About China blogosphere, travel, and entrepreneurship

By now we all know that a visa extension is no longer a matter of bringing the right identity photos to the Public Security Bureau. What used to be a routine process is now a dangerous lottery, made all the more confusing because different PSBs seem to be following completely different application procedures and demanding different requirements, and the rules may change again next week.

My boyfriend, Chris, is one of the unlucky ones unable to stay in China. He is not a protester or an agitator. He’s teaching second grade, not selling drugs. He was working for a school who has sponsored his visa extensions in the past. He has never overstayed a visa or worked on a tourist visa, but he was not able to extend his visa. I can’t think of anything he’s done that would make him a bad candidate for continued employment and residence in China.

I’m told that visa changes, like everything else in Beijing, is “because of the Olympics”. This connection has not been made clear. Some say expats are security risks, likely to turn the harmonious games into a PR disaster. Others say booting the ESL crowd will free up foreigner-friendly housing, to be rented to Olympic guests at a Western price.

I’m not going to stay in China without Chris, so I’m going back too, as sad as I am to leave Beijing. I feel stupid about leaving, too. Over the last few years, friends and family members have asked me why I want to live in China, and I try to explain the wild excitement of my adopted home. Living in China lets me move between two completely different cultures, and see the perceptions Americans and Chinese have about each other. I don’t like everything in China, of course. I’m not crazy about the subway stampede, and I don’t know why it takes 10 receipts, 20 counters and 30 red stamps to make a purchase. But I’ve tried to be a bridge blogger, even if only in my small circle. For several months, I’ve been blogging Olympics changes and Fuwa sightings for Beijing Olympics Fan! I was invited to be on a few episodes of the BBC’s radio program World: Have Your Say to talk about the amazing progress being made in preparation for the Olympics (I’ve even come close to using that cliche about “China’s coming out party”).

After telling everyone what a long way China has come since they’ve opened their borders, I feel stupid having to explain that I’m coming home because, uh, foreigners have to leave for unexplained reasons. This change in rules is shady, arbitrary and frightening, and after trying to change the perception of China away from this stereotype, I feel like an idiot.

I’m heartbroken that Chris had to leave China, but the visa issues are bigger than my personal story. Many of the foreigners who’ve been unable to get or renew a visa have a lot to offer China. International students are having trouble staying over the summer, and I think foreigners studying Mandarin can contribute so much to international relations, business, everything. Real Chinese fluency is so important for cross-cultural conversation, and it breaks my heart that students who are devoting their time and talent to this language can still be asked to leave. Freelancers, musicians, possible investors, and employees for smaller businesses are also having trouble, or simply coming in on tourist visas, which defeats the whole idea of legitimizing a vague visa system. We all know ESL was due for a bit of a cleanup, but many talented and inspired teachers have been affected, as well as the unqualified drifters. I can’t understand how expelling the foreigners who’ve invested their energy and effort into China helps anyone at all.

When I first saw the Olympics countdown commercials, on CCTV9 in my old Yantai apartment, it was over 800 days to the Beijing Olympics. I’ve eagerly watched it count down, two years, one year, 100 days, and now that there’s less than a month to go, I’m leaving China. The Olympics will be on TV at home, but I don’t know if I’ll remember the Beijing games as more than the reason we had to leave China.

I was crying as Chris and I drove to the brand new Terminal 3 airport, past the new Beijing 2008 banners proclaiming the Olympic slogans Beijing Welcomes You! and One World, One Dream.

Beijing is welcoming someone, I guess. But it’s not us.

Photos courtesy of Meg Stivison at Simpson’s Paradox.

So we’ve shown you where the big places in Beijing’s underground maze are located. Now it’s time to show you how to get around from A to B. Thing is — you need to go underground — and the only way in is with — a ticket. (Which, for too many of us, makes sense.)

Your Weapons: Play Your Cards Right

Beijing has officially stuffed its 38-year old paper ticket system in the paper bin. Beginning June 9, 2008, no amount of hollering to get into the station with an old, paper-based ticket will do the trick: the machines do only cards, which come in two forms: Single Journey Tickets (单程票) or the Beijing Super Pass (Yikatong, 一卡通).

If your trip in the underground maze is a once-in-a-lifetime experience — as in, if it’s a sole trip in your whole life — go for the Single Journey Ticket . Otherwise, though, go for the Beijing Super Pass. The thing is a lot easier on you — for one thing, you get spared the agony of waiting in line to get a ticket or being confronted with an automatic ticket machine that demands exact change only.

