Police say the majority of cars illegally used as taxis were found touting for business in front of transportation hubs like subway and train stations. These types of illegal taxis are often referred to as “black taxis” in China.

Half of the offenders are said to have complied with their punishments, which include fines ranging up to RMB 30,000 (around $3,500) and license suspensions of up to three months.

But Shanghai commuters aren’t just facing a shortage of illegal taxis now, but regular taxis as well. Earlier this month, Shanghai announced a trial program that would welcome back retired taxi drivers as a way to alleviate the city’s lack of taxis. Under the plan, licensed and registered taxi drivers over the age of retirement could work an additional five years driving a taxi.

According to urban transportation administrative department deputy director Ma Fei, about 3,000 of Shanghai’s 50,000 licensed taxis are not being used.

The lack of taxis, both legal and illegal, comes at a time when rival companies are implementing extreme measures to win China’s nascent ride-sharing market.

Popular ride-sharing service Uber has admitted it is running a deficit of over $1 billion to compete against its well-funded and connected Chinese rival, Didi Kuaidi. Shanghai Uber drivers have said they are receiving subsidies of as much as 130 percent, signifying that they are making as much as twice the fare of their passengers.

Uber’s ambitious plans will see it expand service to 100 Chinese cities this year.

The post 1,100 Black Cabs Taken Off Shanghai Streets appeared first on The Nanfang.

China is beefing up its defenses against foreign espionage, and they’re hoping to raise public awareness of this danger to national security with its first-ever National Security Education Day held last week.

As reported by China Law Translate, one of the propaganda materials released was called “Dangerous Love” that was seen in residential areas of Xicheng, Beijing.

The 16-panel cartoon follows the story of Xiaoli, a Chinese woman who works in an information department of the country’s civil service. Xiaoli is wooed by a foreigner named David who eventually convinces Xiaoli to hand over sensitive material. Police eventually confront Xiaoli with the revelation that David is in fact a spy, and that she herself is guilty of violating Chinese law regarding state secrets.

As with a number of recent Chinese propaganda releases, “Dangerous Love” uses cartoons as a way to make its content and intentions very clear to its readers.

As translated by China Law Translate, here’s the entire poster campaign:

(as seen above)
XIAOLI’s FRIEND: A foreign friend has organized a gathering tonight… You’re always trying to increase your foreign language level, why don’t you go with me?
XIAOLI: Sure.

DAVID: My name is David and I’m a visiting scholar researching issues about China. I’m really interested in chatting with all of you.

DAVID: Everybody please introduce yourself and say a little something about your work. Let’s start with this pretty lady.
XIAOLI: Oh, OK!

XIAOLI: I’m Xiao Li, I just tested into the civil service after graduating college and work in a foreign publicity (propaganda) department.
DAVID: OK

After that party, David began to meet with Xiao Li often and gave her gifts.
DAVID: You’re pretty, warm, and exceptional. To tell you the truth, I fell for you the first time I saw you.

XIAOLI (thinking to herself): Having a handsome, romantic and talented foreign boyfriend is pretty good!

The two begin a romantic involvement.
DAVID: My dear, what exactly do you do at your work?
XIAO LI: I write internal references as a basis for central policies.

DAVID: Great! Lend me those internal references so I can take a look. This will really help me write academic articles.
XIAO LI: I can’t, we have a confidentiality system.

DAVID: Dear, do you still need to keep secrets from me? I’m just taking a look to use in academic articles.
XIAO LI: Uhh, OK then.

XIAO LI: This is a copy I made, give it back as soon as you’re done.
DAVID: Don’t worry, sweetheart.

XIAOLI: What happened? David hasn’t called me recently, and his phone is always off.

OFFICER: Are you Xiao Li? We’re from the State Administration of National Security. Please come with us.
XIAO LI: What? What’s going on?

OFFICER: David is an overseas spy in China to steal political and military information, and we have already captured him. Did you provide him with these ‘internal references?’
XIAO LI: What?

