First of all, the reason I share this incident is because it is so bizarre and I have never figured out exactly what happened. Something was either lost in translation OR I am just incredibly naive.
Foreigners in China are usually impressed by how incredibly safe it is here. As a woman, I feel comfortable walking around day or night, alone, down dark dingy streets without the fear of being attacked, raped or robbed.
Before I lived in China, I was living in South Africa for a year, a place that was so unsafe, that it would be sheer stupidity for a woman to walk home alone after dark. I never carried a purse after dark or any visible valuables. It just became habitual to get mugged on a monthly basis in broad daylight and usually within a block of your house, so you had to replace your mobile phone very often. Muggings were so common, that you would usually negotiate with the mugger to get your SIM card back, just to make your life a bit easier. "Ya, take the phone and the cash, but please, just give me my SIM card with all my numbers." If you survived a year without having your house burgled and being mugged three to six times, you were one of the lucky ones. I am only saying all of this to illustrate the contrast that it was to come to Shanghai and never have to look over your shoulder all the time, never have to think daily about safety issues.
This incident was the exception. After my third month in Shanghai, I was walking down a busy street in the commercial area of Xujiahui not far from Grand Gateway Mall. I was sending a text message on my crappy Samsung mobile phone that a friend had given to me in my last week in Cape Town after I put my last mobile through the washing machine. The Samsung was made in Korea, it looked like the piece of crap that it was. In Shanghai, nice phones are all over the place, mine was obviously not one of those ones. My phone would likely get spit on by any pickpocket, or at least returned to me in disgust. Anyway, as I am walking down the street, a Chinese man approaches me, looks very carefully at my phone, then starts speaking to me in Chinese and gesturing at my phone very strongly. I looked up and with my limited Chinese told him I didn't understand what he wanted. He continued to persist, following me down the street at my side and then he started writing something in Chinese characters on a piece of paper. He did not look like a beggar or a street person.
My initial reaction is the frustrating feeling that comes with inability to communicate, combined with mutual misunderstanding. I didn't know what he wanted, he obviously thought I should know and he wasn't giving up. So at first I smiled and shook my head. He must think I'm crazy gorgeous and be desperately seeking my phone number and just simply wants me to copy it down on his piece of paper. Either that or he wants language exchange. In South Africa if something like this happened, I would likely have started screaming and sprinting away. But here it was a mild annoyance. After a while, I was tired of it and decided to walk quickly away from him. This is when it got ugly, he raised his voice and gesturing at my phone insistently and with rage. When I tried to get away from him, he grabbed me forcibly by the arms and was restraining me. That is when I started to get concerned and even more confused. "Hey, let me go!!!" It's broad daylight. People are walking by. But I am getting held against my will. Then his friend arrives. His friend looks more dodgy. They are restraining me from running for a taxi. So I run a few steps away from them. They are blocking my exit. I call my brother, slightly hysterically and say, "There are two guys who are restraining me, something to do with my phone. What am I supposed to do?" As I talk on my phone they are standing guard, looking pleased with themselves. My brother says, "Just get into a public place. Don't let them take you anywhere out of sight."
I see a foreigner pushing a baby carriage and I run over to him with the two of them close on my tail and say, "Hi, can you help me get a taxi and get away from this guy? I have never seen him before in my life, but he is being scary." The guy is French. He looks confused and very hesitant to interfere. I'm not sure that he even believes me, which is also frustrating. He speaks Chinese to the man and then explains. "He says you stole his mobile phone." I am completely shocked. First of all, my phone doesn't accept Chinese characters, second of all, I was just walking down a street sending a text message. What led this stranger to believe I stole his phone?
A crowd has gathered and everyone seems to be enjoying the drama. Foreign girl versus Chinese man. The Frenchman informs me that someone has called the police and that I need to wait for them to arrive to sort this out. He and his wife wait for the police. I call my Chinese friend, Todd, and tell him what has happened. He tells me to wait for the police because it's common procedure. "Todd, I don't want to wait for the police, this is bullshit!" After I heard that the guy was accusing me of stealing his phone, I am so furious that I would have liked to go punch the guy square in the nose. So I wait, still reflecting on what an odd situation I am in. Two police cars pull up on the curb with about five officers, I hand my phone to one of the police officers and Todd explains to him over the phone that I am a good friend of his, that I did not steal this man's phone and that the phone does not accept Chinese characters.
Nonetheless, I am put in the back of a police car and taken to the station. My accusers have disappeared. They went home to root up evidence that the phone was theirs and they will bring it to the station, I'm told. The police speak no English. The situation is confusing. The police are not sure what to do with me. Hours pass, my accuser does not return. It seems to be taking them longer than expected to find evidence. I'm wondering if I will have to spend the night at the police station.
Eventually, my brother comes to the police station, barges past the desk into the back room and roars in Chinese, "This man is obviously crazy, let my sister go!!!!" So I get to fill out loads of paper work (also all in Chinese characters), in each space provided, I have no idea what I am admitting to, saying yes to, or signing. They want to keep my phone, but I tell them honestly that the battery is dying and they shrug and let me go.
This incident was strange. I never figured out who these men were, what they wanted with me. Were they just trying to drag me into an alley and rob me, or did they really think I had stolen their phone. Because I couldn't understand what they wanted, I had not reacted as defensively as I would have under any normal situation. It was the lack of understanding of their motivations that kept me from fighting back and screaming. When the police arrived, were they just saving face by going along with the whole thing? Why did the police take me to the station? Has anyone had a similar incident like this happen? Does anyone have any advice for how I could have handled the situation differently?
Top photo from techshout.com. Bottom photo from engadget.com.