Job Discussion Forums

[killian]

such a pain! i live in the countryside. increasingly everywhere i go folks want to see my shenfenzhen (chinese ID card) before i can use the internet cafe or stay in a hotel. (note: to use the internet you need another card)

problem is foreigners don't have shenfenzhens! i try giving them my passport and/or alien employment permit (the little brown book) but such isn't good enough and more often than not i am denied service.

i have no doubt that this glitch is simply a misunderstanding of current policy. nonetheless, it makes life more difficult.

anyone else ever encounter such? in both taiwan and korea foreign teachers were issued convenient little cards that we could pull out and such denial of service was never an issue. really quite a burr when you can't stay in a hostel/inn/wahtever when travelling and sleep yet again in the wangba.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

i'm sure you've discussed this with your employer. what did they have to say on the matter?

never encountered the problem myself. my passport has always been good enough for hotels, and i've been all over china. also, when i travel i avoid internet cafes like plague, always travel with laptop and increasingly more hotels have internet connections in the rooms. even if there's no connection in the room, i avoid internet cafes.

[Voldermort]

We, as foreigners, are required by law to carry our passports with us everywhere we go, but why? Don't the Chinese realise that if a passport were to become lost it would be such a major pain in the rectum for us. It's not as if we could hop on down to the PSB to register for a new one as they can do with their ID cards.

We need a passport for booking into a hotel (fair enough), and that's about it. Everything else, such as acquiring a VIP card at the local book store and spending a few hours at the Net bar require those ID cards with those extra long ID numbers.

Think about this. Most of us are here for a long time. Why don't the Chinese give us an ID 'type' card, which we can carry around in our wallets/purses. A card with those extra long numbers so that their computers will not have problems. Something similar to a work permit but more suitable for everyday use.

[nobleignoramus]

I have never encountered this sort of a problem though I distinctly remember having to show proof of ID to hoteliers (when foreigners were not offered many choices to stay at except guesthouses approved of by the PSB), or even be stopped in a street by a policeman wanting to inspect my ID.

My passport, alternatively my FEC, has always been able to smooth the waves.

I don't have much to gripe about having to carry my passport with you because this is a rule almost universally enforced in the whole world.
I don't like carrying on me my passport either; usually other documents are accepted here. But the regulation certainly is reasonable. Just think of a laowai passing out somewhere in a city where no one knows him... Such things do happen.

[Hansen]

A passport or FEC should cover internet access. Often the problem is the tiny little bureaucrat/moron behind the desk. I had one who always required my passport. One day I pointed out to him that none of the other workers did. He looked at me with a typical Chinese idiot look and signed me up. I never showed him my passport again. I might point out that he liked to look through my passport, see where I'd been, and talk with his workmate about it. I put a rude stop to that.

Some of the places had certain days when they refused to sign me up without a passport. Maybe they were being checked that day.

The idea of carrying a passport around here, where foreigners are targetted by very clever pickpockets and thieves is absolutely moronic. Carry a copy and deal with the consequences. Much less than having your passport stolen.

Most contracts guarantee internet access. If you have to go to an internet cafe get internet access, your contract is being violated. Make an issue of it with your school, if internet access is in the contract. An ADSL connection in your home can make a lot of difference. I once had an FAO tell me that the contract only obligated the school to provide a connection but it didn't have to work.

Of course, if you just want to play pirated games, that's another story. Many locals think of the internet primarily for gaming or social networking. They are often unaware that people use it for other purposes, such as business, research, study, and so forth.

[chinatwin88]

Hansensaid:I once had an FAO tell me that the contract only obligated the school to provide a connection but it didn't have to work.

I also had this statement hurled at me and I tossed this back.

My contract sez classroom hours but it doesnt say I have to teach out loud.