The Legend of the Ghost of "NB"

Ok, time for a break from all this Olympic Visa nonsense.  We're about to be inundated, worldwide, by The Olympics, and all the back stories, side stories, front stories and who knows what stories that will come of it.  But really, check the blogroll for some very good sources of information 

My only comment about the whole thing today?  The Visa Olympics.  No, not sponsored by VISA  but an Olympic event where everyone tries to get a visa to come to China, vs Chinese trying to get a visa to go to anyplace else.  Can be graded on "degree of difficulty"  I say this because I just had to make a trip to Hong Kong to get 6 months of bank statements and a "statement of bank balance" so my wife can get a visitor's visa to U.K.   I, being an American, can just show up, go through immigration and done deal. Her, on the other hand, being Chinese (even though she's a US permanent resident) has to jump through hoops and file copious amounts of paperwork.  I think we had it way to easy with the China Visa situation for a long time.

But I digress, had a little rant there. Sorry.

The real story today is the "Legend of the Ghost of NB".   This actually happened, I used to work for the company involved, and while I never met NB, I know some of the other players, at least the ones still alive, and have heard this all first hand from the folks involved.  I'm not naming names, some are still alive, and I think NB's wife is still around, and may not even know the whole story as of yet.

NB was one of those "old China hands" that used to inhabit these parts when China first opened up and started to be the world's factory floor. Back then, country managers and production managers weren't the MBA graduate, family man type, They were however, very capable, hard working, hard drinking, and mostly rough around the edges folks that just dealt with what came best they could. There were no books on how to do business in China back then, no blogs going on about the subject. These guys were the pioneers so to speak.

Dongguan back then was, for the most part, an outpost. No 5 star hotels, no "western" restaurants, no expat pubs, and the roads were suspect.  Expat's living in Dongguan either stayed at the Guancai Hotel or the Dongguan Hillside,   There were a couple of  disco's the KK club and one called BMW,  BMW was the most popular of the two, but is the source of another story.

Now NB was about in his late 50's we suspect, but because of the expat lifestyle, Johnnie Walker and chain smoking, looked much older.  It is said there are still bottles of  Johnnie Walker black label in bars in Southern China with his name card on them. He also had a "git er done" a coupled with a didn't give a squat what folks thought attitude that kept him sane living in this part of the world at that time.

He also liked women, especially the local grown Chinese ladies, and had a particular girlfriend that he took with him almost everywhere, company meetings, final inspections, etc.  NB was in the habit of doing final inspections late at night, girlfriend on one side, bottle of Johnnie Walker on the other. 

Eventually though, the reputation caught up with NB, and the VP of manufacturing, an Indian fellow, PR, decided enough antics were enough, and terminated NB,  NB apparently didn't take it well, and crawled pretty far into the bottle of JW that evening.  Legend has it he also had a particularly strenuous session with the girlfriend.  However, his health wasn't the best, and after the session, he passed away.  Differing accounts on his last words.  Either "I love you" or "I'm cold"

Now technically, he was no longer the responsibility of "The Company" as he was terminated earlier in the day, but the company did the right thing by dealing with the aftermath.  PR, who felt responsible  went back to India shortly after, and had to do some sort of cleansing ritual, involving shaving his head, to atone for what he believed caused the death of NB.  At this point I have to ask forgiveness, as I'm not up on Indian culture or religion, so I can't be more specific.

Now, old NB expired at one of the two above mentioned hotels, the Guancai.

And NB was shipped off to the states, his affects sorted through, girlfriend paid off, etc. and life went on.

Until one of the expat production managers, we'll call SW, who worked for The Company and as also staying at the GC hotel, heard a knock on his door late at night. When SW answered it, who should be there but NB himself, seemingly risen from the grave.   SW closed the door immediately.  And quit drinking.

Apparently, NB's ghost wasn't done, as he reportedly visited, over the next couple weeks, a German Tourist Couple and several Chinese visitors to the hotel.

What with the ghost running around and scaring the visitors, and the rumors that started flying, the hotel management had only one option. They called in a "spiritual" advisor, and had the ghost "exorcized" from the hotel.  All accounts seem to indicate it worked, as NB's ghost has not been seen again.

These days, the CG hotel is mostly a local place, Dongguan having grown to a much larger city, with expat pubs, several 5 star hotels, etc.  The KK club closed, and the BMW club was closed down when a high ranking party official's son was killed there, having the side effect of having all entertainment banned from China for a few months.

Some days, I miss the camaraderie of those times,  All the expats knew each other, we all stayed at the same hotel, and had breakfast together,  and usually drinks later in the evening.   We were pretty much "working without a net."

And with that, it's time to get down to Starbucks for a coffee fix. 

Maybe I don't miss the old days so much after all.