Getting A Single Journey Ticket or a Super Pass

“Oh, the agony of choice.”

Don’t get us wrong: Not only is choice extremely difficult for Blackadder (from whom we stole the previous quote with our sincere apologies), but with the Beijing Subway, card-wise, it’s a real pain-in-the-neck OR gate, not an AND gate, so to speak. You can’t exactly wave two cards over the faregate reader at the same time — nope, that trick won’t work. So you’ll have to settle for just one of the two: Single Journey Ticket or Beijing Super Pass.

• Single Journey Ticket (单程票, Dancheng piao): These are easy to get at a Subway station. You can get these either from an actual, living, breathing human being, or you can get them from a working but dead, lifeless machine. Human beings will hand you a Single Journey Ticket upon payment of the universal RMB 2 fee (Airport Express excepted); the machine spits the ticket out after you’ve paid.

• Beijing Super Pass (一卡通, Yikatong): You’ll have to find someone who can breathe (not something that only throws electronic messages at you) to get this baby. Then again, with the Super Pass, you’re not eternally condemned to getting them at your Subway station. Bus recharge spots (the famous “blue houses”) and a few banks, in fact (we know China CITIC Bank does Super Passes) will be pleased to hand you over a Super Pass. Here’s the thing: they require a RMB 20 deposit plus an initial top-up of RMB 20. You can throw a pink RMB 100 note (CNY 20 deposit, CNY 80 initial charge), and say this:

“Chong bashi kuai qian (充八十块钱)”

Man Meets Machine: Getting A Single Journey Ticket

OK, so you’ve decided that you want to abandon the world of touch-and-go Subway rides and settle for a once-in-a-lifetime (maybe!) Single Journey Ticket. And you want to get this thing from a ticket machine.

First of all, stay away from machines that have the words OUT OF SERVICE or MAINTENANCE on them (it’s too bad that was the only pic we could find). No amount of banging on the screen (or the machine, neither of which are recommended) will get you your ticket. Your odds increase at alarming rates if you find a machine that reads CHANGE, NO PAPER (insert coins only), NO CHANGE (does what it says on the lid), or, best of all, IN SERVICE. (RECHARGE ONLY is of no interest to you. )The machine accepts only RMB 1 coins and RMB 5 or RMB10 banknotes in good condition — if your dog ate it, the machine won’t eat it. (We know, we know: electronic indigestion sounds horrible.)Warning:

• Don’t buy return tickets at this machine. Tickets are only good for this very station — on this very day. (Yes, those are some seriously picky machines.)
• You need to hit confirm within 60 seconds, or your attempt at tricking tickets out of the machine (even legally) gets automatically nixed. (Some people miss this and end up causing massive queues in front of these machines.)
• Dead or disabled machines (ie those that give you no change, accept no paper, or are plain dead) are common currency on Line 5 stations in the evening, according to detailled research by your Beijingologist. You’ll need human-to-human interaction to get your Single Journey Ticket there.

Grab your change (if any), and your ticket. Head out!

Man Meets Machine: Topping Up Your Super Pass

First, the bad news: if you’re anywhere between Pingguoyuan and Fuxingmen stations on Line 1, as well as a few Line 2 stations, this trick simply won’t work. Automatic Super Pass Add Value machines (充值机) are on a permanent disappearing act at these stations. Seek human assistance instead.

Now, having said that, if you’re at any other station, you’re going to find at least one machine that does Super Pass top-ups. It’s often a machine that’s just slightly smaller thanAuto Ticket Machine. And it doesn’t have a coin slot.

Insert your card, choose English, choose Recharge, and feed the machine with RMB 50 or RMB 100 notes. Then choose if you want to recharge with a receipt (orange button) or without a receipt (green button). Life sure is great if you’re on at a Line 13 station, where just about all machines double as rechargers. And life is ninth heaven-ish in Line 5 stations, where you’re allowed to top up in increments of RMB 10 — not just RMB 50.

The Only Way In (And Out): The Ubiquitous Faregates

Probably the most important thing to remember about these faregates is how you use your cards — wait, play your cards right. This next bit is all you’ll need to know:

• Single Journey Ticket people, touch in and insert out. (There’s a card insertion slot — either integrated with the “touch zone” or as a separate part of the machine.)

• Beijing Super Pass people, touch in and touch out.

