Get in any one of Beijing’s 67,000 taxis, and you’ll hear English right away.

“Welcome to take Beijing taxi,” a disembodied voice says, “and your advice on our service is appreciated.”

Unfortunately for tourists who don’t speak Mandarin, it is a recording that offers the greeting, not the driver. My experience after nearly five years living in Beijing is that taxi drivers who can speak any English are few and far between.

Taxi drivers are supposed to be able to speak basic English by the start of the Olympics on Aug. 8. And I have gotten in a taxi or two where the driver was actually practicing with tapes, and quickly pressed me into service as a teacher for the length of the ride.

So those arriving for the Games and planning to use taxis would be well advised to have an address in printed Chinese to hand to the driver.

The positive side is that after thousands of taxi rides, I can say that only once did a driver try to rip me off. He had tinkered with the meter and I noticed it immediately coming in from the airport. Another plus: taxi drivers invariably have correct change to give you. For those familiar with travel elsewhere, say Latin America, you will know the experience of driving around with a cabby trying to find change for the equivalent of a $10 bill.

Restaurants are a different story. Most Chinese restaurants that cater to foreigners have menus with photos and provide names of dishes in both Mandarin and English. Moreover, the city government has standardized the English names of the 2,425 most commonly eaten dishes.

In case tourists get lost, the city has set up 56 information kiosks staffed by people who can speak English.

According to yesterday’s South China Morning Post, the city government says 5.5 million people in Beijing can read and speak basic English.

I was recently in the new international media center at the Olympic Village and was quite impressed, so I’m posting a few photos.

In August 2007, Beijing received 420,000 overseas visitors.

For this August, one would reasonably think the figure would go way up because of the Olympic Games Aug 8-24. In fact, it may not bump up at all.

At a press conference this morning, Xiong Yumei, a deputy director of the Beijing Tourism Administration, said, “We expect to receive 400,000 to 450,000 overseas tourists during the Games.”

Astounding, isn’t it? While Ms. Xiong wouldn’t say so, it’s clear that a lot of additional tourists aren’t going to show up. Some appear to have difficulty in getting visas. One German reporter said at the news conference that some Germans are returning their Olympics tickets because they can’t get visas to travel to China.

Security may also be a concern for some tourists. Another factor may be high prices at hotels. Five-star hotels still have plenty of rooms available but they are going for $500-$800 a night. Click here for a story I wrote a few weeks ago about the Olympic tourist no-shows.

When asked about the security issue, the chief spokesman for the Beijing Games, Sun Weide, broke in and indicated that organizers felt threat levels going up.

“We needed to adjust our visa policy in regard to the real situation,” Sun said. “The purpose is to ensure safety of all the stakeholders of the Olympic Games. . . . We will take all necessary measures to ensure safety.”

No one that I know of wants anything but seamless Olympic Games for Beijing. But I’m sure the lack of a lot of foreigners will take away from the international flavor of the Games and make them more “Chinese.” The slogan of the Beijing Games is “One World, One Dream.” The world would be a lot less interesting with fewer foreigners in it.

A shoving match broke out last Friday at the Great Hall of the People, right in front of President Hu Jintao and Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

By the time it was over, after the shouting died down, a security guard stood there with one sleeve missing from his jacket. And a female reporter sported a fat lip.

Unless you are an avid reader of Spanish-language media (click here and here), you haven’t read about this elsewhere. No mention of the incident was made in the Chinese press. But I venture to say such events can play a role in diplomatic affairs, at least at lower levels in the respective foreign ministries.

This is what happened: The traveling Mexican press corps was invited into the Great Hall of the People Friday for the beginning of a meeting between Hu and Calderon. As is customary before such encounters, the Chinese Foreign Ministry informed the Mexicans of the protocol. The press corps would be invited in only for the first five minutes or so of the meeting for what is vernacularly known as a “photo op,” then ushered out.

But Los Pinos, as the Mexican presidential palace is known, apparently didn’t tell the Mexican press corps that it wouldn’t be allowed to witness the whole meeting.

When Chinese security guards began trying to usher the 20 or so Mexican reporters, photographers and television cameramen out of the salon, they resisted – mightily. The two sides began grappling, pushing and even tussling in front of the leaders.

According to the Spanish language report from the EFE news service, “the altercation made President Hu arch his eyebrows in a clear gesture of disgust, while functionaries of the Chinese foreign ministry felt clear irritation at a type of behavior seen as ‘not very polite’ in this Asian nation.”   

The security guards finally pushed and shoved the journalists out of the room, but not before a reporter tore the sleeve off one guard’s jacket. The injured Mexican reporter took a hit by a tape recorder on her mouth.

