Monday, May 7, 2007

China Visa

Well, I booked my hotel for Hong Kong and Leon got reservations for Chengdu which means I'd better get my visa for China. I pre-filled out the form before I brought it to the travel agency but they made me fill out my Chinese name and change place of birth from Taipei (I didn't want to put Taiwan) to China.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I really don't like TI (Taiwan Independence) people, especially those that say they're Taiwanese and not Chinese. I can understand the Taiwanese part; it's like saying you're American. However, I don't understand the "not Chinese" part. Sorry, you're ethnically Chinese and your ancestors are probably from Fujian or Guangzhou. It's like the American denying their German/Irish/Italian/whatever roots. However, I also really hate how petty the commies are about Taiwan. Taiwan is insignificant in population and geography vs. mainland China yet everyday you hear about some stupid flap about Taiwan/China and the whole one country/two system crap. Why not just have two countries? Maybe they just don't like seeing Chinese people living in a capitalistic democratic society, invalidating their Marxist/Maoist dogma.

Well, my passport has "TAIWAN" as place of birth so we'll see what happens. I remember Shirley had to get a new passport right before she went to China; the Chinese Consulate rejected her visa application because it said "TAIWAN" as place of birth. They want it to say "CHINA" instead... petty.

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I just got a VM from the travel agency that I got the tourist visa. Maybe things have changed from 10 years ago...

4 comments:

closetmusician said...

yeah, i just came back from china a few months ago, was no problem getting in and out. btw, you should try to get your visa here through a travel agency instead of there, and use your green card. it'll make you eligible for a travel permit, which is good for two yrs w/o renewal, where the typical "taiwanese visa" is good only for 3 months and you have to keep getting a new one.

totochi said...

Green card? INS took my green card when I became a citizen. $50 got me a 6 month single entry visa good for 60 days. I paid a travel agency $25 to process the visa which was pretty good but they stuck an ugly yellow sticker (one of those really sticky ones) on the back of my passport. :(

ocgal22 said...

American passports can only apply for single entry, double entry, and one-year visas. Believe me, I've looked into it as I'm currently on a one year multiple entry visa.

An interesting side note - the Chinese embassy charges U.S. passports more money to get a China visa than they charge other Western countries - I heard it's because the U.S. raised prices on Chinese trying to get a U.S. visa.

totochi said...

I was tempted to pull out my Canadian passport and save $20 on the Chinese visa. That will cause all sorts of problems on the way back though...