Of course I tried to get more out of it. I brought my new “alien working permit” which is already stamped with another year, to no effect. I brought my latest contract with the landlord, also to no effect. They did tell me however that I should come as sson as possible, but if I overstayed 1 or 2 days it wouldn’t matter so much! Pfffffff…

So for them it basically doesn’t matter, but I only can pick up my passport with the new paper, talking about consistency!

Since I was there anyway and they were sort of in their early lunch break, I decided to pop the question about the “arrangements” for next year. First they were astonished to find out that none of the laowai (foreigners) visiting the Middle Kingdom next year will be able (nor interested) to speak a word of Chinese!
Then I pursued with explaining that the Beijing 4 and 5 star hotels cannot be compared with their western equivalents. One police lady said that there would be plenty of 1-3 star hotel accommodation available too and she didn’t really understand that for most foreigners visiting this is not an option…
The next item on my little introduction was that there will be 500,000 foreigners coming in (on top of the 2 mio expected Chinese visitors) and there is a total available hotel accommodation for 400,000 people in Beijing. So the most favourable scenario will be that 100,000 foreigners need to find accommodation elsewhere. Of course this number is ridiculously low, but for the sake of argument (and getting through) I used this number.

After explaining that those people would most probable locally find accommodation (difficult concept to grasp for them) I asked them how the regulations on registering these people would be. Under the current regulations, visiting foreigners have to register with the police within 24 hours of their arrival. Of course hardly anybody does that, except when you’re staying in a hotel.

Again for the sake of argument I said that there could be 5-10,000 people turning up at their office next year, all to be dealt with in a day or 4. Given the fact that one registration, when speaking fluent Chinese and having all the correct papers with you, takes about 15 minutes, for 1,250 people per day it will take 13 days to register these people!!!

Their answer, cute and naive: our boss says that we can/have to do it, so we will. Any question about a possible flexibility on these ridiculous rules was answered in the same manner…

Good Luck Beijing!

The working permit always goes first and with that in hand the passport can receive a new sticker for a year residency. The secretary of the firm does all that so I only have to stand in line on pick-up day, next week Sept. 13.

Now here comes the problem.

My current resident permit is valid until September 10. In a normal bureaucratic system one would say “no worries”, because my passport is already at the official bureau, so the three days “without official residency” are covered.

Not in China.

What I have to do now, is to go with my current residency paper to the local police station to ask for an extension.

Probably they’re gonna give me 3 days and then after that I can go back again with the new residence permit to receive another year.

Insanity indeed, complete waste of time of everyone involved in this process too!

And next year they want each and every of the 500,000 foreigners pouring into town to go through procedures like this?

Good Luck Beijing!

Since it is a rainy day and I am not feeling like cooking up any food nor going out to get some and I already had a hotpot for lunch this afternoon, I decided to call for a pizza. Recently I discovered “Pizza Buona”, not too far from my place that delivers good quality, warm pizzas.

So I dialed the number and got a girl on the phone. After ordering my pizza I was ready to give her my address, but to my surprise and downright astonishment, she already read it out to me!

Now, of course, I do know that this is technically already possible for a number of years, but Chinese actually implementing it and using it (without breaking it), that is an entire different story!

And I must say, I am a HAPPY customer, I LIKE THIS

So, if you want to order pizza and enjoy it to be “recognized” the next time you make that call, Pizza Buona on 6551 3518 is the number to dial!