The other thing that’s of note: Stand outside the white line. (This is especially true for faregates on Lines 1, 2 and Batong.) There have been countless horror stories of people dipping cards while inside the faregate, only for the machine to beep in protest and the passenger getting just about no mileage at all. (We won’t even get into the mass crowds behind the guy.)

We Hope You’ll Never Need To Use This: Fare AdjustmentWe hope you’ll never have to use these guys, but just in case you lose your Single Journey Ticket or Beijing Super Pass, you’ll need to go through the Fare Adjustment counter. The fare will be RMB 3 (which is CNY 1 more than the standard charge, “to cover costs for the lost card”).If you lose your Super Pass — all hell breaks loose. Because Beijing’s Super Pass is not a registered card. If you lose a card with any charge on it, the extra charge, leaves you forever.And you’ll need to pay the CNY 3 to get out of the system.(Sniff.)

(Want to keep one of those cheap Single Journey Tickets? Faking a loss will set you back an extra CNY 1. Be smart and buy an extra Single Journey Ticket before you head into the system. It’s up to you to make sure you keep your “souvenir” ticket away from your “in-use” ticket, unless you want to be confused at the exit faregates!

Don’t Try This At All: Fare Evasion

It’s not like the Beijing Subway wants you to ride without paying. Heck, they’ve gone to massive attempts trying to stop this.

• Subway staff police the faregates like mad. If they catch two people (not a kid and an adult, by the way) slipping in together, these guys yell and chaos breaks out. (Or nearly.)

• Line 13 faregates are super-smart. To save energy, faregates on Line 13 close only after 8 seconds of inactivity. Just you try to storm in to an open faregate, however; this thing called “infrared” instantly gets wind of your (unpaid) presence, and before you know it, the doors slam shut as you’re just about to head for your train.

• Even if you’ve gotten in without paying, you’re still liable for a penalty. The punishment for riding without paying: ten times the standard fare. Owch. Not cheap.

Olympics Special: Security Checks

Safety first: The Beijing authorities have made security that bit more pronounced. With effect from June 29, 2008 — all the way through to September 20, 2008 — if you’re doing the Subway, you’re also going to be doing Security Check.

A few pointers:

• Baggage of any kind is liable for an X-raying. If your bag is huge or massive in numbers, it goes in for the obligatory check-up.
• You’ve got to have a sip of any water you’re taking in. (Just to be sure the stuff is not — “terrorist”.)
• If you’re caught bringing in explosives, you could be in for — on-the-spot arrests. They actually have people from the police at the Security Check!

We suggest that you travel light to avoid the hassles an impromptu Security Check could bring you.

Please Get Ready For Your Arrival

Good stuff. You’ve picked your destination. You’ve gotten your ticket, touched in, touched out (or inserted out), and are at your destination.

That’s just about it — pick your exit from the platform (this is crucial, as some stations use those sinister side halls where a wrong exit will cost you another CNY 2 just to get back into the system — or a long walk), and — be on your way.

Beijing Airport Express (机场快轨; jichang kuaigui) opens up to the public today at 14:00. CNReviews reported on the Beijing Airport Express back on 6/27, when the inservice date was originally 7/1, but the launch date has been in flux ever since.

Photo courtesy of Beijingology

This news was first reported to the Anglophone world on Twitter by our fearless correspondent David Feng:

News on the opening is also on China Daily, and Sohu (zh). According to David on Beijing A to B, the fare will be RMB25. According to David on Beijingology:

The line will have only four stops along the entire line. There will be two stops in central Beijing — Dongzhimen and Sanyuanqiao — with the two remaining stops at Beijing Capital International Airport. The Airport Express reaches Terminal 3 before reaching Terminal 2; passengers for Terminal 1 need to use the transfer passageway at Terminal 2.

Service intervals are expected to be 5 minutes at the start, with the entire trip taking around 18 minutes (Terminal 3) or 25 minutes (Terminal 2).

The new subway line will be a driverless system.

The Airport Express will feed into the overall Beijing Subway system at Dongzhimen (interchange with Subway Line 2 and 13) and Sanyuanqiao (interchange with Subway Line 10). The Line 10 interchange is especially exciting because it provides one-transfer access to Beijing’s CBD and to Beijing’s Haidian high-tech district. For a high-tech entrepreneur traveling to Beijing, this is transit nirvana!

Here’s a video of an earlier test run I found on YouTube:

More on this live from David Feng once he recovers from staying up all night waiting for the Beijing Apple Store Sanlitun to open up!

