As you may have discovered, when you leave something in a taxi in China, chances of ever seeing that item again are incredibly slim.

Earlier this year, literary wunderkind Han Han cited an example of a Taiwan taxi driver returning lost property to him to illustrate that Taiwanese were more generous than mainlanders. But there is evidence that Han Han was wrong.

A Yemeni businessman has had his luggage returned to him six days after leaving it in a taxi, Southern Metropolis Daily reports.

The Yemeni businessman came to Guangzhou October 16 to attend the Canton Fair. He left his luggage, which included his passport, US$5,000, his laptop, and files on his clients, in a taxi he took from Yuehua Road to the Garden Hotel.

Initially, he did not bother calling the police because he did not have any information about the taxi such as the driver’s name or the license plate number. However, his Chinese friend made a telephone call to Southern Metropolis Daily to see if the newspaper could help.

The issue ended up going all the way to the Director of the Guangzhou Traffic Committee who demanded that everything be done to help the “foreign guest.”

His subordinates took two days going through GPS data and eventually, six days after it was lost, the man’s luggage was discovered and returned intact. The Yemeni man expressed disbelief at what had been done for him. “It’s like a dream,” he said.

According to local television, taxi drivers are legally obliged to return lost items to passengers, but we know the law is treated more like a “flexible guideline”.