So I guess the hot-blooded Mexican journalists left their mark on China.

Here are a couple more experiences of readers on the visa situation for entering China. Read the July 4 posting below for background on the subject, and also last Friday's post.

Brian (I’m not certain his nationality) reported no problems:

Regarding your recent visa post, I've just gone through the process of getting a Z visa without any notable trouble. I work for a small European consultancy in Beijing, am 24, and have what the visa regulations would generally consider inadequate experience for a Z visa. That is, my employer was concerned that my age would pose a big problem in getting the right pieces of paperwork for the visa application (work permit and letter of invitation from MOFCOM) because they had been spooked by a supposed "25 or higher, 2-3 years minimum of relevant experience" rule, but that apparently was not enforced (or 
real?). I'll be re-entering shortly.

Tyler reported a quite different situation:

I am an American living and not yet working in Shanghai on a multiple entry tourist visa good for one year. I obtained the visa in March, about 3 weeks before the regulations were changed.

When I applied, I left about 1/2 of the visa application form blank, as I either didn't yet have the pertinent information, or was too lazy to look it up. I also wrote a letter detailing why I needed a one year multi-entry visa (interest in Chinese culture and language, etc.). A friend dropped the application off at the Chinese consulate in Chicago, and 3 days later I had my visa.

My first 90 entry period concluded this week, and so I made the trip down to HK for 2 days, and re-entered. I had heard some anecdotal evidence that suggesting my visa might be shortened or even canceled upon re-entry, so I was a bit nervous, but my fears turned out to be unfounded as I made it through immigration in Shenzhen in about 30 seconds.

Since the visa regulations have changed, I have had 3 friends come over from the states to visit, and all of them had to provide detailed flight and travel plans in order to obtain their visas. As they were staying in my apartment, they had to also provide my and my brother's (the renter) names, along with our contact information in China.

Most recently I had a younger cousin visit for a few weeks who is still a minor. He and his parents made a total of 3 unsuccessful trips to the consulate in Chicago as they were unaware of the detailed information they needed to provide. Additionally, due to our cousin's age, my brother had to fax a copy of our lease and his employment and visa info to the consulate in Chicago.

So while Andrew, his friends, and I seem to have lucked out, everybody else I know has found the visa process to be much more difficult and trying than in the past (before April). I was, however, very surprised that Andrew's friends were able to obtain 6-month and 1-year multiple entry visas recently, as I have some acquaintances here in Shanghai who applied for the one year multiple entry visa but were only given single entry 30-day visas. Everything I have read up to this point (I have been closely following media reports regarding the visa issues) indicates that tourists are only being issued new 30-day visas.

I was preparing a breakfast sandwich for my daughter this morning, and she said, “Look, Dad, I can hold it with one hand!”

Sure enough, the sandwich which she generally has needed two hands to eat can now be held easily in one hand.

I looked down at the loaf of bread and realized it is about two thirds the size it was last month. Then it clicked: All kinds of edible goods are shrinking in China these days. The rice crackers I like to nibble on at the office are in the same sized package as always, but the crackers themselves have shrunk dramatically.

Annual inflation officially ran at 8.5 percent in April and 7.7 percent in May, and the government is doing all it can to rein it in. If I remember correctly, Premier Wen Jiabao said in March the government would pull inflation down to 4 or 4.5 percent for the year.

So the pressure is on to keep prices steady. That means most Beijing residents who go out to eat much have noticed things like shrinking portions at restaurants. Soups are more watery. And at the grocery store, there are no ads for “Bigger! Better! Improved!” Rather, goods are getting smaller.

//////

I got an email yesterday from an American reader, Andrew, who read my blog posting about visa issues for foreigners and had quite a different experience. Here’s part of his email to me:

While visas have undoubtedly become harder to come by, I'm starting to think that the reality is quite different then the picture that is being painted in the media, which in turn has scared a lot of people away from even attempting to get visas.

The reason I say this is that in the past two weeks or so myself and three other acquaintances have all had absolutely no problem getting visas, despite all the articles I've read on how difficult it has become to get a visa.

In fairness all four of us are Americans but considering how easy it was for everybody it seems like this has been blown out of proportion.

Although unable to renew my visa in Shanghai, where I live, I was able to fly down to HK and get a visa without a problem and it seemed that lots of other folks weren't having any problems either.  The three other acquaintances, all got 6 month or 1 year multiple entry tourist visas in the US.

I realize this is a different angle, but might be worth exploring a little as it seems that actually getting a visa is not as big a problem as it is being made out to be.  Of course 4 Americans getting visas in HK, NYC, and LA would barely even qualify as anecdotal evidence but considering the ease with which all of us got our visas, seems like there was something to it more than luck.

