Juliana Lopez Sarrazola, a Columbian citizen, had travelled to Guangzhou on July 18 to participate in the Miss World Medellin beauty pageant. When she landed, she was arrested with 610 grams of cocaine hidden inside her laptop computer, say Chinese authorities.

Sarrazola, 23, had agreed to smuggle the drugs for a Colombian drug dealer named “Sergio” in order to earn money to attend the Miss World pageant, reported the Yangcheng Evening Report.

According to the paper, Sarrazola was paid $776 in cash and given free air tickets and hotel accommodation. She would have received another $2,500 if she successfully smuggled the drugs into the country.

Sarrazola’s lawyers had asked the court for leniency on the grounds that Sergio had threatened to kill her family if she refused to comply with his demands.

According to official figures, more than a hundred Colombians are currently being held in China, almost all due to drug-related issues.

The post Colombian Beauty Queen Gets 15 Years in Prison in China For Smuggling Drugs appeared first on The Nanfang.

In 2013, the British man, identified as “Kenny” in the Chinese media, struck a cyclist named Zhang on Jinhua Road in Shanghai. At the time, Kenny was driving his Chinese wife’s car, but did not possess a valid Chinese driver’s license. Zhang sustained brain injuries from the collision.

Zhang took her case against Kenny and his unidentified wife to the Pudong New Area People’s Court after he refused to compensate her for her injuries beyond an initial payment. Although the court awarded Zhang 750,000 yuan, Kenny and his wife disappeared having never paid her. Following an investigation, it was revealed that Kenny had quit his job as an engineer and fled to the UK, but not before he and his wife had moved out of their residence, and emptied their bank account.

However, Kenny’s wife remained in China and was quickly slapped with a travel ban, keeping her in the country. Should Kenny return to China, he too would be slapped with a ban preventing him from leaving.

Kenny wisely paid the court-ordered 750,000 yuan to Zhang. In another incident, Kenny is believed to have struck a cyclist while driving without a proper license, although no criminal charges were filed.

The post British Expat Finally Pays Compensation After Court Orders Travel Ban appeared first on The Nanfang.

Identified only as “Mike”, the man pled guilty in a Shanghai court. He said he sold cocaine at Shanghai bars and entertainment venues between November 2015 and January 2016.

Mike was stopped by Jing’an District police after “acting suspiciously” with two Chinese men on January 11 this year. When Mike was searched by police, they discovered 24 plastic bags containing a white powder later confirmed to be 25.73 grams of cocaine.

Mike entered China in Guangzhou in January 2014, and remained in the country illegally after his visa expired. The court explained that Mike received a more lenient sentence because he confessed to the crime.

The post Foreigner Gets 10 Years in Prison for Selling Drugs in Shanghai appeared first on The Nanfang.

One of the surprising things I discovered upon moving to China all those years ago was that illegal drugs are remarkably easy to come by.  One might assume that wouldn’t be the case in a pseudo-Communist country, yet the party scene introduced itself to me almost immediately and I saw that drugs among expats were no big deal. Perhaps it’s the chaos that comes with rapid economic expansion, but for whatever reason that’s the way it’s generally been.

Based upon my admittedly anecdotal evidence, among foreigners in big cities at least, it’s mostly a bit of MDMA at clubs and the usual marijuana hit if you are into that kind of thing. Not to mention, like almost everywhere else in the world, the main drug of choice is a certain legal narcotic which is definitely the most destructive of all: alcohol.

The Real Deal is a group of partygoers in Shenzhen who organize underground outdoor parties with electronic music – raves, if you will. I’ve been going to their parties for years. In fact, the big party that got raided was their 4th anniversary. They advertise openly, book famous Hong Kong DJs, and have been a fixture in the community for quite some time. It never felt subversive to enjoy their events. I appreciate the efforts of the organizers to create a fun place for people to listen to music and find something different to do in Shenzhen. Certainly beats overpriced drinks at pretentious nightclubs.

