner affairs office. The official told me I had to get my photo taken and fingerprint recorded. Well, I suppose I am a real criminal with a record now. They can track me online. The funny thing is that the staff that took my head shot keep wanted to take it over again and then retouch the photo to make it beautiful, in the end they asked me if I like my shot. For god sake, let it go, it is a mug shot, not headshot to enter beauty contest.

Another miracle happens again, my guardian angle must be watching over me that day. When I return to the official counter, the officer told me that his boss took pity on me, besides reduced my fine, he also agree to extend my visa until the end of my stay in China, plus one day, just incase I mess up my date again. It was such a relief, that means I do not have to go out of the country spend a lot of money and time just to get an extra extension. I thank him and his boss, but he would not shock my hand, do not know why, not the custom, I suppose hugging him is out of the question also. Never the less, I dash out of there faster than a speeding rocket. What a relief that was.

At the hostel, I told the owner I would like to get the address and name of the official, and send the official a thank you card when I got back to the states. She was alarmed and told me do not do that, if I do I may get the official in trouble; they may think he took a bribe from me. How stupid was that.

With this episode ending in Lijiang this encounter show me that even in a country like China, official does have human emotion, they can be sympathetic. Not necessary every case go by the books, if it is within their power of reason to make a change to help someone out I believe they always will, Do you think I may be correct here?

Amazing isn’t it. Well, I would not wish any one had to go thru what I did, so check the date on your passport to make sure nothing expire.

Chance Encounter Lijiang, Yunnan.