by Ans Hooft
My girlfriend T had lost her phone. That’s a disaster everywhere in the world, but especially in China. Without a phone you can’t pay for anything anymore, unless you still have a stack of cash at home. Without a phone you also can’t get to work, because you can’t order a taxi, rent a bike, check‑in for the metro or bus, and you can’t call anyone. So T was pretty panicked when she called me. We decided to go together to the nearest police station.
The police station in our neighborhood is small, and we were seen right away. The officer asked—in his best English—what T had been doing and where she was when she still had a phone. She knew exactly: she had rented a bike with her phone, and when she got home she lost the device. The officer wrote everything down and then politely asked for permission: whether T was okay with him looking at the camera footage of her. She agreed, and he disappeared to the back. After a short while he returned with a laptop, and lo and behold, there was a biking T on the screen. He could even zoom in, and lo and behold, we could see her phone half‑tucked in her jacket pocket. It almost made us feel cheerful. But, the officer explained, T rides into another street, and that street belongs to the neighboring district. That district falls under a different police station. We don’t have any camera footage from that area, so, ladies and gentlemen, you’ll have to go to the other station. Too bad—we actually found this officer quite likable.
I ordered a taxi to the other district. It was already late in the evening, and the officers at the other precinct didn’t have much to do. We wondered whether the crime rate in China had really dropped to zero, so that officers could just play games on their phones. In any case, they weren’t busy catching criminals. Our officer also looked at the camera footage, but this man didn’t let us watch along. Unfortunately, it wasn’t clear where the phone had ended up. T showed her “Find My Phone” feature, but the officer said it doesn’t work very precisely, especially not in a neighbourhood where thousands of people live stacked on top of each other. All the information was neatly recorded, and the officer promised he would call us as soon as he had news. My girlfriend was still a little sad, but we felt that everyone had done their best.
After two days, she rang the doorbell from a hasty young man who did not make eye contact. “This is your phone” he said and the dismayed T put her cell phone in her hand. No explanation, no request for reward, he was gone immediately. We still have no idea who this was and how the phone was found. It doesn’t matter: T was over the moon.
Two weeks later I went for a long weekend to the fantastic, bustling Hong Kong. A whole day of cruising through the busy city by bus, ferry, metro and shopping and eating everywhere. At the end of the day, my phone had disappeared from my bag. I hadn’t even used it, we had withdrawn money and not taken any pictures. When panic set in, I could only think of one thing: I had to go to the police.
A police station in Hong Kong is a different experience than in Shanghai. It is busy and the officers are very tired. When it was my turn, I told them that I had lost my phone. The officer sighed deeply. “So, you want to draw up an official report for the insurance?” I didn’t know what I was hearing. What was he thinking! “No! I want my phone back!” The officer could not suppress a sarcastic laugh. As if he was going to look for a mobile phone! He had better things to do! He gave me a long form. “Please fill this in completely, and don’t forget the IMEI number.” “The what?” “The serial identification number. That’s what it says on the packaging. Sorry ma’am, if you don’t have that, it will be very difficult.” We agree that I will look up the number as soon as I get back home in Shanghai. I ask how big the chance is that a phone will be found. He doesn’t even answer. What did he want to say? That I was no longer in the secure bubble called China? That motherland, about which he certainly also has an opinion that he cannot share? This is Hong Kong, this is a real city, including crime, homeless people, and hardly any cameras, just like Europe. That’s where those things happen, that’s quite normal. In this real, normal world, I will never find my mobile again.
One country, two systems and so on? This will remain the case for a very long time.
Ans Hooft has been living in Shanghai for 17 years. She writes about her experiences for ChinaNU+ and is the author of the book Lockdown in Shanghai. https://www.boekenbestellen.nl/boek/lockdown-in-shanghai/62959