XIAO LI: I didn’t know he was a spy, he used me!
OFFICER: You show a for a State employee. You are suspected of violating our nation’s law.

A warning from the National Security Organs. According to Chapter 1 on crimes endangering national security, article 111 of the Criminal Law of the P.R.C., whoever steals, secretly gathers, purchases, or illegally provides state secrets or intelligence for an organization, institution, or personnel outside the country is to be sentenced to not less than five years and not more than 10 years of fixed-term imprisonment; when circumstances are particularly serious, he is to be sentenced to not less than 10 years of fixed-term imprisonment, or a life sentence; and when circumstances are relatively minor, he is to be sentenced to not more than five years of fixed-term imprisonment, criminal detention, control, or deprivation of political rights.

Article 27 of Chapter IV of the Counter-Espionage Law provides that: where extraterritorial institutions, organizations or individuals carry out, or instigate or financially support others in carrying out espionage activities, or where an institution, organization or individual within the territory linked to a foreign institution, organization or individual conducts espionage activities, and it constitutes a crime, it is pursued for criminal responsibility in accordance with law.

National Security Education Day also saw the following video made by the national PSB in Beijing. The video is in the style of a cartoon that uses depictions of James Bond and Ethan Hunt from Mission: Impossible to illustrate what is and isn’t a spy (no English subtitles).

The post Propaganda Cartoon Warns Chinese of the Dangers of Dating Foreigners appeared first on The Nanfang.

Shanghai police say they have arrested three ringleaders of the gang. One of the suspects confessed to police that he pretended to be a senior Disney executive.

A taxi driver named Li said he quit his job and paid 13,000 yuan to the fake agency, only to discover the management position that was being offered actually turned out to be a job for a cleaning position.

The June 16 opening of Shanghai Disneyland has been met with a lot of anticipation in China. Online ticket sales has been huge, while some Chinese think they are too expensive. The Disneyland opening is expected to bring an economic boom to the area, and has already attracted retailers like LEGO to open stores in the area. Meanwhile, Disney has opened its own flagship retail store the year before.

The post Fake Disneyland Recruitment Scam Targeted Hopeful Employees appeared first on The Nanfang.

Beijing police detained 12 people on suspicion of scalping the hard-to-find tickets required to book an appointment with a doctor. In the video, the woman also accused the hospital of colluding with the scalpers.

Seven suspects were arrested at the Guang’anmen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, where the woman failed to get an appointment. Another five suspects were arrested at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Xuanwu Hospital. Four of the suspects were later released.

The Guang’anmen hospital had previously denied the woman’s claims, saying that no scalpers existed at the hospital.

The woman alleges scalpers scooped up all of the available tickets and sold them to hospital patients. Originally priced at 300 yuan, the scalpers sold the booking tickets for 4,500 yuan ($684).

Eyewitness Wu Lin said the woman’s ordeal began when a scalper jumped the queue ahead of her after she stood in line all night. When she tried to take his picture on her phone, he threw it to the ground and threatened her: “Believe me, I will beat you.”

When she was later rejected for an appointment, and saw a person behind her successfully get an appointment, the woman lost her temper and ranted for several minutes.

Wu confirmed the woman’s claim that scalpers worked around the hospital: “Scalpers always come to the hospital … their faces are very familiar,” adding that “sometimes I’d go to the hospital at 4am, but scalpers were already waiting there and asking me whether I wanted an appointment number to see a specialist that day.”

Despite efforts to modernize hospitals with online registration, scalpers at Chinese hospitals remain a problem. In 2012, hospitals in Shenzhen admitted that scalping was getting out of control.

“We tried to crack down on scalpers with police, but police can do nothing (serious), so scalpers are released very soon after detainment and simply return to the hospitals,” said Lin Chuan, administration director for Shenzhen Maternity and Children Healthcare Hospital. “Once, scalpers even beat up several security guards for helping police catch them. The head of the security guards often receive threatening phone calls from scalpers.”