David Feng chimes in with the following first-day travel experience:

I think it’s been like this for — let me think — the best part of 58 years since Beijing Airport entered the real world. The old brown terminal, Terminal 1, Terminal 2, and now Terminal 3. For too long, Beijing Airport was just a road-and-air biz. No trains. No way.

Enter the airport on and after 14:00 on July 19, 2008.

When the guys that built Terminal 2 got their hands dirty with the construction work, they left virtually zero space for a Subway connection — hence making the Terminal 2 something like an add-on. The thing’s not big, by the way: only one side platform. (To make it up, though, it has probably one of the widest side platforms ever.)

When the guys that built Terminal 3 got into action, however, they left the new T3 (as we call it in shorthand) with a glitzy new Airport Express terminal connection, with platform screen doors, faregates (later installed), and just about everything that plain shouts at you METRO STATION. Except for one thing.

The train.

Oh yes — the train. Flashback forward to July 19th — and to the new Airport Express service.

The new Airport Express links Beijing with the airport — and by that, we mean really quickly. This is a four-stops-only biz: two stations in central Beijing, two on at the airport. I got onto the train at Sanyuanqiao, which is the second stop; I hailed from the Line 10 interchange. (The transfer passage, by the way, was so short that it seemed nonexistent.) I tapped in with my Beijing Super Pass (I think I was the only one; other got Single Journey Tickets for the line), and waited for the train, sure not to miss it. (If you miss your train, by the way, you’re treated to an excruciating wait of 15 more minutes before a 4-car Airport Express heads your way. 2017 plans call for gaps of 4 minutes only between trains. We sure hope they start shortening the gaps — soon.)

The train wasn’t exactly smooth — even with semi-autopilot on, the train behaved at best like a boat going through sorta-rough waters. (The “vomit-inducing”, as I later noted, weather outside — the heavens threatening to open up — made the trip that bit more miserable.)

However, the trip was pleasant for one thing: you got a seat. Imagine standing (like you do on main line Subway lines) for 15-odd minutes. (A repeat trip today saw me getting productive on the road — I pulled out the MacBook and got online while mobile. By the way, I cheated — a la GPRS. No wifi on the Airport Express — yet.)

Also, one of the best things about the Airport Express is that they run to an invisible schedule — 15 minutes as we have it. The gaps are uniform from the first train to the very last one. Little wonder, then, that when I finished my bit of Yoshinoya at T3, I was able to head back to central Beijing — in good time.

The Airport Express is a “good thing”, but here’s what they could’ve done (or, indeed, could do — remember, there’s plenty of room for improvement coming down the road) to make the thing better:

• Shorten the gaps between one train and the other.
• Add a station near Dashanzi/Wangjing East. (It won’t kill you, by the way; Line 14 is expected to snake its way across the region.)
• Add wifi to the thing and either make it free or affordable. (Wifi on the Heathrow Express is about GPB 5 — OK in the UK, but bloody murder in Renminbi Yuan.)
• Make the thing smoother. Make the thing more quiet.
• Finally, make all faregates super-wide. (About 30% - 40% of the faregates are — a massive improvement over what they have on downtown Subway lines.)

For Day One, though, good stuff!

Tangos Chan is the blogger behind China Web 2.0 Review

Tangos Chan, VP of China Growth Capital, discusses his forays into corporate consultancy, his feelings on the third annual China ICT conference as well as the intricacies of introducing foreigners to the Chinese IT industry through his English blog.

Interview Transcript:

• We know you are a blog writer, can you tell us which field you write your blog in?

My blog maybe a little different from what you usually read, because it’s all in English. My blog mainly introduces the newest development in the high technology industry for the oversea readers. The goal for my blog is to provide a good resourceful place for people to learn about China’s daily development in the high-tech industry.

• Are you a full time blogger?

I know there are many full time bloggers in Western countries, but I am not. I have a daily job in China Growth Capital Company. Our business model is to provide the service of consultating for the early stage startups. We invest capital and provide resources for these startups that include: teamwork building, management strategy, etc. Our goal is to help these startup companies grow and get on their feet so that it can win more financing and eventually becoming an solid self-efficient company.

• Is this your first time attending the China ICT event? What do you think is the most exciting part of the event?

Yes, this is my first time here. China ICT used to be called Rising Stars Home, it helped introduced many developed companies to me so that I can learn about their new high-technology and progress.

• Have you been to an event similar to China ICT?