More Controversy about SCMP Story regarding Blacks Banned from Bars in Beijing

Ok, so a couple days after the story on SCMP "broke" the story about how the police in Beijing are asking bar owners in the Sanlitun bar district to ban blacks, there have been several follow up reports, some from the SCMP and some other investigative reporters.

SCMP still sticks to their story, with a follow up written by Tom Miller in Beijing, who writes

Police in Beijing's popular Sanlitun bar district deny they are conducting a racist campaign ahead of the Olympics, as another bar owner revealed he had been ordered not to let in blacks.

"They made us sign and chop a document saying we would not allow black people in [during the Olympics]," the owner said. "But no one is willing to say so because we'll all get deported ... and have our business shut."

Asked yesterday whether they had told landlords not to let blacks in bars, an officer at the Sanlitun police station had a one-word answer: "No."

The story goes on mention one bar owner who said blacks can still come into his establishment, but they have been asked to watch for people acting suspiciously.

Meanwhile Beijing Boyce made some calls and visited some bars in the district and found

- An owner said police met with Sanlitun bar reps and told them to monitor black patrons. He said the police told the reps that drug dealers are predominantly black in the area. He said the police did not ask bar owners to ban blacks.

- Several Sanlitun area bar owners said they had not been told by police to ban blacks or Mongolians.

- I also spoke to several people in the restaurant business and they told me they have not heard of police telling city eateries to ban people.

- Most interesting, two people working at one bar had different perspectives on the terminology used by the police. One said the police used “black” in reference to skin color; while the other said it was used in terms of bad elements (the Chinese character for “black” is part of a phrase used to describe criminals)

Beijing Boyce will be providing follow ups as they become available.

So, the question remains, is this just bad reporting on the part of the SCMP, a lot of misunderstanding of terminology, or another heavy handed tactic being used by Beijing police to "provide for the public safety" during the "No Fun" Olympics?

Blacks Not Allowed

Ok, now from the "Lets set the Civil Rights movement back about Oh, Say 50 years" department comes this little tidbit from the

South China Morning Post: (you may have to have a subscription to read this, as the SCMP is one of the few news sites you have to pay to read.

Authorities order bars not to serve black people

Beijing authorities are secretly planning to ban black people and others it considers social undesirables from entering the city's bars during the Olympic Games, a move that would contradict the official slogan, "One World, One Dream".

Bar owners near the Workers' Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises.

"Uniformed Public Security Bureau officers came into the bar recently and told me not to serve black people or Mongolians," said the co-owner of a western-style bar, who asked not to be named.

The local authorities have been cracking down on blacks and Mongolians in an attempt to stamp out drug dealing and prostitution ahead of the Games, the proprietors said.

A few months ago, police launched a violent sting on black men drinking in the Sanlitun bar district, and a notorious nightclub largely populated by Mongolian prostitutes was also shut down.

Security officials are targeting Sanlitun, which Olympic organisers expect to be a key destination for foreign tourists looking for a party during the Games.

The pledges that Sanlitun bar owners had been instructed to sign agreed to stop a variety of activities in their establishments, including dancing and serving customers with black skin, they said.

They have been allowed to keep copies of all the pledges except those relating to blacks, implying that the authorities are wary of charges of racism.

"I am appalled," said a black British national who works in Beijing.  "I understand that the government  is trying to stop certain illegal activities, but I don't think blanket discrimination is going about it the right way.

"Chinese people are prejudiced, but I would have hoped that the government would set a better example as it debuts on the world stage."

Calls to Dongcheng district and Chaoyang district public security bureaus, which oversee the bar districts, went unanswered.

The authorities' attempt to keep unwanted behaviour from damaging the squeaky-clean image of the Games is the latest example of heavy-handedness that critics say is killing the party spirit of the Olympics.

During the Athens Olympics four years ago, bars and nightclubs were allowed to stay open all night. But venues in Beijing that are not being shut down during the Games will have to close at 2am and maintain tight security.

"The officials told me to inform my customers that they must at all times carry their passports or ID cards," said one bar owner.

"Security is important, but Beijing is becoming a fortress, and that's not attractive."

Rumours that all bars within 2km of an Olympic venue will need to close remain unconfirmed, with many managers complaining that they still have not been told whether they will be allowed to open or not. Several bars have been raided in the past few weeks as local police step up a campaign of low-level intimidation, according to several witness accounts.

Bar and restaurant managers in Sanlitun have been instructed to remove tables from footpaths in a crude attempt to prevent fighting in the streets.

"The local police told us to get rid of the tables because they're scared that if too many foreigners congregate outside there could be trouble," said Song Xun , who runs a burrito joint in the area.

Local musicians say that a clampdown on live music risks stifling  Beijing's thriving cultural scene and giving Olympic tourists the false impression that the city is artistically anaemic.