On the night of February 20th, I decided to go to the tunnel party with my girlfriend. It happened to be near the Ikea, walking distance from my home in the Baishizhou neighborhood. Several of my friends were there, and I expected we would all enjoy ourselves. My girlfriend and I arrived at about midnight, met up with some buddies, had some drinks, danced, and so on. I did note that the anniversary party was quite crowded. Still, it seemed legit to me.

Don’t get me wrong. The Real Deal organizers, from my understanding, just make deals with local security guards.  Being that it’s outdoors and unlicensed, it’s still pretty much a “rave,” isn’t it? Yet the worst that ever happened in the past is that there’d be noise complaints and some police would come to shut down the party. Normal risk, right? Or so one would think.

Without naming names, I did notice LSD and nitrous oxide around. (Are those chemicals even illegal in China?) Pills appeared to be harder to come by; ever since two unfortunate overdoses back in December most people had been avoiding that sort of thing. No, as usual, the normal culprit was the noticeable smell of marijuana.

I don’t know what made this time so special, why there had to be a crackdown that day. I have no doubt the police have known about these parties for years but never cared. Why now? Was it because of those two overdose deaths that they felt they needed to protect us from ourselves? Was it that the crowds were getting too big and China doesn’t like big, potentially protest-y, crowds? Was it, as currently noticeable from Beijing to Hong Kong, the general atmosphere of authoritarianism which has been growing of late under Xi Jinping…?

In any case, at about 3:45 a.m. a whole lot of shit went down. I remember it clearly because my girlfriend and I had previously discussed that we should leave at 3:30 in order to not to stay out too late. When the time came, she suggested we dance a little more, and I said okay. We tried really hard to not wallow over that decision after the shit went down.

It was totally surreal. I was sitting on a curb catching up with a few pals when I suddenly saw a few police officers run down the hill. I took my girlfriend’s arm and everybody walked away at a brisk pace. Then, the abrupt end to the music caused a weird shift in scenery. The silence came with a sense of panic, and everyone started dashing toward an exit. There was a serious danger of trampling at that point. My first thought was that people were overreacting and it couldn’t be such a big deal, but I soon noticed there was something different about the closure of this party.

We got to an exit and a line of riot police with shields and batons had completely blocked the way. I have never experienced anything like that before. I couldn’t even see behind me because of the crowds, but nobody could move and it must have been blocked on every side. A bilingual, senior looking cop started yelling in English and Mandarin. “Turn off your phones! Sit down! Stay still!” It was a very confusing moment.

The weirdest thing was not knowing what to do next. Although this was an extremely coordinated attack — Shenzhen Daily reported “the Nanshan District Public Security Sub-bureau confirmed the raids had happened and that they had been planned for ‘quite a bit of time.’” — all those hundreds of officers working through the night seemed to be out of their element. We sat around for about an hour. People stood up, and were told to sit down. There wasn’t much room to sit. I saw my friends in various piles, and we tried to keep each other’s spirits up.  I had my arm around my girlfriend. On another side, I saw some expat guys getting rowdy and then handcuffed.  I saw cops with streams of plastic cable tie handcuffs, yet thankfully they were never used. All in all, in retrospect, it was pretty peaceful. At the time there was just so much speculation; we didn’t know what was going to happen.

Finally, small groups were formed and were told to walk to the nearby parked police buses. We lined up and put our hands on each other’s shoulders like a cheesy conga line.  Mine was the second or third group and I was glad to get it over with. I wanted the next step to be done with already.

Once piled into the police bus, we were driven around for a while. I had no idea what kind of route they took, but I later learned that it wasn’t even that far; still walking-distance from my home. All different police stations in Nanshan District were working in tandem, and luckily the Taoyuan station was nearby. Along with my girlfriend, two other American friends also joined me in that police station. Along with about fifty people in total. I know that because we were given numbers drawn in sharpies on our hands. I was number 43, and I’ll never forget it.

I had to pee so badly! That was the most painful part of the process. There would be more urine-related activity to go around, and they gave us plenty of water. After things were eventually organized and settled down, the station waiting room was full of chairs and we weren’t allowed to leave. That’s when the real waiting began. The boredom was the absolute worst. No music or anything.

As the sun came up, one-by-one we had to take urine tests. I heard that women had to be watched by a female officer, which is rather humiliating. Men could turn their back while being watched, though I did notice the toilet had a camera positioned above.