“I have worked at the hospital for eight years and have implemented at least 20 regulations to prevent scalpers, but we still can’t stop them,” Li said. “We also have banned our staff from allowing people to jump lines, and frequently changed the positions of security guards to prevent corruption, but it doesn’t work.”

The post Scalpers Hoarding Tickets to See Doctors Arrested In Beijing appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Hongkou District People’s Court convicted four people involved in the scam, sentencing them to prison terms of between 18 and 42 months and fines between RMB 3,000 and 7,000.

The owner, Xue, used women to lure foreign customers to the teahouse, and then threatened them with violence unless they agreed to pay exorbitant bar tabs.

Last April, Xue opened the unnamed teahouse on Shanghai’s Daming Road. He employed a woman, Zhong, to lure foreign men into the teahouse and serve them, while two men, Zhang and Gao, physically bullied the customers into paying the grossly inflated bar tabs.

The first foreigner that fell for the scam occurred the day after the teahouse opened. A Dutch citizen, identified only as “L”, was lured to the teahouse by Zhong late in the evening. As soon as he sat down, Zhong sent two female escorts to accompany him into a private room. After L drank four cans of Tsingtao beer, Xue took Zhang and Gao to confront L. The trio forced L to pay a RMB 30,000 bill for numerous incidentals including a “private room fee”.

Despite his protests, L eventually paid Xue RMB 32,960 (over $5,000).

A German national, referred to as “R”, suffered a similar fate. Xue and his cronies forced R to pay RMB 6,000 for the pleasure of drinking three cans of Tsingtao. Later that evening, an American identified as “D”, was forced to pay RMB 6,000 for a beer, two colas, and two mixed drinks. This time, the police were notified and caught Xue and his henchmen in the act.

Police were alerted to Xue’s bar after being tipped-off by a member of the public. Police have warned foreigners to take precautions before walking into strange teahouses, certainly good advice for anyone to follow.

The post Shanghai Teahouse Targeted Foreigners in Extortion Scam appeared first on The Nanfang.

The phenomenon of people appearing to be victims on the street, only to accuse those trying to help them in fraudulent claims, has been an ongoing topic in Chinese society. After several high profile cases, now many Chinese people stay away even if somebody appears to be in distress for fear of being taken advantage of.

But when the fallen victim turns out to be a non-Chinese person, the rules suddenly change. Instead of rushing to turn the other way, Chinese are seen rushing to help. That’s what happened in a widely-reported incident that took place on the Beijing Metro, which triggered some soul searching in China about why they are willing to help foreigners but not Chinese people.

An unidentified expat in his 50s unexpectedly collapsed at Taiyanggong Station on Line 10 yesterday, right after the morning rush hour. Numerous Chinese commuters are seen immediately coming to the aid of the fallen victim in photos published online.

One woman is seen reporting the incident to emergency services, and is seen comforting the victim with a cup of water, another man offered his winter jacket to cover the prone man, and a middle-aged woman is seen using her knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to massage acupuncture points in his arms to improve his circulation.

Sheng Zhaorui, the station manager on duty, was especially impressed with the use of TCM. Sheng had arrived soon after the foreigner had collapsed, noting how cold his hands were as he tried to help him get up. “As I watched (the auntie do the acupuncture massage), I didn’t think that after a few minutes his cold hands would immediately warm up,” said Sheng.

Emergency services are said to have arrived within five minutes of the incident first happening, and the man was sent to the Sino-Japan Friendship Hospital just ten minutes later.

Soul searching and double standards

While it seems like the man will recover, it seems like China at large has been more banged up over the whole affair. The attention the foreigner received, both from bystanders and the media, has prompted wide-scale soul searching over why Chinese people don’t trust each other but have no qualms towards rushing to help a stranger from another land.