Several popular live music venues have been shut or instructed to stop all outdoor shows, and club owners complain they have got used to strange new guests nursing a beer for hours and suspiciously observing everything around them.

"The whole music scene is angry and bewildered. It is impossible to understand how keeping tourists from seeing an open, culturally vibrant and diverse Beijing is possibly a good thing for anyone," said one well-known figure in the local music industry.

David Mitchell, a Beijing-based jazz musician, said it had become increasingly difficult for his band to find anywhere to play.

"It appears the local government is trying to control every aspect of the experience that foreigners get when they come here," he said.

"Everything is aimed at creating stability, but they don't understand that is precisely the unfounded prejudice that foreigners have of Chinese society - that it is a highly controlled and not a very cultural place. It seems completely self-defeating.

We've been wondering about the Central Government's motives behind all the visa restrictions, new rules and sudden changes, and I guess this brings it all to light.

On another note, James Fallow's gives us his "Final Words on Olympic Tourism"   and mentions that while the BOGOC's initial estimated a total of 500,000 foreign visitors to the Olympics, the working plans now call for 140,000 foreign visitors.  Apparently the foreign visitors have concluded that the Beijing games won't be much fun, and are waiting the four years until the London Games, when, according to Paul French in Shanghai, author of the entertaining recent biography of the old China hand Carl Crow "we'll all be in London where lots will go wrong but it will probably be quite a fun party with few restrictions and the police won't care that much if people unfurl banners in Trafalgar Square."

And so it goes in the Middle Kinkdom

I Can't Help It

Ok, I can't help it, I gotta do it. Sometimes headlines just beg to be made fun of.

On today's Yahoo Site:

Obama says New Yorker insulted Muslim Americans

If I was a Muslim American I would be insulted that Obama was portrayed as one of them also. 

In case you haven't seen the cover:

A take on the anti-Obama e-mails that keep springing up claiming he's a Muslim intent on converting the nation to Islam.  I remember when JFK was running for president, the rumor was he was going to build a direct tunnel to the Vatican. 

Ain't Democracy fun?

China Visa and the Employment Situation

Well, then, I see I've been very remiss in updating this blog, and for that I again apologize.  If you think this blog hasn't been updated for a bit, you should see my other website,  That's Dongguan.  Just found out last night that the remaining restaurant  in the Dongguan Dining section has closes.  So, the site contains a bunch of reviews on restaurants that don't exist.  Great Stuff.  My excuse for that one is I wasn't in China for 10 months to keep track of things.

Rest assured, Dongguan foodies and news hounds,  I'm in the process of re-working that site, to make it more user-friendly, easy on the eyes and more meaningful.   We have decided to re-name the restaurant review section "Needs to be Eaten" after my wife's comment after Hurricane Katrina.  CNN announcer was doing an interview with someone from the local Human Society, about the house pets and domestic animals that were left homeless, and asked the H.S. person "what do these animals (homeless house pets)  need"  my wife pipes up "They need to be eaten!" 

Now, down to business.,

One of my rare pub crawl nights out last night, and the main topic of discussion was the China Visa situation.  Now anyone who even remotely follows this knows the tightening up of the rules,  however unevenly applied, but it's interesting to see how it's hitting home in Dongguan and how it's affecting companies' business decisions.

First, ChinaFUBAR's been looking for work since his return to China in February, with limited results.  Factor's mentioned other than the "too experienced" "not experienced enough" and "you aren't fluent in English, Mandarin AND Cantonese"  is the new regulations for "Z" visas.  Basically, any company that's following the rules to the letter and wants their expat employees to have proper documentation in the form of "Z" residence visas and work permits,  isn't going to pay to have a new hire flown back to his home country, then sit for 2-3 weeks while the visa is processed. 

In addition, there are some rumors now that the local government is cracking down on who they will give "expert certification" to, and has tightened the Chief Representative Visa Policy.   Discussion last night was around an expat country manager from Germany, working for a large German athletic shoe manufacturer, who is now being transferred out because the company "has to have a local Chinese country manager"  We're trying to verify if the policy came from local government or if it's new company policy.  From what we understand it's new company policy put in place at the request of local government.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out, and if it extends to other companies as well.

As a follow up to my post of "Where Next"   the China Law Blog discusses "China Versus India Versus Vietnam at a Gut Level"  Mostly a discussion of pride of place,  makes the supposition that India cares more about pride of place than China.  Makes for an interesting discussion.

Now, back to "work" with me, time to find gainful employment.  I did hear last night that I'm publishing an English language magazine.  Interesting news to me!  I really need to get out more, I may be president of some company making a 7 figure salary and I don't know it yet.  AH, Rumors....