Life In 19x19

I have to say I'm massively jealous - I didn't know the 2006 reunion was taking place

Araban wrote:For those interested in what kind of problems pros like to study:

Are you interested? I have to admit I took one quick glance at them and ... well... I just took one quick glance at them.

Tooveli wrote:Are you interested? I have to admit I took one quick glance at them and ... well... I just took one quick glance at them.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So last night I visited the Beijing Go club for the second time. I had a pretty difficult time finding the place in the alley, but eventually I finally found it. I was about 40 minutes late, but no one was there so I just ordered some coffee and read up on SC2 news. A few people showed up about 20 minutes later, and I introduced myself. Finally met cdybeijing, but he was already playing so I just obs'd a bit until a girl named Fang showed up. I asked her if she wanted to play and we got a game. She was a beginner, so we just played a teaching game. While we were playing, more people began to show up.

After my game against Fang, I looked around and saw about 10 or so players. Went to check out Carl's game, who was playing against a female pro 2p which was pretty cool. Some small talk later, I ran into Bella, who is a Chinese 5d I saw last week playing against Erik. She said she found a picture of me on the Internet playing 1-color Go against the kid from Thailand (see earlier post) at the Tiandijian Go club. I was a bit perplexed by this because I remembered playing that game, but I am certain there were no one taking photographs at the time...o__O. Anyways, I ask her for a game and I get a second game. I decided to just take Black. You can find the game below:



I was pretty disappointed with how I played in this game, but regardless I'll post thoughts on this game and what we discussed/reviewed of it after work. Speaking of after work, I am scheduled to meet a Chinese 6d and perhaps get some lessons from him after a game. Let's see how that goes!

God this trip is going downhill fast. Lot of bad things happened today and yesterday, both Go and non-Go related. Not sure what's going to happen in the next few days as apparently I've violated some Chinese law on foreigners having to register at a police station if they're staying somewhere (the non-Go related bad thing). For the Go-related bad thing, let's just say not everyone who goes to Tiandijian is necessarily the friendliest Go player, especially towards someone who can't speak Chinese. I'm just glad things didn't escalate; I'd rather stick with 1 law violation rather than 2. Sigh...

U S state dept web site wrote:Whether you are traveling to or living in China, you must register with the police within 24 hours of your arrival in the country. Even foreigners with residence permits are required to register after each re-entry. If you are staying in a hotel, the staff will automaticallyregister you. However, if you are staying in a private home with family or friends, you should take your passport to the local police station to register. Failure to do so could result in fines and detention. Chinese law requires that you carry a passport or residence permit at all times; Chinese authorities will not accept a photocopy. Additionally, Chinese authorities are entitled to carry out random checks for these documents. If you are not in compliance, you will be subject to fines, detention, and/or deportation. If you are visiting China, you should carry your passport with you, out of reach of pickpockets. If you live in China and have a residence permit, you should carry that document and leave your passport in a secure location, except when traveling.

Seems rather paranoid to me. There is no way that they can develop a modern tourist economy like this.

Huh, I've never registered with a police station in China. How did you get caught?

Joaz Banbeck wrote:

U S state dept web site wrote:Whether you are traveling to or living in China, you must register with the police within 24 hours of your arrival in the country. Even foreigners with residence permits are required to register after each re-entry. If you are staying in a hotel, the staff will automaticallyregister you. However, if you are staying in a private home with family or friends, you should take your passport to the local police station to register. Failure to do so could result in fines and detention. Chinese law requires that you carry a passport or residence permit at all times; Chinese authorities will not accept a photocopy. Additionally, Chinese authorities are entitled to carry out random checks for these documents. If you are not in compliance, you will be subject to fines, detention, and/or deportation. If you are visiting China, you should carry your passport with you, out of reach of pickpockets. If you live in China and have a residence permit, you should carry that document and leave your passport in a secure location, except when traveling.

Seems rather paranoid to me. There is no way that they can develop a modern tourist economy like this.

OTOH, if hotels do it for you, most tourist wont even know that such a law exists.