The Global Times wrote this as their introduction to the story:

If (a Chinese person) were to fall down on the street, other (Chinese) pedestrians are likely to try to avoid the situation for fear of getting scammed, a common thing ever since defrauders and “broken vase” tricksters have corrupted the current way of doing things in Chinese society. However, when a foreigner on the Beijing Metro recently fell down when he wasn’t careful, the public acted completely out of character and did things they don’t normally do. Rather, they competed with each other to be the first to help this person (instead of running away). What does this prove? Does this mean that foreigners are incapable of extortion (in China)? Are foreigners simply more honest than Chinese?

By just falling down in a public place, this expat had inadvertently exposed a double standard that many Chinese are loathe to admit.

Chinese netizens pointed out they live in a society where civility is constantly at odds with opportunism. One person wrote, “If it was an average person like an old auntie (who fell down), who would dare help her up? China doesn’t lack good-hearted people, but instead victims who have a proper sense of the difference between right and wrong.” Meanwhile, another person admitted, “We’re all willing to help out and extend a hand. It’s just that we won’t do it in China.”

Others were appalled at the double standard on display. One person wrote, “So, if it was a Chinese person that was being helped up, then that wouldn’t be news?” Another was upset that this story received such wide news coverage, saying, “Previously when taking the subway, a middle-aged man fainted, to which a bunch of people went to see if he was alright. So please, don’t write ‘foreign man’, ‘all striving to be the first to help him up’ just to attract attention and get clicks! This is in fact a normal occurrence, but when reported by the media, the message gets twisted around!!!”

But it wasn’t all outrage as some people took time to enjoy the humor of the situation. One person said, “Perhaps most Chinese would look at this situation and go, ‘Finally! A chance to put my years of studying English to use: Hello, how are you? I’m fine, thank you!” while another joked, “Relax, no need to worry. It (the laowai) is imported.”

And to answer the question posed by the Global Times, the netizen who wrote a top-rated comment said, “Chinese people are all thinking the same thing: This laowai won’t possibly scam me.”

Prior precedents

Many Chinese refer to a famous Nanjing case as the prime example for why you can’t help out other people in China. In the 2006 case, a man named Peng Yu was convicted of pushing an elderly woman down after he went to help her up. However, the irony of citing this case as a precedent has become clear ever since Peng has since admitted to his guilt.

In the opposite direction, the apathy to which Chinese will extend towards each other came to its lowest point in 2011 with the Wang Yue incident. Some eighteen pedestrians walked around the toddler’s prone body after she was run over by a car instead of offering help or alerting police, leaving her to die.

Related:

• With nobody offering help, passed out woman dies amid crowds at Shenzhen subway station
• 81 year-old woman knocked down in Guangzhou, bystanders ignore her
• Fight over subway seat in Guangzhou leads to bloodshed, passengers just watch
• With nobody offering help, passed out woman dies amid crowds at Shenzhen subway station

The post Chinese Rushing to Help Fallen Foreigner Sparks National Soul Searching appeared first on The Nanfang.

“Hyatt encourages customers to review their payment card account statements closely and to report any unauthorized charges to their card issuer immediately,” said Lillian Zhang, director of corporate communications at Hyatt Group China. Despite the announcement, Hyatt customers were reassured that everything was business as usual at the hotel franchise: “We have taken steps to strengthen the security of our systems, and customers can feel confident using payment cards at Hyatt hotels worldwide,” said Hyatt global president of operations Chuck Floyd in a statement.

Credit cards suspected of being compromised were used at Hyatt-managed locations, particularly restaurants, between August 13 and December 8. Another small percentage of questionable transactions occurred at Hyatt spas, golf shops, parking services, and at a limited number of front desks on or shortly after July 30.

Hyatt said the malware was first detected on the company’s computer systems on November 30, but the issue was not publicized until December 23. The malware was designed to collect payment card data, such as cardholder names, card numbers, expiration dates, and internal verification codes from cards used at Hyatt locations. At the time, the hotel wasn’t sure how much customer data had been stolen, how long the malware had been present on the system, or how many of the company’s 627 properties in 52 countries may have been affected.

