COMMUNICATIONS
Telephone (fixed
line, mobile, phone cards,phone
numbers) | Fax | E-mail
| Express Services | Snailmail
Telephone
Fixed lines
Those who are getting their own phone lines (i.e., not people living at
the Hopkins Nanjing Center) should be aware that there are now several
companies permitted to offer fixed-line phone service in Nanjing. The largest
(Chinese telephone sector's 800-pound gorilla) is China Telecom. Others,
for the sake of encouraging competition in this sector, have been permitted
by the central government to offer lower phone rates. Interconnection of
their subscribers to those on the China Telecom network has sometimes been
reported to be a problem, although I haven't heard of any specific problems
in Nanjing.
Mobile phone
Everybody who is anybody in China has a mobile phone. You'll feel left
out if you don't, too.
Getting one. U.S. mobile phones generally operate on a
different standard from China, which uses mostly the European standard,
GSM. So chances are your American mobile phone won't work in China if you
plan to hook up on a Chinese domestic service. If you are into experimentation,
you could see whether it's possible to swap a chip in your American phone
to make it work on the Chinese system. If you want to go the more direct
route, Nanjing, like all other cities in China, has a huge number of outlets
where you can buy any of a number of brands (Siemens, Motorola, Nokia,
and many Chinese domestic brands) of phone, with a wide range of functions
and prices. Many, but possibly not all, of these can get you signed up
for a particular phone number through a particular service provider (largest
by far is China Mobile, followed by China Unicom, with others trailing
far behind), and then inserts a chip for that number into the phone. If
you later change provider or number, you'll get a new chip. There are a
large number of sales desks for different models of phones just upstairs
from the main China Mobile service office near Gulou, at the intersection
of Zhongshan Bei Lu and Beijing Dong Lu.
Paying for service. If the phone is being provided through your
company (even if you are the company), the monthly fees for service
can be billed to your bank account, or you can get a monthly bill and then
pay it at your bank. If you are a mere individual person, fees must be
prepaid. After your initial signup, which will also store some prepaid
value for your phone, you can either go back to the phone company to prepay
additional amounts, or you can buy an "add-value card" (chongzhi ka)
and follow the directions on the back of it to get the value transferred
to your phone account. However, watch out for this: which type of service
you sign up for will affect how easy it is for you to add value. China
Mobile, for example, provides some numbers (prefix: 135) for which
only the add-value cards sold in Nanjing will work -- and be forewarned,
it is quite possible that you can only dial up the right number for doing
the value transfer while you are in Nanjing! China Mobile cards purchased
anywhere else in the country won't function for any but 136-prefix numbers.
So if you got a 135, and are planning on traveling much within China, make
sure you do all the stashing of necessary value beforehand, or have a friend
in Nanjing who is willing to run to the China Mobile offices to pay in
some added value for this. (How do I know all this? I've been there and
done that.)
Nuisance issues. 1) Sound quality. Sometimes, a
conversation between two people both using mobile phones can sound a lot
like the old, early 1980s conversations that had to be shouted over the
antiquated fixed-line system. If a call is really important, and you're
phoning someone's mobile number, you might want to use a fixed line. Especially
if the other person is using a cheap mobile phone that has very poor sound
quality. 2) Phone spam. The phone companies seem to think
that it's a good idea to sell a list of subscriber numbers to companies
that like to send advertising "text messages" to mobile phones. You may
also find yourself getting recorded voice messages too. Some local businesspeople
in Nanjing report that they have been getting several such messages each
day. Welcome to China's rapidly marketizing economy.
Phone cards
Types of cards. There is a mind-boggling array of phone cards (and
also "internet cards") available all over China, Nanjing being no exception
in this regard. But each card can only be used for certain purposes, so
pay close attention to the type of card you will need. Major types include:
pay phone cards (magnetic strip or IC card), local access cards, long-distance
cards (IP cards), and value-adding cards. Alert on all cards: assume
that you can only use them within Nanjing municipality, or within Jiangsu
province, unless it explicitly says otherwise on the back of the card.
