ISSUE 15: Lost Luggage

China vs West

Please note all content is personal only. Except for the contents of Abid’s suitcase – that was his content.

The last few weeks have confronted me with the differences between China and the West on a political level and a … luggage level.

The Political Comparison

In the UK it appeared likely that Prime Minister Liz Truss may come perilously close to succeeding where Napoleon and Hitler had failed – destroying the British state.

During her short term, the Queen died, a “growth mini-budget” sent the pound hurtling downwards like a meteorite, spooked financial markets, sacked her Chancellor, had the Home Secretary forced to resign for a security breach, a foppish MP like Rees Mogg was accused of manhandling other MPs in the House of Commons, had a Health Secretary who was against a policy forbidding adults from smoking in cars with children and had the new head of state introduce a new greeting when seeing a Prime Minister … “Back again? …. Dear, oh dear”.

All this was accomplished in 45 days of chaos – and this included 10 days official mourning for the Queen.

There were days when one would wake up and think – what could they do today? However, the system was self-correcting – Liz Truss resigned on a Friday (having been outlasted by a lettuce) and her predecessor was in place on Monday. The UK has had 4 PMs in 4 years.

At around the same time, China’s leadership was also being decided. The approach was much more orderly with no surprises.

But there are similarities. The leader of the Tory party is decided by the party members – a small group of approximately 140,000. These … party members … are not really representative of the population at large but are able to decide the leader with no scrutiny.

But there are also differences – what really sunk Liz Truss is that she launched and committed to an incredibly unpopular policy to borrow funds to eliminate caps on bankers’ bonuses and to cut the top rate of income tax. This policy was seen as unfair, unrealistic and having a very negative impact upon economic performance.    

The media in UK is febrile – one day they applaud the government’s actions – a few days later they are an unrelenting critic of the same actions.

Also, the UK media is unrelenting - China’s media maybe overly respectful of politicians but one does wonder if UK media goes beyond the pale sometimes and engages in bullying.

The Luggage Comparison

So what does this have to do with lost luggage? Well, a different approach is apparent here too between the UK and China.

My parents are visiting London from Australia. When I picked them up from terminal 4 Heathrow I was struck by the extreme weight of one of the bags but did not think much of it.

Upon arrival at home, my parents gave my wife and kids various presents (people have decided not to buy me presents for decades now). 

My father than came upstairs with a box wrapped in luminous gift paper. “Is this a present for Connie?” My mother responded “Is it a present for Connie?”

I assumed this was similar banter as when people engage with dogs:

“Who’s a good boy. Who wants a treat? Who’s a good boy?”

It seemed weird but who knows.

It was only when unwrapped the box and revealed 20 packs of Egyptian cigarettes did it seem that maybe the confusion was genuine and the present was not for Connie.

During this confusion my father continued to come upstairs with handfuls of Indian spices asking me where these came from. I went downstairs to investigate and saw that the impossibly heavy suitcase was full with fake Balenciaga T-shirts and Indian silverware.

Undeterred by the contents my father continued to try and burrow through the suitcase seemingly believing that the only problem was that he had not dug down sufficiently and that his possessions were to be found underneath.

“I don’t think this is your bag”

“Really?”

“Yes really – the tag says the bag is Abid’s bag”

At this stage my mother joined in:

“So Abid has our bag”

“I do not think it works that way – I will call Qatar Airlines and see what to do”

“But we need our bag”

“Yes I know (typing an email to Qatar Airlines). Do you know the make of the suitcase?”

“No”

“Do you have the bag tag?”

“What is that?”

“On the boarding pass there is a tag for the bag”

“Oh … No”

“It’s black right?”

“Yes … no … more like a dark gray.”

“Like this color? (showing dark gray”)”

“No more like this (showing silver)”

After I had filled in the form

“I will go back to tomorrow to the airport with Abid’s suitcase and will look for yours”

Mother: “We should not give the bag back until Abid returns our suitcase”

Anyway, upshot was went to airport with my Dad – returned Abid’s suitcase (hope he got it) and found my parents suitcase. Of course, the suitcase was not black, dark gray, silver … it was green.

“This does not look anything like Abid’s bag”

“It was the bag left that looked most like our bag”

“It does not work like that”

The China Approach

Taking the wrong suitcase may well be a hereditary condition as I have done this twice in China. The first time was a bit confusing as the bag had no resemblance whatsoever to mine.

However, the second time was more exciting. Two years ago, I was returning from Beijing and placed my suitcase in the back of the taxi. We set off and I told the driver my office address. 15 minutes into the drive when my mobile phone rang with an unknown number.

I answered and was greeted with

“Xiaomake – I think you have taken the wrong suitcase. Please come back to the airport to exit C and we can give you the correct one”.

I told the taxi driver what had transpired and he was of course very excited that a foreigner had taken the wrong bag.

Upon arriving at exit C I was approached by a security officer and the woman’s whose bag I had taken – both were friendly – and also my suitcase. The woman was, somewhat surprisingly, very grateful that I had returned her bag … which I had taken due to carelessness and no doubt greatly inconvenienced her.

The story was made complete by me putting the suitcase into the boot, getting into the taxi and starting to tell the driver where to go when he interrupted me and said “I know where to go – I just brought you back here” – he kept laughing throughout the trip.

This experience raised many questions for me:

How did they so quickly (i.e. like 30 minutes) trace that I had taken the wrong bag?

How did they know my mobile number?

How did they know my Chinese name is Xiao Make?

What else do they know?

The greatest lesson I shared with my parents was if you want to take the suitcase then take an expensive looking wrong suitcase.