Permit

The next day after I attended the court hearing, I made a brief appointment with the China Travel Service to apply for my Home Return Permit (回鄉證).

The appointment was at 12 noon as made on-line, but I arrived 20 minutes early.

I lined up, get the form, and retired to a corner to fill it up. In no more than five minutes, I was called to a counter.

There sat a chubby lady.

"What's your mobile phone number ?" She pointed to the form - there was an entry that I forget to fill in.

I hurried to apologize.

"Do you have another copy of your ID card ?" She said while looking at the copy that I handed in.

"No ..." I replied. And she went on, "Would you mind I take another copy ?"

"Of course not."

A similar conversation continued for another five minutes. Finally, she asked me to pay the fee. After that, she said, with a smile, "That's done. You may go now."

I thanked her while I left. My watch showed that it was 11:55 AM.

I said to myself, "In an appropriate environment, Chinese is truly an outstanding people."

PS. Believe it or not, I visited at least 15 countries and almost every continent on earth - but I've never been to China. And, this time, it's largely a request from someone high up - as they used to say, my salary paid for it.