There’s an annual conference organized by the bloggers of China called China Blogger Con. It’s different than the usual conference because it is founded by commoners. The conference is very informal and includes a lot of interactions with each other. It will be held this year in November 15th, 2008 in Guang Zhou, we welcome everyone to join us.

CNReviews was invited to attend the media preview event of the Apple Store Sanlitun today. David Feng of CNReviews (who is also from TechHub86 - techblog86 and BeiMac) was able to attend. In these pictures exclusive to CN Reviews and TechHub86, we can see the opening of the first-ever Apple Store for all of Greater China.

Other sites:

Apple4.us (h/t Flypig on twitter) has some great photos from the event:

More photos at Apple4.us.

Also on Twitter, Stephen Schwankert aka @chinabuzz (who’s day job is China Correspondent for IDG News Service) remarked on Twitter that “our new best friend: John Ford, Sanlitun Apple Store manager“.

UPDATE: Stephen (aka @chinabuzz) posted more details at PCWorld:

This is the first of many stores we will open in China,” said Ron Johnson, Apple’s senior vice president of retail, in remarks at the store. He later added that Apple will open stores “in Beijing, in Shanghai and beyond,” and confirmed that another store will open in Beijing’s Qianmen area, a shopping street south of Tiananmen Square that has been renovated ahead of the Olympic Games, which begin next month.

UPDATE: More great photos from Apple4.us on a new post:

Thanks again to Amy Barney of Apple Computer for the invite.

The store will opening on July 19, 2008 at 10:00 (reported by David Feng at TechBlog86).

invite courtesy of TechBlog86.

We learn from @shizhao (one of CnbloggerCon committee members) that Chinese Blogger Conference 2008 is calling for theme suggestion now. The conference is going to held in Guangzhou on Nov. 15-16 this year. The poll is in Chinese and here is the quick translation:

• A 网志创建和谐社会 - Blogs Creat Harmonious Society
• B 多志兴邦 - More Blogs (Wills), More Flourishing the Country
• C 和谐网志 - Harmonious Blogs
• D 和而不同- Harmonious but Diverse
• E 和而不同，多志兴邦- Harmonious but Diverse, More Blogs (Wills), More Flourishing the Country
• F 网志的个性与社会性 - The Personality and Sociality of Blogs
• G Other- ____________________

You can go here and pick or suggest the theme you like together with your blog URL. I (not stand for CN Reviews) picked B. I think Chinese blogosphere want more diverse voices, but they are not necessary to be harmonious.

What’s your choice of the theme?

Much to the detriment of my productivity, I spend an unwholesome amount of time online verbally sparring with individuals who take extremist political positions on China, whether for or against. Most regular readers of websites and blogs focusing on China-centric topics are familiar with the never-ending commentary that plays out, usually involving arrogant Westerners condemning all that is Chinese on one side, the rabid Chinese nationalists running defense with the best English they can muster on the other, and the nauseating hypocrisy in the middle that seemingly no side can ever get away from.

I sometimes step back and look at this depressing fiasco as a whole, and wonder if we’re not all utter idiots, clutching to the vain hope that our criticisms, insults, explanations, persuasions, or emphatic exhortations will somehow change someone’s mind for what we consider to be the more balanced and the better. It is demoralizing, to say the least, to realize that, yes…we’re all utter idiots.

Take, for instance, the politicization of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. How incredibly aggravating it is to see the Chinese and the Chinese government demand that the rest of the world not politicize their cherished coming-out party, only to see that they themselves have politicized it to the hilt. It may be wholly understandable that they want that control. Yet, it is that precise double-standard coupled with bumbling–or just poorly translated–rhetoric that consistently overshadows the sheer cultural ignorance and insensitivity we see from holier-than-thou activists for whatever movement du jour that has a gripe with China, its government, or all 1.3 billion of its people.

Those on the polarized ends will never see eye-to-eye, nor do they care to. The battle has always been and will always be for those in the middle. I’d like to think I’m in the middle but unlike those on the ends, I think that’s exactly where I and the majority of people should remain. Yes, straddling the fence involves the fence being uncomfortably entrenched up my nether regions but I’ll deal. Why? Because the truth is–according to me, of course–that both sides are right and both sides are wrong. This has been the case and will unfortunately always be the case, and I’d very much prefer to associate myself with the “right” on both sides.

