Here in China, you pay-as-you-go. You add money to your SIM card when you are getting low, and I know I'm getting low when I get a long message in Han zi (Chinese), ending in 1008, which I, regrettably, read. (I digress- As a Peace Corps volunteer, we are taught oral Chinese, and not written, so...although I recognize a little, I am almost completely illiterate in China...fun!). Anyway, I learned the hard way that you can add money on your phone when you are out of province, but it won't register until you RE-ENTER the province your SIM card is registered in, and in some cases, the re-use is as specific as right down to the city you live in. This makes inter-provincial communication very difficult. To add to this annoyance, it is extremely expensive to use your phone outside of the province. So, When I first left Chongqing, where my Peace Corps site is, I traveled to Hainan. My phone was out of order the whole time. After returning, I went straight to the company, and asked them to "un-lock" it for me for when I leave the province again. Little do I know, you can use your phone out of the province, but only if it has money one it that was placed there FROM your province. So When I left later for Guizhou province,I was able to use my phone, but it quickly ran out of money, because the out-of-province rates are through the roof! I re-charged in Guizhou, but was still phone-less, because it won't work, unless the money you add is registered in YOUR province.
Why does this frustrate me so? MANY REASONS besides the inconvenience of not being able to communicate...
China has a monopoly on many things inside this "communist" nation, including Media, Real Estate, Energy, and Communication. There is one main cell phone company that lies at the root of this evil. China Mobile... It seems that the head honchos want to limit people's ability to communicate between provinces, and even cities, by raising the cost so high, that it is just impossible for the poverty stricken, and even struggling small middle class of China to find out what is going on in their own country.
In the US, we are used to the nation-wide plans, and cheap int
ernational rates we receive just from punching in a few numbers. Here, once you leave the province, you waste all your money on overly expensive, necessary calls, and then can't re-charge the money on your phone, OR, your phone simply does not work. Customers are treated like prisoners in their own country, by severely limiting the flow of information from place to place. It all just seems so deliberately oppressive, taking away the voice of their own people.Much has been said about CCTV, the China sponsored news networks, but that is another story.
There must be something said for this severe control of inter-provincial communication, that only the rich have the ability to communicate without breaking the bank here in China. IN addition, the monopoly shows no signs of dispersion, although reform has been discussed for years...yeah right...communism thrives on monopolies.
On a lighter note...my travels were amazing! The fist picture is me in Sanya, Hainan. The second is in Xingping, Guangxi.
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1 条评论:
Yeah right indeed! How do you think the president keeps such a high approval rating? Take away their voice and tell them what to think. And the sad part is, most of them don't even know it's happening to them.
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