Last year, a number of hotel chains fell victim to credit card security breaches including the Trump Hotel Collection, Hilton Worldwide, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. “Hotel chains are prime targets for hackers since they store and process a treasure trove of sensitive customer data,” said IDT911 chairman and founder, Adam Levin. “Consumers should immediately check their accounts for any suspicious activity and sign up with their bank, credit union, or credit card company for transactional monitoring so that they are notified any time there is activity in their credit or bank accounts.”

The post If You Stayed at a Hyatt in China, Better Check Your Credit Card Statement appeared first on The Nanfang.

Film bureau head Zhang Hongsen said box office cheating twists the market and damages both the producers and cinemas, especially for producers since their profits rely heavily on the box office. Artificially inflated figures help attract larger audiences, act as leverage when courting investors for future projects and can even increase the stock prices of movie production companies.

Authorities have long since believed that inflated box office receipts are common in China, however suspicions were further raised upon review of the 2015 box office numbers. Over the course of last year, Chinese films took in 44 billion yuan ($6.7 billion), an astonishing 49 percent increase from the year before.

Guangzhou Daily reported last October that producers for the Chinese hit film, Lost in Hong Kong, held “phantom screenings” late at night in which no audience members were present as a way to increase the film’s box office. Reports also claim that Edko Film, producer of Monster Hunt, China’s highest grossing domestic film of all-time, scheduled screenings of the movie some 15 minutes apart in theaters it owned or had a stake in as a way to artificially inflate the movie’s earnings. This helped the film push its earning ahead of Hollywood blockbuster, Furious 7.

The Hollywood Reporter has alleged that Communist Party officials were responsible for artificially inflating the box office last month for the nationalist film, The Hundred Regiments Offensive, at the expense of Hollywood blockbuster Terminator: Genysis, which is said to have lost around $11 million as a result.

Perhaps most damning, an Enlight Pictures executive was reported by China Daily to have posted on Weibo that it was not to blame for box office tampering, because everyone was doing it. The post has since been deleted.

The post China Artificially Inflating Box Office Figures, But Vows a Crackdown appeared first on The Nanfang.

Chinese flyer Fu Jingnan got stuck at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Thursday when he was refused a boarding pass. Fu discovered his ticket was illegally purchased with mileage points, and was issued another ticket after contacting Ctrip. However, even this ticket was rejected by the airport on the same grounds.

Again Ctrip apologized to Fu, and flew him home on a brand new ticket. Ctrip has since said it will offer triple compensation in addition to a full refund to any customers who fall prey to the scheme. The company has also promised to increase the supervision of its agents to prevent future issues.

“I felt humiliated after being investigated for three hours at the Japanese airport and was almost detained,” said Fu. “I want Ctrip to apologize and remove the negative records created by the airport and airlines.”

Last Saturday, Li Miao dealt with a similar issue after purchasing return tickets from Beijing to Sapporo, Japan from Ctrip only to find his tickets were invalid. “Air China said they could not find the ticket numbers in their system. That means (the airlines) did not sell the tickets,” Li said on a WeChat post which was read over 100,000 times yesterday.

The couple was forced to purchase a new pair of tickets. When Li contacted Ctrip he was told that “a ticket agent had forgotten to issue tickets to the customers after receiving the payment.”

China has experienced a travel boom in recent years that saw tourists take over 100 million trips abroad last year. Likewise, the increase in ticket sales has coincided with an increase in the number of Chinese airlines offering mileage points. Despite the stipulation by Chinese airlines that mileage points are non-transferable, exchanges are publicly offered on online vendor sites such as Taobao where, for example, customers can buy 10,000 mileage points for 600 yuan.

Citing excessive customer complaints, last week Air China and China Eastern joined a growing list of Chinese airlines refusing to sell tickets on Qunar, China’s number two online travel retailer that is both a rival and partner to Ctrip through a shares swap.

The post Beware of Ctrip: Company Accused of Fraud After Customers Stranded Abroad appeared first on The Nanfang.

“My mother was stranded in Rome,” said one victim named Rose. “We had to pay thousands of dollars to get her back home to the United States.”