Perhaps,then, the reason I continue to be drawn into these debates is my idealistic–but childish–faith in the marketplace of ideas. I mean, if I know something and I don’t share it, who knows how many countless souls will be swayed into the abyss of ignorance, bias, prejudice, and greater idiocy? Ah, yes, how narcissistic of me but isn’t cherishing dissent in the presence of consent precisely the difference between Western ideals of democracy, freedom, and human rights, and the authoritarian “social harmony” of China?

But in addition to the wonderful ideal of passionate but reasoned discourse leading us all to enlightened decision-making and declared positions is the very practical notion of being practical. Trying to convince your mortal enemy that he or she is an idiot is like China trying to convince the Dalai Lama that he’s the incarnation of evil; it is a waste of time and there could be more productive things to be done like racking up notches or, In China’s case, making sure your truths, lies, and spins are believed by the only people that really matter, your domestic population.

With all of that in mind, I offer you this excerpt of a July 14th article from the New York Times, whom many Chinese largely regard as a biased, Western, anti-China publication simply because it dares to print anything critical of China:

The call he will never forget came for Peter Ueberroth in the middle of the night on May 12, 1984, over a crackling phone line from Beijing. It carried the news he believed would determine the fate of the Olympics, not just the Games he was working to organize in Los Angeles that summer but all the ones beyond.

At the other end of the line was Charles Lee, the man he had sent to persuade the Chinese to send their team to the Olympics for the first time. Ueberroth, the leader of the Los Angeles organizing committee, was asking China to defy a Soviet Union-led boycott that was announced four days earlier. The Soviets said the boycott would keep 100 countries away from the ‘84 Games. If the Soviets succeeded, Ueberroth said flatly, “we were done.”

Salvation came when Lee called and told Ueberroth, “They’re coming.”

As the world prepares for the Beijing Games in August, that moment is all but lost in the history of the Olympics, when the winds shifted and carried the Games away from a political bludgeon in the cold war to the combination of athletic and commercial success they have become since.

Ueberroth, now 70 and the chairman of the United States Olympic Committee, will lead the American team into China with a deep sense of gratitude. He believes China saved the Olympics.

So maybe the United States and George W. Bush, the fantastic man that he is, attending the 2008 Beijing Games isn’t really about kowtowing to China. Maybe its about something else and hopefully something more…human.

I know China has, in many frustrating ways, sabotaged its own Games with their own immature insecurities. I know it is difficult to put up with the politics that inevitable surround the Olympics, especially when it involves a country, government, or citizenship that has difficulty dealing with the negative attention and criticism that always comes. The dialogue and debates should continue, ideally in the spirit of greater mutual understanding and mutual growth, but maybe we should pause for a moment to reflect upon an Olympics separate from all the nonsense. If the British and German soldiers of World War I could put down their guns to play a game of football for Christmas, can’t we put aside our agendas and share a moment of peace for the Olympics?

I mean, I hear they’ve got some breathtaking architecture in Beijing. It’d be a shame to miss it.

As a pseudo-geek, my RSS Reader includes a subscription to the almighty TechCrunch, an influential blog that covers the internet and tech industry. I woke up today to an entry about Jason Calacanis retiring from blogging and now choosing to only write to a mailing list of about 1000 of his followers. In his first e-mail, he elaborates on this decision and criticizes a potential problem of blogging when it results in “trolls and haters” taking over the discussion:

Why should we all build our homes and give residence to the trolls under them? Comments on blogs inevitably implode, and we all accept it under the belief that “open is better!” Open is not better….We’ve put the wisdom of the deranged on the same level as the wisdom of the wise.

She too has felt the harsh mob mentality, also known as “the wisdom of the crowds.” For the record, crowds are really frackin’ stupid and to put your stock in crowds is about as bright as putting your faith in a dictator-they’ll love you for as long as they feel like it, then they’ll ripe[sic] you apart without mercy.

For some reason, reading this reminded me of what Kaiser Kuo¹ at Ogilvy Digital Watch wrote about China’s Facebook-clone Xiaonei² and their new open platform policies. Reflecting upon the legion of developers angry that Xiaonei’s “open” policies actually ended up NOT being so open and thus negatively affecting their plans for making money through Xiaonei, Kuo wrote:

Tangos³ suggests that there really isn’t a culture of openness, but rather one of control, with Chinese Internet companies, and I agree that’s the case. In this case this tendency is reinfoced by something even more basic to Chinese culture, Internet company or whatever: ruthless pragmatism.