Can anybody out there corroborate that getting a visa isn't so hard as it's been portrayed in the media? Also I'd like to hear if anybody who has obtained Olympics tickets is having problems getting a visa.

Meet Alex Puskitas, a fictional underdog athlete created by the International Olympic Committee to emphasize the Olympic spirit as part of its “Best of Us” campaign.

You’ll enjoy the video. Puskitas, who must be from Wrestle-istan, or perhaps Half-Nelsonistan, winds up at nearly every venue of these Olympic Games.

Click here to see what the IOC says about its “Best of Us” campaign. Another video from the campaign is below.

One of the circumlocutions that one hears regularly in China is that some event or other has “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.”

It implies that somehow the Chinese nation is unified in its outlook and reaction, and prone to the same emotional reaction. We all know that this is a generalization. As time passes, Chinese are ever-more diverse in their opinions, and free to speak them.

So the circumlocution is used by anyone – often, but not always, within the government – to suggest that a preferred point of view has massive support.

This comes to mind with a story in the China Daily this morning about London Metropolitan University apparently apologizing for bestowing an honorary doctorate on the Dalai Lama in May for his role in “promoting peace globally.”

“Angered and offended by the move, Chinese students and Internet users at home and abroad called for a boycott the university, saying its conferment of honors on the Dalai Lama had hurt the feelings of the Chinese people,” the China Daily story said.

Hmm. I would guess most Chinese didn’t even know about this. I sure didn’t and it’s my job to read the papers. I guess people can have their feelings hurt without even knowing what caused them to be hurt.

In fact, a quick search through Nexis with the phrase “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people” came up with 88 hits over the past three months. That’s a lot of hurt feelings. Granted, the trouble-plagued Olympic torch relay gave Chinese much to be angry about. But it seems to me that there are hurt feelings over something or other just about every week.

April 13 – A Xinhua commentary calling U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “disgusting figure” said she had conflated the Tibet issue with the Olympics and “seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.”

April 15 – After the U.S. House passed a resolution on Tibet, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: "We demand those few senators respect the facts, abandon prejudice and immediately stop wrongful remarks and deeds that hurt the feelings of Chinese people and harm China-US relations."

April 16 – Chinese embassy spokesman Tian Yuzhen in Ottawa warned MPs to “refrain from doing things that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and undermine bilateral relations.”

April 20 or so – The French retailer issues a statement denying it had links to Tibetan separatists and saying it would “never do anything to hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.”

April 25 – President Hu Jintao told French envoys that disruptions in the torch relay “are not what we want to see, and have hurt the feelings of the Chinese people."

April 25 – NPC Chairman Wu Bangguo tells visiting French envoys that events during the torch relay “has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and is something we do not wish to see.”

May 24 – Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang lambasted a trip to Britain by the Dalai Lama and said it “not only interferes in China's internal affairs but also seriously hurts the feelings of the Chinese people.”

June 4 – Actress Sharon Stone, who defended the Dalai Lama while at the Cannes film festival, was disinvited to the Shanghai film festival. A spokeswoman said “she hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.” 

It’s time to give this cliché a rest. Otherwise, my feelings will be hurt.

I’ve quoted before from the often-amusing weekly newsletter of the Access Asia people in Shanghai. They write with attitude, which leavens the sometimes dull market research topics that are their bread and butter.

And I will quote against, because this time the topic is of great consequence. That is, the continuing fallout of China’s crackdown on visas for foreigners.

This is beginning to pinch. Imagine what will happen if China loses a significant share of the toy trade to neighboring countries because foreign quality assurance managers couldn’t get into Chinese factories right now, in July, to assure delivery by October and sales by December.

I appeal to anyone with first-hand information about this to get in touch with me because I plan to write a news article if the facts warrant.

Here are excerpts from Access Asia’s take:

The China visa issue is now becoming more unpleasant than a stroll on a Qingdao beach (who said it wouldn't be a 'Green Olympics'?). We're not that bothered about the clear out of wannabe freelance hacks dodging tax, or the legion of Eurotrash and American trustafarians who've been slumming it in Shanghai and Beijing for years on dad's money…

The real adverse effects of the visa crackdown will be felt and suffered by Chinese people and businesses. Consider the following problems we've encountered in the last couple of weeks:

A number of brands manufacturing in China need to place Xmas orders. They have policies that independent factory inspections must occur to ensure working conditions, etc., as part of their CSR. They don't use local inspectors given the problems with those and formula box ticking scams. However, their inspectors cannot get a visa, and so cannot approve the factory and so the contract cannot be awarded. While Beijing may think the Olympics is worth all this, the fact is that the West cannot move Xmas to late February. Even if (and there are no guarantees) things return to normal in September, it will be too late for these firms who need to get gear on boats in October for the holidays. Now many are scrambling to find capacity in Vietnam, Bangladesh, etc., while any number of Chinese garment manufacturers (two thirds of whom operate on margins of less than 1.5% already) will go under.

