Shenzhen

Stranded at Shenzhen airport

Thursday, May 6th, 2010 | posts | 4 Comments

SHENZHEN — Heavy rain and violent thunderstorms delayed thousands of passengers at Shenzhen’s airport Friday, causing havoc at airline counters where irate Chinese passengers scrambled to find alternate flights out of the city.

At the Shenzhen airlines counter, men slammed their fists on counter tops and shouted loudly.

Delayed travelers at Shenzhen airport crowd in front of and behind an airline counter.

The women, many of them on their cell phones, whimpered to loved ones to say they’d be late, then turned around to bark at the frazzled young ticket agents, struggling to handle the dozens of hands waving ID cards and overdue boarding passes.

Behind them, dozens more were pushing and shoving their way to the front of the line.

Wait, did I just say “line”?

There was no line. Just a hoard of people thrusting themselves in front the counter while another angry mob had gone behind the counter by unlatching the side door and jamming themselves right next to the three ticket agents.

The lightning, thunder and flash floods began Thursday night in Hong Kong and the south-eastern parts of Guangdong Province forcing thousands more to spend the night at the airport.

One of those travelers, a Canadian named Jordan, was trying to get to Shanghai since Thursday evening. He’s working at the Canadian pavilion at the World Expo. But China Southern airlines couldn’t tell him what flight he’d be able to catch and when he could leave.

“I have never experienced this in my whole life,” he said. “This is f***** up.”

En route to Zhejiang province, a Dutch traveler edged his way behind the counter of Shenzhen airlines.

The crowd pushed up against each other. People were sweating. And shouting.

Wedged between Wenzhounese businessmen in blazers and a pushy mother clutching her baby, he waited patiently next to a male ticket agent who was quickly re-booking travelers whose flights had been canceled Friday morning.

Next to him, a young female ticket agent in her 20s, stood up and threw her hands up in the air. Near tears, she pleaded with the crowd to get out from behind the counter and line up.”你们出去啊！GET OUT!” she screamed.

But it was no use.  The people only grew more distraught. One woman grabbed her by the shoulders in protest. “小姐，你去哪儿？Miss, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!”

It had been nearly 30 minutes. It was becoming unbearable. The Dutch traveler, clutching a Canadian and EU Passport, never liked to ask for special treatment when in China. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

He edged closer to the male ticket agent and held the passports in the agent’s peripheral vision, hoping the shiny booklets would catch his eye in the sea of Chinese IDs.

“Excuse me,” he said softly in English. “Could you please change my flight going to Wenzhou?”

He did this repeatedly, quietly and subtly, until the agent acknowledged his presence.

Then, the Dutch traveler switched into Chinese. He whispered in the agent’s ear while pointing at the passports:

“温州，温州。 下一个。下一个。Wenzhou. Wenzhou. I’m next. I’m next.”

The mantra worked. After booking several Chinese passengers, he grabbed the passports and began his work. An 8:50 a.m. flight from Shenzhen to Wenzhou was rebooked for 5:05 p.m.

The Dutch and Canadian celebrated over two bowls of noodle soup.

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NYT: Rural China’s Hunger for Sons Fuels Traffic in Abducted Boys

Saturday, April 4th, 2009 | posts | 2 Comments

Chen Fengyi’s 5-year-old son was kidnapped from outside her apartment building in Huizhou. She said the police never came.

Chen Fengyi’s 5-year-old son was kidnapped from outside her apartment building in Huizhou. She said the police never came. Source: NYTimes

An article in today’s New York Times brought me to tears this afternoon.

The story tells the plight of parents in the south of China whose children have been abducted and sold to other families in want of sons.

The children don’t travel far. From the city, many are brought to the rural areas, where demand for young boys is especially strong and where the one-child policy has further encouraged the tradition of favoring boys over girls.

The article interviews a number of families. The Chens talked about their frustrations with police indifference:

…When she is not scouring the streets at night for her son, Ms. Chen and her husband go to the local police station and fall to their knees. “We cry and beg them to help,” she said, “and every time they say, ‘Why are you so hung up on this one thing?’ ”

Many parents take matters into their own hands. They post fliers in places where children are often sold and travel the country to stand in front of kindergartens as they let out. A few who run shops have turned their storefronts into missing person displays. “We spend our life savings, we borrow money, we will do anything to find our children,” said Mr. Peng, who owns a long-distance phone call business in Gongming, not far from Shenzhen. “There is a hole in our hearts that will never heal.”…

And we learn that parents have brought their case to Beijing:

…For the parents of missing children, the heartbreak and the frustration have turned into anger. Last September, about 40 families traveled to the capital to call attention to the plight of abducted children. They staged a brief protest at the headquarters of the national television broadcaster, but within minutes, dozens of police officers arrived to haul them away.

“They dragged us by our hair and said, ‘How dare you question the government,’ ” said Peng Dongying, who lost her 4-year-old son. “I hate myself for my child’s disappearance, but I hate society more for not caring. All of us have this pain in common, and we will do anything to get back our children.”…

This website, called “Baby Come Home” 宝贝回家，is a website set up by the parents to encourage the exchange of information and gather support for their cause.

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