Yue’s Yappings

While waiting for my flight at the Guangzhou airport, I had a quick chat with a man sitting next to me. He was from Beijing and was also in Guangzhou for business. A half hour before, at the check in counter, he left his brief case on the floor next to him. When he finished checking in, the briefcase was gone. He asked the people standing behind him who took it - no one in the line said anything. He quickly scnned the immediate area, and sighted a man slowly walking away with his briefcase.

He walked up to the man, and politely said “Sir, did you happen to grab the wrong suitcase?” The man looked at him and responded, “How much money will you pay for this briefcase?” At this point I coudn’t help ask, “why didn’t you call airport security?” He reponded, “it doesn’t work that way around here. The man was part of airport security, that’s why he walked away so slowly. He wanted me to catch him he could get ransom money from me.” At the end the man paid a huge sum of money to the thief to get his briefcase back.

The crime rate in Guangzhou is so high that few women dare to wear earings or necklaces. And people on the street are too scared to say anything. There are simply too few policemen patrolling the city and too many corrupt ones. If you visit China - steer far clear of Guangzhou if you can.