Seems rather paranoid to me. There is no way that they can develop a modern tourist economy like this.

There are just different kinds of paranoia. On my first Amtrak train ride in the USA I almost got caught out because they wouldn't let me buy a ticket without some official ID. I just had time - best part of an hour - to retrieve my passport from the safe in my hotel.room, which is where I think it belongs in a "modern tourist economy". Then there's all the fingerprinting at US immigration, etc. etc.

Nowhere is truly free from hassle now, though the open borders in the EU are welcome proof that bureaucracy can be dismantled without the sky falling in.

In any case, although it is conventional to ascribe sinister motives to such manifestations of Chinese bureacracy, a simpler explanation is that they do have a lot of people they have to find jobs for. I wouldn't be surprised if the US Department of Homeland Security was likewise largely a job creation scheme.

No doubt the UK also gives tourists a hard time, but I obviously have no direct experience of that. We certainly have our share of bureaucratic jobsworths.

Bearing all that in mind, I'd advise Sol strongly not to try to take the moral high ground. Best to admit to an honest mistake and praise the jobsworth for his "efficiency".

John Fairbairn wrote:

Seems rather paranoid to me. There is no way that they can develop a modern tourist economy like this.

There are just different kinds of paranoia...in the USA...

In this case, we're happy to throw stones in our own little glass house.

I spent 4 weeks in China with the Experience Go program and I completely forgot to register at a police station. I remembered it on my last day and thought there might be trouble getting through customs at the airport but nothing happened Guess I got lucky I wasn't caught earlier.

Joaz Banbeck wrote:

U S state dept web site wrote:Whether you are traveling to or living in China, you must register with the police within 24 hours of your arrival in the country. Even foreigners with residence permits are required to register after each re-entry. If you are staying in a hotel, the staff will automaticallyregister you. However, if you are staying in a private home with family or friends, you should take your passport to the local police station to register. Failure to do so could result in fines and detention. Chinese law requires that you carry a passport or residence permit at all times; Chinese authorities will not accept a photocopy. Additionally, Chinese authorities are entitled to carry out random checks for these documents. If you are not in compliance, you will be subject to fines, detention, and/or deportation. If you are visiting China, you should carry your passport with you, out of reach of pickpockets. If you live in China and have a residence permit, you should carry that document and leave your passport in a secure location, except when traveling.

Seems rather paranoid to me. There is no way that they can develop a modern tourist economy like this.

I don't really think China wants a tourist economy, though they may be interested in a tourist industry.

Anyway, 99% of tourists in China are Chinese. Those 1.3 billion people are a much more attractive market than us westerners, especially since they (mostly) speak the language.

And, as you quoted: "If you are staying in a hotel, the staff will automatically register you."

That covers 99% of the foreign tourism market too, since the number of foreign tourists that are going to stay at a private residence is pretty much negligible.

20 years ago, I was advised to register with the Italian police within 7 days of arrival when I was there for a short term visit. The law there is apparently still on the books, so perhaps such a policy is not so unusual.

In any case, it's hard to know all local laws, customs or traditions of an unfamiliar environment, and it can be pretty uncomfortable going afoul of them. I hope it breezes over, and becomes a good story to tell in your old age. Good luck!

When any Chinese embassy issues a visa and returns your passport to you, there is a slip of paper inside reminding you to register at a police station within 24 hours of your arrival.

In any case, it is quite common for people to forget to do so, or simply choose not to. It is only a serious problem if for any reason you will later need to extend your current visa or apply for a new one in country - in which case it is a required document. The potential fines seem scary but they are uncommonly issued here in Beijing; most of the time the police are just happy that you have come in to take care of it, even if it's months after you've arrived, because it's less work for them that way.

As per the bit that Joaz pulled from the US State Department's website about carrying your passport and the registration paper everywhere you go, no one actually does that. I've registered quite a few times with the police department during my time here; sometimes the police have followed up with a one time visit to my house, to confirm that I do actually live there, but that's about it. It was a bit more of a hassle back when the Olympics were in play.