Somehow, it occurred to me that it would be appropriate to joke as much as possible. What else could I do but try to laugh it off? I tried to make my friends laugh, and said ganbei! (“cheers”) to the cops as I held my own steaming cup of urine. That got some smiles. I asked if they had Wi-Fi, I declared that I would pee sitting down in solidarity with the women, I sang Taylor Swift songs, I told bad jokes about horses in bars with long faces, and I suggested that I ought to call the police after such treatment. Lastly, when they put the testing device in my cup I asked if it showed I’m pregnant. Get it?

Although I tried to be on everyone’s good side, deep down I felt a lot of animosity for being treated this way. Obviously, the police officers I met are only cogs in a greater machine. Yet they are willing cogs, and cannot approve. Early in the morning they brought some steamed buns for people to eat – struck me as a good cop/bad cop ploy – and I refused to eat any.

Actually, to be fair, our station wasn’t bad compared to what I heard about others. People were made to sit outside on the floor in the cold. Victims were told that the Chinese government has a right to detain anyone innocent for 24-hours without any arrest. Some weren’t allowed to talk. Many weren’t allowed to leave until many hours later than my group.

Of the four of us in my own personal set, only three were to leave that morning. Sadly, one of my friends, of the stoner sort, was sent somewhere else after the drug test. Briefly, I had witnessed some people in a cell in the back; sad scenes of men crying and couples cradling each other. It was very worrying that a friend could be hanging out with us one minute, and then taken somewhere else the next.

After all this grueling time, just before 10:00 a.m., they started letting people out. First a Spanish woman complained until they processed her information and she was allowed to leave. Then a Chinese woman left. I crossed the barricade a few times to complain and plead and just learn what the situation was. Turned out, when I didn’t give them my passport number before (I feigned that I had forgot), they wouldn’t let us leave until everyone gave their numbers so the authorities could check our visa status. Fine. I gave in and gave my number. Then waited another hour or two. How long could it take to look up? I had even crossed the border from Hong Kong the day before. What was the big holdup?

There was one drunk, half-passed out gentleman who couldn’t be bothered to give a real passport number. People were getting angrier and angrier, turning on each other. Interesting to see how easily sleep deprivation can affect people, and on the other side to see how freedom can have the opposite effect. At last, when they had called out numbers and one-by-one we were allowed to leave, we clapped and cheered in joyous relief. “44.” “43.” “42.” Even the cops smiled as us newly freed detainees applauded.

My phone was out of power. My stomach was empty. In minimalist attire, without sunglasses to protect from the morning light, we all went home. That Sunday was a write-off, like being jet-lagged with sleep patterns all askew, and I didn’t get much done. I am getting too old for all-nighters.

In a sense, I was relieved after the experience. A part of me always wondered what would happen if I got in trouble with the police in China. I feel vindicated now. They didn’t interrogate me or anything, they simply checked my visa status and after a long while let me on my way.

According to a translated press release, the numbers were surprising. 491 people were detained that night. 118 had tested positive for drug use, majority marijuana of course, and 93 held. (It’s not clear why 25 people weren’t held. Connections, corruption?) Of those 93, 50 of them were foreigners. Perhaps they caught like two drug dealers, but most were released after four or five days. It was called “administrative detention” or “violation.” Not arrest.

“They were after the dealers…” my detained friend later reported back to me. “Everyone else is a pawn to them.”

Those limbo days were rather terrifying. Rumors abounded, and we all scrambled to figure out what was going to happen to our friends. Moreover, there was the great question of what was happening to the community within China. Simply put, is it worth it to live here anymore?

It has now been confirmed to me that nobody (at least not the vast majority of non-drug dealers) is getting deported. Chinese and foreigners alike, they don’t even have to pay fines. All that fear, and what was the point? The city of Shenzhen undertook this massive operation, apparently all in the legal grey zone haze that is the China system, and just what was the real purpose?

With 80 percent of the detainees being drug-free and only half being foreigners, the question remains: what possibly could have been the point of all that?