Also pay attention to expiration date on any card you purchase. Check
back later for some pictures of sample cards.
Where to buy cards. China Post branch post offices often sell
cards; many local news vendors and small shops advertise particular types
of cards; major hotels' gift shops or newsstands may sell them; and you
can sometimes find card "supermarkets" with many counters run by individual
entrepreneurs who sell a variety of cards at a discount, sometimes quite
a substantial one. One such supermarket is located in the market area of
Dafang Alley (Dafang Xiang) just off Yunnan Lu. If you buy in such
a place, don't expect an official receipt.
Pay phone cards. Some pay phones still require coins for making
phone calls, but these are mostly in the big old hotels (they're the phones
that look like they were manufactured in Moscow in 1950 by ladies in babushkas).
Often, you'll find an array of different types of pay phones that require
different kinds of cards. The major types are magnetic strip
and IC cards. Europeans need no explanation on IC cards,
but Americans might: they have a little gold-colored chip imbedded in them
that stores information about the value on the card, and about deductions
for use. To make things more interesting, some phones may only accept cards
from one of the phone companies, the most common being China Telecom and
China Unicom. If you think you'll be needing to use pay phones a lot, you
might do best to buy several types of cards with fairly low values on them,
so that you'll be able to get a phone to work when you need it.
Local access cards. Some fixed phones (e.g., in dormitories and
some guesthouses) are not equipped for local access without use of a local
access card. In Nanjing, there are a couple of these widely used; one is
the "300 card" and the other is the "9989 card." Ask at the place where
you plan to be using the card, before you buy one, to see which one/s work
in that location. These have a set value attached to them, which is deducted
from each time you place a call. Generally per-minute charges apply.
Long-distance options. For calls within China, if you're using
a mobile phone, calls made from that phone usually aren't much more expensive
than a local call. However, there is that sound quality issue. Other options
are fortunately available:
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IP cards. All the savvy folks in China now use "IP phone
cards" (I.P. dianhua ka) for domestic and international calls, at
rates many times less expensive than the standard China Telecom rate. (China
Telecom also sells the cards.) The cards come in many denominations, from
10 up to 500 yuan, and are issued by China Telecom, China Unicom, China
Netcom, China Jitong, and probably a number of other, more localized variants.
China Netcom has much more easily understandable English-language instructions,
and also sells the highest-value card (500 kuai) that I've found
so far. Inexpensive though international calls may be using these cards
compared to fixed-line service rates, they're still a lot more expensive
than having people call you from the U.S. using one of the reseller phone
cards (see next item). Use is fairly simple, but multi-step:
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you dial a local access number (note, if your phone isn't already set up
for local access, you need to use a local access card to get to this point)
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choose the language for instructions (caution: China Telecom's English-language
recorded instructions are harder to understand than Chinese!) -- 1 for
Chinese, 2 for English
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put in the card number (you may have to scratch the card to reveal this
number on the back of the card)
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put in the PIN number (this one you'll almost certainly have to scratch)
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put in the number you're trying to call.
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Repeat from #1 as necessary.
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U.S. reseller phone cards. If you want friends and family
to call you from the U.S., you could encourage them by buying a phone card
that has good rates for calling China. (There used to be a card that you
could buy from the U.S. and call from China, but the Chinese access numbers
went dead. ) You can order the cards online from Seawolf Technology at
http://www.phonecardonsale.com/index.html.
I've bought quite a few of these myself, and they've worked pretty well,
and when problems have arisen, I've found Customer Service pretty responsive.
(Note: no, I'm not receiving any money or in-kind payments to provide this
information!) But note, there are over 40 types of cards sold via this
site. Look carefully at the ratings, and compare the number of minutes
to China that the different cards offer for the same price of card; they
vary at times quite substantially. Once you buy the card (credit card info
divulged on a secure-server page), you receive an email message giving
you the access numbers, the PIN number, and instructions for dialing US
domestic calls as well as calls to China. You can tailor the info to channel
your loved ones directly to your phone number/s, and then email it to them.