A number of companies with production runs already underway are having to stall or delay work as they cannot get visas for their Quality Assurance (QA) staff to enter China. Few are willing to let 500,000 leather jackets be produced without getting someone to do some QA, so delays are occurring, meaning factories will get paid late or have orders cancelled. In Hong Kong last week, Access Asia was offered US$1,000 for every referral of a qualified, experienced China-based QA person we could find as desperation sets in.
….
A major fall out will be that people who have talked about moving production to other countries for some time are now actually having to do it to meet deadlines. Smart manufacturers in those countries are offering keen prices and will go all out to do a good job - they know this is their moment in the sun, and a chance to win serious business away from China. For many brands (once they have made the move, and if a good job is done) the inclination will be not to bother to go through the process of moving production back to China all over again. Whether China wins the Olympics or not, the long lasting fall out from these silly Games will be serious and terminal for a lot of business people as a significant percentage of business moves elsewhere and doesn't come back once the Olympics are over.

The fact is that many good manufacturers have survived and absorbed energy costs, rising transport costs, high input and commodity costs, soaring freight costs, rising wage bills and new labour laws (not to mention tough western companies looking for cheap, cheap prices). But they may not be able to survive the actions of the visa issuing department. Stupid and sad.

Caress with one hand, squeeze with the other.

That traditional Chinese tactic is in full bloom on the human rights front in the run-up to the Olympic Games in August.

The latest news is the sudden parole of Jude Shao, a naturalized U.S. citizen and Stanford Graduate School of Business alum who had served more than 10 years of a 16-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion. His trial was widely seen, including among Peking University law professors, as irregular.

Shao, 45, walked out of  Shanghai’s Qingpu Prison yesterday. The release came a day after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left China. The Bush administration had taken up Shao’s case consistently, and Ambassador Clark Randt occasionally spoke of visiting Shao in prison.

Click here for the Los Angeles Times story on Shao’s release. The Dui Hua Foundation in San Francisco also lauded the parole:

"Jude Shao's release reflects the hard work over many years of his Stanford Business School classmates (www.freejudeshao.com) and the US government—in particular President Bush, who repeatedly raised his case with Chinese President Hu Jintao, and American diplomats, who visited Jude more than 100 times during his incarceration. His parole comes days after Secretary Condoleezza Rice's visit to Beijing and six weeks after the resumption of the US-China dialogue on human rights," noted John Kamm, Dui Hua's founder …

Now for the squeeze: Security agents rounded up several human rights advocates over the weekend who were to meet with Reps. Frank Wolf and Chris Smith, both Republicans, during a brief visit to Beijing. Colleagues at the New York Times and Washington Post wrote about it.

Mongolia declared a four-day state of emergency and nightly curfew a few hours ago in the wake of violent street protests.

Protesters torched the headquarters of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mongolia as a Soviet satellite for decades. The MPRP claimed to have won June 29th elections, a claim that angered supporters of Mongolia’s Democratic Party.

I haven’t reported from Mongolia before but as best as I understand it, the disputes revolve around charges of electoral fraud and who gets the profits from gold, copper, zinc and other minerals in Mongolia in abundance.

Reuters notes here that international election observers said the vote was fair.

It adds: “A prolonged dispute about the election results could further delay the ratification of long-awaited agreements that would allow a massive copper and gold mining project to go ahead. The revenue from it could transform the country.”

To read more, click here and here. The latter link is to an Australian Broadcasting Corp. story from a reporter on the ground ini Ulan Baatar. That story includes this sentence: "Demonstrators say they want democracy and allege the ruling MPRP receives donations from China and Russia in return for access to the country's resources, while most of Mongolia's people remain poor."

Update: This AFP story says Mongolian state television reporting that four people were killed and 400 policemen injured in the clashes overnight. A separate daily analysis of geopolitical events I receive, called Nightwatch, cites a BBC report noting that mineral exports have made some Mongolians rich. "The BBC account concluded with the observation that, 'Despite years of political unease, politics in Mongolia was relatively calm as long as the country was poor…. But that has changed, as recently unearthed deposits of copper, gold and coal in the vast Mongolian plateau start to be exploited.'"