It isn't business as usual on the highway less traveled

By Jules Quartly (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-01 09:12
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It isn't business as usual on the highway less traveled

There was the comforting glow of computer screens and clack of keys being pressed on hundreds of keyboards as youngsters hunched over their terminals at a cyber caf near the train station in Ordos, Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Business as usual, I thought, and mentally prepared myself for an online session with a pot of instant noodles and bottle of iced tea.

It isn't business as usual on the highway less traveled

But the assistant blew a circuit when she saw my pale face and said there was no way I could use the facilities.

"Why?"

"Foreigners are not allowed," she replied.

"That's not true," I responded. "I have an Internet access account in Beijing and there's no law saying foreigners can't go online. In fact we're encouraged to do so. I want to talk to your boss."

The background chatter of the cyber caf went down a notch as the foreigner went head-to-head with authority. There seemed to be a lot of interest in this confrontation.

"I'm over 16 (obviously), I'm not a terrorist and I don't want to surf porn. I'm a person, I have rights, why can't I go online?" I asked, offering up my bad Chinese and a passport.

It must be said the young boss was reasonableness personified and he patiently explained that new rules required EVERY customer to provide a Chinese identity card that had to be swiped, or the computers "won't work".

"Come on, I'm not a Chinese citizen, so how can I get an identity card? My passport is an ID that is accepted in more than 200 countries (and regions) around the world".

The answer he gave was a familiar one to me in my many years of dealing with bureaucracy, a response that I have learned is the bottom line and non-negotiable.

"Rules are rules, it would be more than my job's worth to let you go online," the Internet boss smilingly but firmly replied, offering a bottle of iced tea on the house in recompense.

You can't argue with a bottle of iced tea and we parted on good terms.

Eventually, I found a hotel with a business center that accepted my passport and instead of paying 2 yuan (30 cents) an hour it was 40. Admittedly, there was a fantastic view of Ordos government square, service was excellent and coffee refills kept coming, but the extra charge and effort to go online rankled a bit.

While the better hotels in most urban centers generally offer Internet access, tourists or businesspeople striking out on the highway less traveled will likely experience the frustration of not being able to go online at a cyber caf.

The laws of the country clearly have no flex in them when it comes to peripatetic foreigners seeking Internet connections. I used to be able to go online in Internet cafes in Beijing with a little badinage, but this is no longer the case.

It's an unnecessary frustration and I am making a plea to the government on behalf of 5.3 billion foreigners to grant us the same rights as we have anywhere else - to get our Internet fix.

How about an amendment to the regulations that allows passport-holding foreigners the right to use a computer in a cyber caf, by simply writing their ID information down? It would be simple, painless, cost-free and make 5 billion potential tourists happy campers. It will be a face-saving, public relations success.

What have you got to lose?

Thank you, in advance.