Caution:
these cards expire within 60 days of purchase. Don't buy too many
at once! Other, similar phone cards are available. One is at Call-China
and another is Nobelcom.com. I haven't
tried these myself so I don't know how well they work.
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The higher-priced spreads. Of course, you could also use something
like an American mega-phone company calling card, but the rates are horrendously
expensive compared to the preceding two options. USA Direct access numbers
within China for those cards are: 10811 (AT&T),
10812 (MCI),
and 10813 (Sprint).
It certainly isn't a bad idea to have one of these cards in case of emergency,
and when you lack an IP card that will work from wherever you happen to
be.
Phone Numbers
Local numbers (fixed lines). Different cities and regions in China
have different numbers of digits in their local numbers. Beijing and Shanghai
are now at eight digits. Nanjing has only seven, so far.
Mobile phones. Mobile phone numbers begin with a "1" and are
now 11 digits long altogether. If you are dialing a mobile phone number
that is for a subscriber outside your local area, you may need to put a
"0" in front of that. If you are dialing from a mobile phone, you may or
may not have to add local area code for local numbers on fixed lines; you
will have to add the area code for any calls outside your local area.
Area codes (in China). Area codes for fixed-line numbers in China
may be 3 or more digits long. E.g., Beijing is 010, Shanghai is 021, Hangzhou
is 0571. If you are dialing a Chinese number from abroad, you drop the
initial "0." If you are dialing from within China, you need that zero.
Muzi.com has been kind enough to provide us all with a complete
list of area codes (minus the initial zeroes).
International direct dialing (from China). From China, you need
the international access code (00) followed by the country code, area code,
and number. In case you didn't know it already, the country code for the
U.S. is plain old "1" (one).
International direct dialing (to China). From the US, you need
the international access code, followed by the China country code: 011-86,
followed by the area code (minus initial zero), followed by the local number.
Fax
Seems kind of antediluvian to keep using this, but sometimes it does come
in handy. For denizens of the Hopkins Nanjing Center, you can send and
receive faxes for a per-page fee (depending on where it's going, in the
case of sending it out). Most four- and five-star hotels also have business
centers that will send or receive faxes for you, but the charges may be
quite steep. A lot of places, including the Center, still use that old-fashioned
roller-based fax paper that often gets snarled up in printing, rips in
inconvenient spots, runs out at the worst possible time, etc.
You can buy a fax machine (both domestic and international brands are
available, some integrated with phone and/or printer). Or, you could make
sure you have fax software with your computer (along with the detailed
instructions on how to set up for long-distance dialing when you have to
use a succession of access codes). Sending faxes with the Print command
directly from a document created in your computer works pretty well from
China, once you get the access codes mastered. (Another option, of course,
is to bring along one of those two-connection jacks and an extra phone
cord so you can start out by calling the recipient's fax number manually,
and then hitting the right key to get the fax going out. I've found that
to work even better.) Receiving on your computer of course requires that
the computer be on and the fax software standing at the ready. Again, being
on the phone with the sender and turning the connection over to the software
at the right point might be the easiest. All of this sounds more complicated
than it really is once you get the hang of it.
Of course, with so many people now on email and used to receiving attachments,
why not consider that more modern approach?
E-mail
This works a lot better than it used to. Chinese access networks still
do go down at inconvenient times, but usually you don't have problems.
(See the section on Internet Access
for what to do when problems do arise.) Other tips and miscellaneous info:
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You may want to arrange a Yahoo! or
similar web-based email address as well as whatever address you will get
from your school or business. This gives you an alternative channel for
receiving email when you're on the road in China, or when something goes
kaput with the local network and you have to use other access options.
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Privacy? Don't assume you have it for email in China. Internet service
providers are legally responsible for whatever their subscribers do online,
and some of them err on the side of caution in making sure users are being
very very good. Some people use encryption for email privacy, although
government regulations make the legality of that a little fuzzy too.
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Legal issues. Chinese Internet regulations are extremely stern about the
use of Internet communications (web pages, email, or any others) that violate
"state secrecy" or harm state interests in any way. The definitions of
those terms are quite elastic. As a foreigner, unless you do something
really massively in violation of the regulations, you're not likely to
run into trouble. Do keep in mind that the same may not be true for your
Chinese correspondents.