Of course, Calacanis and Kuo are talking about two very different things. Calacanis supports his decision to exit the blogosphere by citing the degradation of dialogue in the face of capricious crowds. Kuo (and Tangos) attributes Xiaonei’s tight-fisted policies to a basic tendency in Chinese culture to regard control controlling your options and controlling how others should coexist with you whenever possible as being pragmatic.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Calacanis’ rationalization has a certain technocratic air about it, which is ironically reminiscent of the Chinese central government. Like Calacanis, the CCP government too doesn’t put much stock in crowds, especially crowds with “frackin’ stupid” ideas that aren’t government approved. Like Calacanis, the CCP government fears the crowds, regarding them suspiciously being one step away from becoming an uncontrollable mob ready to end their rule disrupt “social harmony” and tear apart the country.

Therein lies the complex rationalizations for the necessity of the Chinese central government to control the Chinese people, whether it means increased patriotic education for splittist TIbetans, suppressing grieving parents who lost their children in the Sichuan earthquake, or employing grassroots public relations specialists to shape public opinion with propagandic posts and comments throughout the internet. The Chinese government doesn’t need to show Tibetan young men cutting out chunks of ass-meat or show how the Weng’an mass riot was ultimately a 30,000-strong mob mobilized by rumors and lies. All they need is a video of Cantonese teenagers raping and beating up a single, naked girl and the ensuing public commotion to show that, yes, people are inherently evil, can’t be trusted, and will do really “frackin’ stupid” things when in groups, much less crowds and mobs. So, society needs government to control and control, itself, is a pragmatic necessity for the welfare and continued development of the Chinese nation.

China, like Calacanis, isn’t too keen on letting dissidents and westerners “trolls and haters” take over the discussion. After all, the last time it happened, China became a whore to Western imperialist powers. As a social, poltiical, and economic entity, a CCP-governed China will only be as open as it chooses to be. Just as Xiaonei not wanting to be OpenSocial, China doesn’t want to be a Western democracy. China’s unapologetic embrace of control, like Xiaonei, is about ruthless pragmatism, for good or for ill.

For most Chinese, society is ultimately inefficient, injustices happen, and there is no Holy God in the afterlife to give you your due. “Westerners,” ever confident and optimistic in their socio-political ideologies, often miss that. The concession that governmental control of society is necessary is certainly a defining characteristic of Chinese culture, a culture that has, for thousands of years, hoped for benevolent governance from enlightened individuals to guarantee the most basic right hope of being able to eat, sleep, and make babies in peace.

Of course, the other defining characteristic of Chinese culture is that it is always everyone else–and not oneself–that makes government control and other necessary evils, well, necessary.

Notes
¹ About the only other person in the world I know of that shares my name. Sucker.
² For those who don’t know, “Xiaonei” literally means “inside campus,” reminding us of Facebook originally being open only to university students, you know, before they made it big.
³ Now, “Tangos” is a cool name, far cooler than “Kaiser.” It has more “Spanish street brawler” and less “German world domination.”

If you have a foreign bank account, foreign currency account, and are a U.S. person, you need to have reported those accounts by June 30, according to this reminder IRS press release (dated 6/17). As you can infer from the date of this post, I blew it and now have to beg for mercy from the Department of the Treasury and IRS.

Dear Department of Treasury, I beg for your mercy.

I now endeavor to help others not make this same mistake by providing some FAQs on the process of submitting the appropriately named FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) form.

But first, some background on how I lost faith in the U.S. dollar

Image courtesy of Freaking News

• On 3/20 I posted about the new CNY exchange traded notes announced by Morgan Stanley & Van Eck Global on 3/17, as a way of hedging RMB appreciation.
• By 3/30 this year, I concluded that RMB appreciation was inexorable and might even require a “one-off maxi-revaluation” to stem speculative inflows.
• On 4/2, I posted about the decline of the US dollar’s reserve currency status as another contributing factor toward USD/RMB exchange rate.
• On 4/11, I posted that I exchanged USD for RMB at the rate of 6.9835 into my China Merchants Bank account, and that I had established an Everbank RMB account (in the US) at 6.9544. On 4/10 the central parity rate was set at 6.992.
• On 7/11, Xinhua announced that the central parity rate of the RMB was set at 6.8397 (see China Foreign Exchange Trading System website Chinamoney.com.cn (zh) for more info). So the RMB has appreciated by 2.2% in 3 months, or a 9.2% annualized appreciation rate. So clearly, putting all my spare cash in RMB (even in the 0% interest Everbank WorldCurrency Access Deposit account) is a no brainer.

USD-RMB exchange rate chart, 2008. See a pattern?

