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[The Local Dialect]

I used to live in Yunnan and there were loads of illegal Burmese and Vietnamese. Lots of Vietnamese would come in as students and some would overstay their visas. Vietnamese and Burmese can both come into the border towns on day passes, and the border Chinese can do the same in Burma and Vietnam. The local government there was always pretty strict on the Burmese (the Vietnamese too, but to a much lesser extent) if you ever took a bus down near the border areas they'd have random checkpoints and they'd haul anyone who looked too dark or who had a slightly odd accent off the busses. In those places they never bothered us European (or even African) looking foreigners, they were clearly after the Burmese. That's because of the drug trade though, and the proximity of the Golden Triangle. I would be mighty surprised if many Burmese made it as far as Beijing though, they are very heavily scrutinized.

The only illegal East Asians I've ever heard of in Beijing are North Koreans, and I was always under the impression that they were sort of unofficially tolerated. That doesn't mean there aren't others. I never really gave much thought to what visas the Sanlitun drug dealers might be on -- student, I suppose. Student visas are probably the easiest long term visas to get as long as you're willing to throw down the cash for them.

[Stil]

Read the comments here.

http://www.echinacities.com/aroundtown/china-in-pulse/beijing-begins-100-day-crackdown-on-illegal-foreigners.html#27663#27803

[El Macho]

Anyone catch the lengthy report on CCTV 13 last night about this? It included footage of the foreigner assaulting the woman, swinging at someone, and getting stomped while unconscious.

[The Local Dialect]

Looks like they caught a bunch of illegal Vietnamese and North Koreans -- which probably doesn't really surprise anyone.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/711205/Yanbian-swoops-on-illegal-immigrants.aspx

I haven't heard of any schools being raided and although the police dropped in on my parents that first night, they never came 'round to check up on me.

So is it just a lot of hoopla about sweeping up foreign trash and the poor North Koreans just trying to get out of their nightmare of a country got caught up in it? Surely these people aren't the trash they hoped to find?

[cruisemonkey]

So is it just a lot of hoopla about sweeping up foreign trash and the poor North Koreans just trying to get out of their nightmare of a country got caught up in it? Surely these people aren't the trash they hoped to find?

I'll 'answer' your questions with a question -

Why would they 'give a shit' about the nationality of someone who is illegally in the country? 

[kitano]

The worst thing about the way that North Korean illegals are such a big problem in North China is that the Chinese government is the one that backs and provides half of the funding for the regime that is causing them to flee

Even with a basic understanding of Communism like mine you can see that that setup is more what Communism was designed to stop than the EU or US exploiting illegal workers!

[The Local Dialect]

So is it just a lot of hoopla about sweeping up foreign trash and the poor North Koreans just trying to get out of their nightmare of a country got caught up in it? Surely these people aren't the trash they hoped to find?

I'll 'answer' your questions with a question -

Why would they 'give a shit' about the nationality of someone who is illegally in the country? 

I think it matters and I think they do give a shit. There are thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of North Koreans living here illegally. Some have been here for decades. If you read that article, one of the local officials even hints as much -- that you can't just go sweeping up people who have been here for years and years and built families and such without some possibility that it might backfire. Even in America there has been no massive roundup and deportation of illegal immigrants because the issue is more complex when you're talking about an entire group rather than a few isolated individuals, especially when your country has itself a complicated relationship with those immigrants' home country.

China also has to consider that this country is itself one of the biggest "exporters," so to speak, of illegal immigrants in the world. China I am sure doesn't want these countries playing tit for tat and sending Chinese immigrants packing back to China, so they do have to handle their own illegal immigrant situation somewhat delicately.

[cruisemonkey]

I think it matters and I think they do give a shit. There are thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of North Koreans living here illegally. Some have been here for decades. If you read that article, one of the local officials even hints as much -- that you can't just go sweeping up people who have been here for years and years and built families and such without some possibility that it might backfire. Even in America there has been no massive roundup and deportation of illegal immigrants because the issue is more complex when you're talking about an entire group rather than a few isolated individuals, especially when your country has itself a complicated relationship with those immigrants' home country.

China also has to consider that this country is itself one of the biggest "exporters," so to speak, of illegal immigrants in the world. China I am sure doesn't want these countries playing tit for tat and sending Chinese immigrants packing back to China, so they do have to handle their own illegal immigrant situation somewhat delicately.

Good points.

I forgot about the 2nd+ generation of illegal immigrants born in any country. I don't know Chinese law in this regard. However, I assume it is difficult to claim 'refugee status' if one doesn't officially exist in either country... especially when the 'host' country supports the political idiocy of the country of one's progenitors.

[zero]

My girlfriend told me not to wear my striped trackies because the guy looked like me and was wearing striped trackies

Also don't say "trackies," as the guy was British, and only British use that word.

[Stil]

This doesn't help

http://beijingcream.com/2012/05/a-brutal-bloody-beatdown-in-sanlitun-last-week/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-brutal-bloody-beatdown-in-sanlitun-last-week

[El Macho]

Nor does Chinese men attacking foreigners in Sanlitun.

This past Wednesday night around 3am, City Weekend staffer Sarah Ting-Ting Hou was walking home alone from Sanlitun towards Xindong Lu on the small street that separates the Village South from the back bar street. Just before the police station, two Chinese men in their early 20s drove up next to her in a white Volkswagon. They proceeded to verbally harass her and one grabbed her through the open car window.
They got out of the car and tried to pursue her on foot, so Sarah ran to Nearby the Tree, where there were people sitting outside who told the two men to stop harassing her. The men went back to their car and sped down the street, parking the car at the intersection of Xindong Lu and exiting the car to wait for her.
Another expat couple agreed to walk with her to escort her home, and they turned left at the intersection in order to walk away from the men at the car. The Chinese men ran after them and first started punching the foreign man before throwing Sarah to the ground and kicking her in the face and chest. This went on for five minutes before a Chinese couple in a passing car heard the screaming and stopped to break up the fight.

Sanlitun is awful. The police should be doing more about the problems there – including those caused by foreigners and Chinese.

[Fozzwaldus]

 

[NATO]

faith in humanity fading...

[kitano]

I think the police/city use this tactic in a lot of cities where you have 'no go' areas to keep all of the lunatics in one place and then when some drunk does get beaten up it's much easier for them to say 'they only had themselves to blame... etc

[xwarrior]

Stricter rules but China still welcomes foreigners
(Xinhua)
08:11, May 25, 2012  
BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Foreigners worry that China is becoming less friendly towards them after Beijing police recently announced a one-hundred-day campaign to curb the illegal entry, residence and employment of foreign nationals.

However, the campaign should be no threat to foreigners legally residing in the country.

The campaign, which will run until the end of August, will include household checks in Wangjing, Sanlitun and Wudaokou, areas of the city known for high concentrations of foreign residents, as well as on-the-spot street checks that will require foreigners to present valid identification.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/7826537.html