People interviewed asked not to be identified by their full names.

The person accused of the scam, Cansu Uzcan (also known as Jansu Uzcan), is attending Shenzhen University and allegedly used a stolen credit card to purchase flights while selling the flights to Shenzhen expats at discounted rates. Victims deposited cash into Chinese bank accounts under Uzcan’s name or the name of her boyfriend, Sean Champion.

Some of the people Uzcan approached were cautious initially, but after booking the flights through Uzcan, United Airlines emailed the victims directly to confirm the flights. Some were even able to apply the flights to their United Airlines Mileage accounts. After several people successfully completed flights booked through Uzcan, the number of expats purchasing discounted flights through her grew quickly.

But on September 2 people noticed that their flights were being canceled by United Airlines.

Some who were halfway through their trips were told by United Airlines that they had to pay for the full cost of their flight – often double or triple the amount of money they paid Uzcan – in order to return home.

Some travelers arrived at the airport before finding out their flight had already been canceled. “I was told I would have to pay over $3,000 to take my flight,” Seth said. “I only paid $500 for it in the first place.”

At least two dozen people contacted Uzcan through WeChat and email to find out what happened. At first, she said that United’s system had been hacked and she returned some of the money, according to the victims.

Sean Champion, Uzcan’s boyfriend and partner in crime, from his Facebook page.

By the end of September, she began blocking the WeChat accounts of people who had booked flights through her.

United Airlines has since started contacting people who completed flights or attached their United Airline Mileage accounts to flights that weren’t taken. According to letters from United Airlines sent to the victims, the people who booked flights through Uzcan violated the airlines terms of service because Uzcan was using a stolen credit card to book the flights.

United Airlines said the victims are liable for flights they took because United was never paid for the flights by the credit card company. United Airlines has also nullified all the mileage accounts connected with the scam.

“I lost over 100,000 miles I had saved,” another victim named Ariyana said. “United Airlines is saying that I owe them thousands of dollars. The stress has been unimaginable. I had to hire a lawyer. I don’t know when I’ll be able to recover financially. I won’t be able to go home for Christmas this year.”

“United Airlines has been terrible to all of us,” Rose continued. “They are treating us like criminals.”

“United Airlines allowed this apparently fraudulent card to be used for months but are now blaming us for their lack of oversight and responsibility,” said a victim named Jayton.

Several of the fraud victims have reached out to law enforcement officers in China, the U.S. and Canada. While all three countries are investigating the case, they claim there is little they can do. “Most of the transactions were conducted through WeChat,” a Canadian police officer said. “Anyone could have been behind the screen.”

Many people have asked how this could happen. How could so many expats be convinced to deposit their money into someone else’s bank account so easily?

The expat community is small. Even though there are thousands of expats in Shenzhen alone, we are all connected. Everyone knows everyone else through someone. We are all also very Internet savvy and keep in touch with each other. Many times, we feel we are “in this together.” Living overseas is not easy, so we are always trying to help each other. Giving each other tips and tricks to make life easier and save money is extremely common.

When Cansu said she could help fellow expats save money through booking flights, we believed her. She is also very well-known. Many expats vouched for her because they know her through Shenzhen University. I actually met her several months before when she organized an event as part of the International Cultural Industries Fair.

We didn’t have a reason not to trust her.

At least for me, I didn’t lose that much (about $500). I chalk it up to a learning experience. But some of the people I quoted in the article and many others lost a lot more money and are facing legal issues with United Airlines.

At this point, even if nothing legal can happen to Cansu Uzcan, United Airlines needs to stop treating the victims of her scam as criminals. She took advantage of the trust and community expats in Shenzhen have built, but United is continuing to ruin lives by re-victimizing the people Cansu took advantage of.

United Airlines needs to reinstate the mileage accounts of the victims at least – at most they need to refund the people who were swindled by Cansu Uzcan.

The post Dozens of Foreigners in Shenzhen Swindled in United Airlines Ticket Scam appeared first on The Nanfang.