China Bound A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC (1987) / Chapter Skim
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6. Services Available
6. Services Available
Pages 118-134
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From page 118... ...
diplomatic personnel. If other efforts fail, or if you need advice about how to deal with bureaucratic deadlocks, contact the Cultural Affairs Officer in the U.S.
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From page 119... ...
and the administrative section. The new main building "sanban," houses the embassy's executive offices and the offices of the political and economic sections as well as the Foreign Commercial Service and the Foreign Agricultural Service.
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From page 120... ...
Winston Lord Peter Tomsen Raymond Burkhardt Kent Weidemann Richard Johnston David Schoonover Pierre Perrolle McKinney Russell George Beasley Patrick J Corcoran Sylvia Rifkin William Thomas Vallerie Steenson Mark Pratt Daryl Daniels Charles Sylvester William Palmer
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From page 121... ...
Commercial Officer POSTAL SERVICES Eugene Dorris William G Crowell Barbara Slawecki Every university campus and most hotels and neighborhood shopping areas have post offices or counters that provide standard postal services.
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From page 122... ...
Express mail between the United States and China cuts delivery time approximately in half and is reliable because it is held at the post office for pickup. As noted earlier, Chinese postal regulations prohibit mailing large amounts of used clothing into the country for other than personal use; and medicines of any kind may not be mailed to China except by special permission in emergency situations.
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From page 123... ...
Although the official rate of exchange between RMB and FEC remained equal, unofficially the demand for FEC grew to the point that in many cases in which domestic RMB should have been requested, FEC had to be used. Taxi drivers, for example, would refuse to accept RMB for payment or if paid in large denominations of FEC would give back change in RMB.
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From page 124... ...
Some hotels accept credit cards for payment. Cables sent to foreigners in China are delivered to the foreign affairs office of their unit or to the reception desk at their hotel; notification
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From page 125... ...
You can place an international call by dialing the overseas operator (in major cities, most of them speak English and are quite
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From page 126... ...
same day Telephone books are hard to find in China, and they do not list residential or neighborhood phone numbers. Two directories that can be used as references for organizations are the China Phone Book and Address Directory, which can be ordered from: The China Phone Book Company Box 11581 Hong Kong and the annual China Telephone Directory published by the Beijing Telecommunications Equipment Plant (their phone number is 47-16551.
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From page 127... ...
Embassy, which treats only its own staff except in the case of encephalitis vaccine, which is offered to any American in China. The Japanese, Australian, French, and British Embassies usually have a physician on the staff who will see other foreign nationals, and they sometimes stock medications not available in Chinese facilities.
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From page 128... ...
For those who live on campuses or work units with no access to a taxi stand, the only recourse is to call the nearest taxi company and wait for a car to arrive, a nerve-wracking process that sometimes produces results only after a long wait or at times not at all. In an entertaining article in the China Business Review, Carroll Bogart (now Newsweek correspondent in Beijing)
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From page 129... ...
Some drivers also must earn a certain amount of FEC each day and will therefore refuse Chinese passengers who now make up at least half of the customers and foreigners without foreign exchange certificates. Finally, drivers are subject to dismissal for breaking traffic rules and lose their license for an accident involving a foreigner.
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From page 130... ...
Recent reports indicate that tickets for performances at popular concert halls, such as the one just south of Zhongnanhai in Beijing, are notoriously difficult to obtain. Some units are willing to help their foreign guests obtain tickets for special shows, and students often are given tickets by their foreign affairs officials who also arrange for group transportation to the event itself.
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From page 131... ...
The China National Tourist Office reported at that time that 244 cities and sites were opened to foreign travelers and that "foreigners with a valid visa or residence certificate can travel in areas open to foreign visitors without special travel permits." Areas that are not listed as open can be visited only with a travel permit issued by the Public Security Bureau or the gonganju. Foreign affairs officials usually will help secure these permits for the non-Chinese-speaking traveler.
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From page 132... ...
You can avoid the tourist surcharge if you buy tickets at the train station- but if you do not speak Chinese, the process can be confusing as few service clerks speak English. Timing must be carefully orchestrated.
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From page 133... ...
A number of travelers have reported items missing from outside pockets of luggage upon arrival at their final destination. Internal air travel was once a bargain most airline tickets used to cost about as much as a soft berth by train.
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From page 134... ...
Teachers and research scholars (or anyone of senior status) are expected to travel as tourists and pay tourist prices, although some American researchers who speak Chinese and can negotiate on their own have traveled hard class and dispensed with guides.
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