May 12, 2008
I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the earthquake that hit Sichuan today. It was so big that we even felt it in Shanghai.
When it happened I was sitting at my desk working on my computer. I felt a little dizzy and I thought it was just from some eating some bad food at lunch. Only when my colleagues rushed by saying in Shanghainese that something had happened did I know it wasn’t just me. Within a minute my Twitter Feed jumped to life with people asking if anyone else felt the earthquake in Beijing. It was then that I knew something was up. A few minutes later we evacuated the building.
But we were given the all clear 15 minutes later. When I got back to my desk I was able to follow everything on Twitter and answer questions from different colleagues as the people on my feed fed information on the earthquake from all over the country. And we were able to help each other and filter out rumours. People who had access to televisions were able to keep people like me, who were in offices and working, up-to-date with the latest developments.
I can really tell that Twitter is coming into it’s own in China. Today really proves it, especially since the Chinese media did not release news right away and there is very limited access to foreign news sources such as CNN — I’m lucky in in that I have a satellite dish that gives me foreign programs but it’s on the fritz at the moment. Twitter filled the gap for me today and thanks to crowd sourcing I think that it’s pretty accurate. Two articles on the situation can be found on Danwei and China Herald.
As much as I feel happy for the role that Twitter played in the event, I fill sorry for all those dead and injured in the quake. My heart and prayers go out to them.
J.
Update (May 17th 2008): I sent a note to Jesse Brown, the host of CBC Radio’s Search Engine about Twittering the earthquake. They featured me on their blog here and here.
May 12, 2008
Note: I tried to post this last night, but I couldn’t because of technical glitches. After today’s earthquake the recommendations seem all that more important.
J.
I was really surprised this week when I received the latest issue of EuroBiz, the magazine of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, and read Bill Dodson’s column on workplace safety. I knew that workplace accidents happen in China, but not like this:
” Operators sometimes have to reach deep inside the machines, which should automatically stop when material is trapped inside them and needs to be pulled out. “Operators - with the blessing of the Chinese owner - would take the male sensor on one side of the machine and simply push it into the female sensor on the other side of the machine, effectively short-circuiting the safeties,” he said. “I told them they can’t do that; the makers of the machine made the system that way for a reason - to protect the workers.” Another Western manager told me how a young Chinese technician at a local factory had chosen to change out a product in testing without allowing the test cycle to finish. She had bypassed the safety mechanisms in order to save time switching out products under test. Sharp pincers that normally hold the product in place mistook her finger for the next product to be tested and splayed the finger open. Blood, by the telling, sprayed onto her and her co-worker, who watched the whole episode without comment and acted only when it was too late. “
Read the rest of Dodson’s article to see how you can prevent this from happening in your factories.
Dodson does a great job laying out ways to prevent this from happening through educating factory workers. But his piece also got me thinking about educating office workers about safety. I know you’re probably thinking about that episode in the third season of The Office where the warehouse guys tease Michael and the office team because they have to take safety training to prevent things like paper cuts. But thing like eye strain can have dangerous and painful effects — as someone with a visual impairment I’ve felt the effects. I’ve also seen that many people don’t treat these type of things seriously.
Thankfully China Daily has some easy tips that can save you a lot of pain later. Another tip that I like to follow is taking an Internet- and computer-free weekend and doing some offline activities. I just did that this weekend and I feel great and totally refreshed for Monday.
Hope you do too.
J.
May 1, 2008
This week I attended an AmCham seminar on the new regulations for Chinese visas. I thought I’d share my notes with everyone so that you can all be informed about the new rules:
- There are no changes to the Z (work) visa procedure. These visas are converted into work and residency permits inside China upon entrance into the country.
- Currently people need to apply in their home countries for Chinese visas and cannot apply in Hong Kong (other third countries are currently okay at the moment including Macao). Only those with either HK work permits or HK ID can apply for visas in Hong Kong.
- Visa processing takes longer so you need to be prepared and apply in advance.
- For L (tourist) visas, you are required to have a copy of a hotel reservation a photocopy of a round-trip plan ticket.