Whatever the point was, some kind of message has been received. Shenzhen is no longer what it once was. The expat and party scene will get past this, but something has changed. A threatening cloud of authorities now hovers over the community, and somehow China doesn’t seem as welcoming as it used to be.

The party is over.

Follow Ray Hecht on Twitter at @RayofChinarabia

The post An Inside Look at What Went Down During Drug Bust at a Shenzhen Rave appeared first on The Nanfang.

491 of the partygoers were subjected to urine tests by police, 118 of which tested positive for drugs. Police can hold the suspects under administrative detention for up to 15 days.

Local police conducted the raid in the early morning of February 21. The rave, which wasn’t the first at the location, was held at a tunnel located under an overpass on the city’s north ring road, near a local IKEA. Nanshan police claim the rave was organized by a local business who has been organizing them at the location for a number of years.

An unidentified expat in attendance, described as “the American” told the Shenzhen Daily that the raid started at 4am, after which all of the partygoers were put on buses, and taken to the police station for drug testing. The American described the experience as being “like a prisoner of war”. Police arrived equipped with riot shields and batons, sparking panic among everyone. “It was like a stampede. My friend almost got run over. If it was more people someone could have definitely got hurt,” he said.

The man bluntly warned other expats who frequent the rave of his experience: “I feel like this is a way to send a signal to the expat community,” he said.

Based on information obtained during the raid, police also arrested two male, foreign nationals at an alleged “drug den” in Shekou.

According to an unidentified police officer, quoted by Xinhua, “Foreigners accounted for over half of the detainees, which suggests a serious problem of drug use among foreigners in Shenzhen.” A spokesperson for the Nanshan District police said the raids had been planned for “quite a bit of time.”

Openly advertising their events, the rave regularly invited international DJs to perform at their events. A DJ from Hong Kong had been scheduled for this past weekend.

Expats have been subjected to on-the-spot drug tests during police raids before, most notably last year at a local Beijing music venue. As well, police have been known to use information obtained from Facebook accounts to arrest expats suspected of drug use.

The post 50 Expats Busted for Drug Use At Shenzhen Rave appeared first on The Nanfang.

In the December 28 incident, a married couple was jaywalking across a busy street when a man driving by on a scooter, kicked the woman as he passed on the left, causing her to fall. The man tried to confront the driver but the scooter took off. The couple however caught a break, as the entire incident was captured on a dash-mounted camera.

A number of similar kicking incidents had been reported in the area, as well as verbal attacks on pedestrians by passing motorcyclists. Although she could not explain how, Mrs Xu, the victim in this incident whose injuries can be seen above, suspected the motorcyclist to be a foreigner.

Both Mrs Xu and the police have said that the kicking motorcyclist was suffering from “psychological problems.”

Netizens continue to lash out about the road rage incident, particularly now that the suspect’s nationality has been revealed. Many believe the punishment is too light: “Only three days (of administrative detention)?” Another demanded that, “Laowai who commit crimes in China should face more severe punishment.”

Other Chinese insisted that the expat leave China: “Have him repatriated. Foreign trash is still trash.” Another said, “Scram back from where you came from. People like this have mental problems. China doesn’t welcome people like you!”

Aside from the violence of the assault, jaywalking remains a serious problem in China. Large-scale campaigns are being held in major Chinese cities to stop pedestrians from running red lights, and to punish those that break traffic regulations. The problem is so severe that Shenzhen police have taken to shaming jaywalkers by forcing them to wear taboo “green hats” and proposing city residents have their credit scores lowered as a result of their traffic violations.

Apparently, Mrs Xu and her husband have not been charged or punished.

Here’s the video:

The post Polish Exchange Student Arrested In Nanjing For Kicking Jaywalker appeared first on The Nanfang.

But now, Campbell has unveiled a video that shows off the biggest trophy that a narcissist could capture. His video “Guy Quits Job To Travel – My Epic 16 Months of Unemployment” was released just a week ago, but has already received over 500,000 views as well as inflaming another round of outrage in the Chinese media, this time with a video that details not just his sexual exploits, but the media attention he’s been able to capture as well.