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Now back to the FBAR. I choose to pronounce this “fubar” which has another meaning in English.

Q: Who needs to file the FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts)? I mean, I really don’t have a lot of money abroad.

A: If you have a foreign account, and the value of that account exceeds $10,000, you need to file a FBAR. More at IRS.gov here.

Q: Is this part of my Federal Tax Return? Can I get an extension?

A: No and no, that would be too easy and too obvious. According to the IRS:

The FBAR is not to be filed with the filer’s Federal income tax return. The granting, by IRS, of an extension to file Federal income tax returns does not extend the due date for filing an FBAR. There is no extension available for filing the FBAR. Account holders who do not comply with the FBAR reporting requirements may be subject to civil penalties, criminal penalties, or both.

Q: Umm, how was I supposed to know about this?

A: Well did you monitor the press releases on the IRS website? The IRS published a press release IR-2008-79 on June 17 specifically to remind taxpayers to report certain foreign bank and financial accounts by June 30. An interesting fact from the press release:

Since 2000, the number of Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) forms received by the Treasury has increased by nearly 85 percent, from 174,528 in 2000 to 322,414 in 2007. Despite this significant increase in filings, concern remains about the degree of reporting compliance for those who are required to file.

Only 322,414 were received in 2007, and I’m sure that there isn’t 100% compliance with this requirement. But even then, it seems like a very small number of U.S. persons actually have a foreign account.

Q: What’s the deadline again?

A: June 30, 2008 for the 2007 calendar year. Yes, if you haven’t done this already, you are delinquent.

Q: OK, what form do I use?

A: Form TD F 90-22.1 (pdf) located on the IRS website. If you only have 1 account, its less than 1 page long.

Q: Where do I send it?

A: Don’t send it to where you send your normal tax returns. According to the IRS, you should send it here:

U.S. Department of the Treasury
P.O. Box 32621
Detroit, MI 48232-0621

Q: No offense, but I don’t trust anything in the blogosphere these days! Where can I get the official information?

A: Yes, in general, don’t trust bloggers for legal, tax and compliance information unless they happen to be licensed professionals in the right field. So go get the real deal here:

• IRS FAQ on Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
• IRS copy of Form TD F 90-22.1 (pdf)
• email the IRS: FBARquestions@irs.gov
• call the IRS at (800) 829-3676

Q: Why do I have to do this?

A: This seems to be under the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), an agency of the US Department of Treasury. It seems partially motivated by tax compliance and partially motivated by addressing money laundering for drug trafficing and terrorist activity.

I don’t often start posts with quotes, but here’s one to kick off with:

In real life, we talk fake stuff with our real names. On the Internet, we talk real stuff with our fake names.

Although yours truly is an advocate of the Real-Name Blogging system (he uses real names on all of his blogs, as well as on other blogs including CN Reviews), he realizes that maybe not everyone wants to use their real names. Even for things as “non-polit” as the time-and-again-delayed opening of Beijing’s new Subway lines, there’s that bit of laoli laodao (唠呖唠叨), or yak yak yak, that is best kept anonymous (one of the recent comments, “the authorities fooled us again!”, is better kept anonymous — China Internet veterans would know why).

This is the funny bit about the Chinese Internet. On forums as diverse in topics as Mac and mass transit, the funniest or most thought-provoking posts are often started by The Mao Zedong Trainset or the Super Rascal Rabbit — yes, people with names that will never make it to the average Chinese ID card. Freeway forums ban people with names named after (pardon the pun) freeway cloverleaves. The heaviest criticisms of The Powers That Be are almost never signed with a true name — the thing coming to the “truest name” is probably a virtual John Hancock by “John Doe”.

Let’s remind ourselves of the fact that the Games are near — and that everyone’s getting on edge. As a result, if the Web gets jittery our side… we’d know why. Getting on edge with a fake name is probably safer than getting on edge with a real name.

Yet this very phenomenon is interesting in its own right. We’re beginning to see uncensored content in Chinese about things that appear closer to “the truth”. The funny thing is, they’re true — but the names of those who wrote the stuff are fake.

On the other hand, the moment a CCTV (or evening Beijing TV) microphone is spotted, many a citizen switch into “satisfy-those-above-us-who-are-watching-us” mode and say the kind of stuff that they know the guys “up there” — well, “want to hear”. Bad commentary is nearly always dumped — at least never shown on the mundane silver screen.

Want to know why this is happening? Go back to the quote at the start of this post.

Interesting.