- For F (business) visas, you are required to apply at the consulate/embassy in your country of residence. The consulates/embassies are only issuing 30-day single or double-entry visas. The following are the required documents: original letter from the Chinese government ministry; Chinese hotel reservation; photocopy of return plane tickets.
- F visas can be extended inside China only. If extended in Beijing they can only be extended to July 1st 2008. If extended in Shanghai, they can be extended for the standard 30 to 60 days and count as single entry (and supposedly beyond July 1st). Extensions take five working days and must be applied for in person.
- For the letter from the Chinese government ministry (usually the local foreign affairs office), this must be applied for by a locally registered company such as a WOFE or domestic Chinese company in the city where the person applying for the F visa intends to visit. IE if the person intends to visit Shanghai, the letter must be applied for by a company in Shanghai.
- Representative offices must apply through an agent such as FESCO to get the letter from the relevant ministry
- Those people who are in China for longer than 90 days continually or more than 180 days in a calendar year should apply to be on a Z visa, which would be changed to a residency permit inside China.
- F and L visas for senior managers can be changed to work and residence permits from inside China. Also all companies with capital over US$3 million can change F and L visas to work and residency permits for all employees. Representative offices also can’t apply directly for Z visas. They must apply for L or F visas and convert them to work and residency permits inside China.
- These regulations will most like last after the Olympics. The government is really cracking down on F visa holders who are actually residents inside China as they are really residents here, and should therefore be on residency and work permits and be paying taxes.
I hope this clears things up for a lot of people. J. P.S. It’s the Labour Day holiday in China, so I’m not posting for this weekend. I may post a book review on Lost Laowai though so please check there.
Update: Rich at All Roads Lead to China just posted a story that it looks like some multi-entry F and L visas are being canceled. He says the information is third hand but it is something worth watching.
Update II (May 12, 2008): Student visas will not be extended during the Olympics. People of African nationalities also seem to be having problems getting visas.
April 27, 2008
Work has been keeping me pretty busy this week so I haven’t had the energy to post — what energy I did have left over from the week I spent at a friend’s birthday party on Friday evening. I’ve spent most of the weekend escaping with Criminal Minds DVDs and the new The Honeys album 水 as well as spending time with Roger and Winnie. Therefore until I do come up with something better to blog about, I’m leaving you with the archive of my posts from Lost Laowai.
Enjoy
J.
April 22, 2008
On Saturday morning while I was sitting in Starbucks a group of Laowais walked in and they were talking how they were all afraid that they were going to all be kicked out of China because they can’t renew their visas. Now from their conversation I could tell that this was an area they didn’t have a lot of experience with (my company follows this issue closely as we advise people who are establishing their China operations for the first time so I have a bit more knowledge than the average person) but I wanted to go over and just tell them to stop over-reacting.
For those that don’t know the Chinese government has restricted the issuing of multiple entry F visas for business lengthened the minimum application processing time to four days and limited the issuing of visas in Hong Kong to only permanent residents of the SAR.
There has also been a lot of good coverage of this issue in blogs and the mainstream media. But as the above conversation shows a lot of people have become consumed by fear — just check out this post on Shanghaiist about foreign students supposedly being expelled for the Olympics — it turned out to be a false alarm. And that is throwing people into a tizzy.
As I mentioned to a reporter from the German business newspaper Handelsblatt yesterday the restrictions that are being put in place aren’t a catastrophe they are to deal with volume. Lots of people are expected to come to China for the Olympics so that means more visa applications hence the longer waiting times you’ve heard about. Many people travel to Hong Kong — since you don’t need a visa to get in there — and apply for China visas in HK. Too many people are doing that now for the foreign ministry office in HK to handle hence the regulations that foreigners who are not permanent residents of HK must apply for a China visa in their country of residence.
What that means is until the regulations return back to normal which is expected to be in September you need to plan ahead. If you are on a visa that requires you to renew it outside the country (ie anything other than a Z-class visa) arrange a trip home at the same time. You’re not going to be denied a visa as long as you’ve obeyed the laws here and aren’t a known pro-T1bet/F*G* protestor. You just can’t leave visa renewal to the last minute now.
J.
