Shanghai Expo: Life in China: Foreign Visa Problems: Corruption: Government Assistance.
Behind the Shanghai Expo
Not all Glitz and Glamour
Right now as the non-Chinese world focuses on China and the Shanghai Expo, and as the myriad of excited foreigners prepare to step into a fantasy world of glitz and glamour, hype and smiling faces, one should be aware that there is for those of us who live and work in China, something more tangible and lasting than this expo.
For many of us, the excitement of living in China centers on the back streets; the daily life and struggles of the Chinese people. Sometimes, that struggle to survive is not just their struggle, but ours as well.
I have lived in China for 7 years, the last 10 months of it in Baotou Inner Mongolia.
During this time, I have witnessed, known and enjoyed one side of the Chinese experience; the immeasurable lovingness, consideration, help and friendship of Chinese people. But as there is no 'ying' without the 'yang'; no light without the darkness, and no good without the bad, I have also suffered and anguished under the diametrically opposite side of the Chinese experience; the manipulative, controlling, malicious and vicious heart of those who would oppress the Chinese people.
I have just published an article detailing how the Baotou Government has taken action to protect the financial interests of an American Foreign English Teacher in China who fell foul of the illegal practices of a school I previously worked for and who lied to me and cheated me at every turn. I spent 9 months in Baotou waiting to see what could be done for me, and now that the government has begun action against the school - E.E.T. Baotou, they have determined that because my visa was organized in Shanghai, I must go there to commence my formal action.
I have written many articles about EET Baotou, considering it to be the sole source of all my woes, but now that I find that the legal focus is in the headquarters of the EET Franchise is Shanghai, I have had to address my problems to them. Unfortunately, they have not to date acknowledged my correspondence.
Fearing that I would lodge a formal complaint and then be accused of never having given opportunity to the Taiwanese Franchiser Mr. Gao Jiawei, I today telephoned the Shanghai headquarters, and what I experienced in that telephone conversation, is typical of the B.S. that Chinese people often face in their day to day lives.
I telephoned EET Shanghai and spoke to a receptionist who advised me that Gao Jiawei was not there, and then I requested to speak to Mr. Gao's assistant and translator, Mr. T. His real name is something like Thrandur Grettarson [Norwegian], and I had previously sent him all copies of my emails to Mr. Gao.
In typical Chinese game playing style, he acknowledged that he had received copies of my emails but since they were not actually addressed to him, that he did not read them. With that said, the other half of the game will be that Mr. Gao, who runs an English Teaching School, will claim that his English was not good enough for him to understand the emails, and so it would be said that I should have phoned.
The next part of the game, is this, when I requested Mr. T to advise Mr. Gao of my call, he said that he would not, and that I should speak directly to those involved in this matter.
This then sets the stage for Mr. Gao to say, that I never contacted him.
Such is the game playing that goes on in China, but in this case, the games are being played my a Norwegian and a Taiwanese.
Now in all fairness, it must be pointed out that perhaps Mr. Gao up to this point, was not interested in any claim that I was making against EET, because I was employed by EET Baotou. However, given his intimate involvement with EET Baotou, he cannot but now know, that the activities of that school have been illegal, and that there is a possibility of legal prosecution. A Government Officer has advised me that government officials have been in direct contact with Sabrina Chui - the Operator of EET Baotou, about her legal status.
I was also advised that EET Shanghai is legally liable for the wrongdoings of it's various subsidiaries, and so I live in hope that EET Shanghai, will, before Tuesday 18th, contact me and try to settle the various matters.
But what is the matter?
In a nutshell, this school, like all schools in China, has the power to stop any given foreigner from working in China. They simply just refuse to provide the required 'release' papers. I wrote about this in the article: Mental Illness: Violence: Bad Bosses in China
But in this case, if all the things I have suffered were merely the responsibility of EET Baotou, whilst the legal requirement to provide me with my release papers were the responsibility of EET Shanghai, then one would wonder what the problem is. Perhaps they don't wish to take responsibility for the additional financial claims.
But those of us who know China understand that the problem for the Chinese lady with Canadian Citizenship who runs EET Baotou, and the Chinese man with Taiwan Citizenship who runs the whole of EET, might be that they fall into the category of those 'mentally ill' Chinese who have an overwhelming desire to control and manipulate society. Wanting to control and manipulate of course does not necessarily imply that one is mentally ill, but every 'sane' person has an inbuilt psychological drive for 'self protection'.
If the EET company has been operating illegally, and the Taiwan boss is so needy for control and manipulation that it overrides the inbuilt commonsense mechanism which dictates that one should avoid trouble if possible, then one could say that he is at least, 'emotionally' unbalanced.
On the other hand, he may simply be putting his faith in the Chinese tradition of Guangxi [relationships with important people] to keep him from trouble, or he may even perhaps be putting his faith in some less obvious action.
As I have said however, he may not yet be fully appraised of the situation of which his assistant refuses to inform him or or to provide Mr. Gao with a good Chinese Translation.
One simply does not know yet.
Many foreigners in China are faced with the same problems of the Chinese people, and indeed the same problem as many in the west face; that of Toxic Bosses.
The difficulty for the Chinese however, (and we foreigners face it with them), is that it is an uphill battle to know what to do and who to trust. It is my hope next week in Shanghai, that I can trust the Shanghai officials to do their job with honesty and Transparency just as the Baotou Government has.
When you the foreigner, are having fun in Shanghai this year, please remember that while Hu Jintao is making great strides to make China a harmonious society, with government officials doing their work honestly and with transparency, there are always those people in China, who, because of their money or some personal power, seek not only to control Chinese and foreigner alike, but to punish them if they do not willingly agree to be slaves.