In reporting this latest video, Chinese news reports ask readers to “Strongly despise the acts of this womanizer”. Sensational pictures of Campbell with various Asian women are seen in the reports, and the media are so angered with him they don’t even mention his name.

For his part, Campbell tries to motivate viewers by saying in the video, “This is what life looks like when you quit your job and do only the things you love (or wanted to try).”

While Campbell has been throughout Asia with stops in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand, he’s also made a big impression in Hong Kong. Campbell became infamous among Hong Kongers he made a video that showed a white foreigner “stealing” an Asian woman from an Asian man.

Either for his “conquest” of Asian women or the Chinese news, you can direct your attention towards Campbell in this video:

The post Pick-Up Artist Traveling Around Asia Angers Chinese Press with “Best Of” Video appeared first on The Nanfang.

The vandal boarded Line 9 of the Shanghai Metro last Saturday afternoon at Middle Yanggao Road Station in Pudong where he proceeded to make an impromptu drawing in the last subway car on the wall next to the driver’s carriage.

The drawing depicts a sitting figure with its head obscured, while bleeding eyes peer through openings in the wall. The graffiti also included the lyrics to the song Ode to Sleep by the US band Twenty One Pilots and even features the band’s logo at the end:

(You) Have no plans for me
I will set my soul on fire
What have I become
I’m sorry

Police were able to identify the suspect from a surveillance video and spoke with him on Monday. Despite facing possible charges of vandalism and violating Metro regulations, Shanghai police let the teen go with just a warning. The 18 year-old offered an apology, but will be required to compensate the subway for cleaning the graffiti.

Chinese netizens were upset over what they saw as an obvious double standard.

One person wrote, “If this was a mainlander, would they be detained?” while another was more direct and said, “I wouldn’t want to think of the outcome if a mainland Chinese did this on the Hong Kong Metro.”

Other people criticized the media’s treatment of the expat. One person wrote, “Weird. Why is it the media have criticized him for having poor morals? Chinese who do this are criticized for having low morals, but if a foreigner does it, then it’s an exception? What trash the media is.”

Others still offered their support, albeit grudgingly. One person wrote, “There’s talent here; he could grow up to be an artist. But what is this art supposed to be? I can’t bear to look at it.“

The post Chinese Cry Double Standard After Foreign Teenager Freed For Subway Graffiti 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.

The 25 year-old Polish man, identified as “Victor”, said he arrived in Guangzhou last week and quickly spent the $500 he had saved to backpack throughout Asia. With no money, Victor has had to rely on the kindness of strangers who have been willing to help him buy the 200 yuan ticket to Kunming, where he plans to continue onward to Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

Knowing no Chinese, Victor sits at the No. 1 entrance to the train station with a sign that reads “Ticket to Kunming” (seen below).

However, locals say Victor is lying, and that he’s always at the train station panhandling. A janitor named Zhang claims he even knows how much Victor makes in a typical day:

Don’t believe him, he’s been here for about ten days now. Foreigners are generous and give him one or two hundred yuan while Chinese usually just give him ten or twenty yuan. In a day, he can usually make about a thousand yuan.

An unidentified police officer confirmed Zhang’s account saying, “He’s been here for about a month now. I saw him before I went on my vacation on October 10.”

When a reporter with the Southern Capital Report confronted Victor, he immediately came clean and explained, “I’ve been here for ten days, but if I were to explain that I’ve been here for so long, people will get mad.” When asked how much money he has made from begging, Victor would only say that Guangzhou residents are “really friendly”.

If it seems like Victor has worn out his welcome in Guangzhou, no one appears to be showing him the door. Guangzhou police have admitted there’s little they can do:

He hasn’t caused a public disturbance, so we can’t force him to leave. Sometimes we have a communication problem (with him).

The fluently-English speaking Polish expat said that he has decided to leave for Kunming very soon, but then cryptically ended the interview by asking:

Out of a hundred percent, how much of my story do you believe?

Related:

• Giant LED screen in Shenzhen broadcasts footage of alleged fake beggars
• Beggars in Shenzhen living secret lives of luxury? Some say it’s true

The post People Don’t Know What to Make of Expat Backpacker Begging at Guangzhou Station appeared first on The Nanfang.