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Spam. It happens in China too. If you must share your email address online
or with a mailing-list group, you might want to consider creating one on
one of the free email services, that you use only for those public, spam-vulnerable
occasions so you can scrap it whenever you want to.
Express services
You have two main options for sending things quickly across the international
border. One is the express mail service (EMS -- they use this as the abbreviation)
of China Post; the other is to ship via DHL, which operates in China through
the Chinese company Sinotrans.
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DHL/Sinotrans info: web site in
English and in Chinese | Nanjing
locations and phone numbers (expect to have to speak Chinese). They
will pick up, but you need to have the envelope and international waybill
already. They will collect cash on the spot. 500 grams or less is, according
to the phone info, 200 kuai to the US. This compares quite favorable
with the post office's EMS.
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Post office locations: near the Hopkins Nanjing Center, you can
find:
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a major post office in the China Mobile building at the corner of Zhongshan
Bei Lu and Beijing Dong Lu. Open seven days a week
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a tiny post office on Ninghai Lu, across the street from the main gate
of Nanjing Teachers' University (Nanjing Shifan Daxue)
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out west along Beijing Xi Lu, several blocks (around the point where you
start wondering whether you already passed it several blocks ago)
Things to be aware of:
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Postal regulations:
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prohibit DHL from accepting first-class mail like letters. There have been
incidents where DHL shipments containing letters were stopped, coming into
the country, at least. Business papers, however, or documents of various
sorts, shouldn't be a problem, so long as they are labeled as such.
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specify only certain sizes of envelopes that can be used for domestic mail.
To be on the safe side, buy them at the post office.
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DHL may be quicker to deliver than EMS, not necessarily because EMS is
inefficient, but because mail once it arrives in the U.S. gets handled
by the US Postal Service according to its own lights.
Snailmail
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Stamps and envelopes in China are sold without glue on them. If you don't
want to wrestle with the amazingly inconvenient glue pots and sticks that
are provided at the post office, start carrying a glue stick with you.
These are sold in all stationery stores, are very cheap, and may make you
some instant friends at the post office.
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Packages can be sent to you either via the mails or via DHL. DHL will probably
be much faster than air mail, if you want stuff to arrive in a hurry. This
is not the fault of the Chinese post office.
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Using the post office.
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Chinese post offices are much more user-friendly places than they used
to be, but a foreigner may find them quite daunting at first. The general
rule of thumb is, if you wait your turn, you are lost forever. Rarely will
you see people line up to wait their turns; it's a general scrim at each
window (or desk), and postal employees usually do not consider it part
of their job description to ask people to wait their turn, although now
that occasionally happens. Watch the process a bit before you get into
it, to see what seems to be happening in any particular location. Once
you do get into the process (note we're not calling this a line), be prepared
to stand your ground, and possibly to push other people to move forward,
or block them from pushing you aside. Take a Chinese friend with you if
possible, to guide you through the first few encounters (two people do
better blocking than one, too). Avoid weekends if possible; post offices
can drive you ... postal, at those times. The up side here is that, at
least in Nanjing, and often in many other places as well, postal employees,
once you get to them, generally do their best to be helpful and are possibly
a good deal more patient with you than a U.S. postal employee would be
with most non-English-speaking foreigners. Be sure to give them positive
reinforcement.
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If you want an envelope, a box, or other packing material, you can usually
get them at the larger post offices, but you will probably have to go to
a separate counter that exists for that purpose. You even have to buy the
EMS envelopes. Some of the counters also sell tape and pens and other items
that can help you pack. And the larger post offices have those marvelous
machines that wrap plastic stramps around your package to seal it tightly
-- for a small fee. (If you are sending a package abroad, be sure that
you have the customs form filled out and properly authorized before the
strapping happens.)
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Postal employees at these counters may insist on helping you pack, and
will ignore all your protestations that you can do it yourself. This is
their way of being nice and helpful -- privacy boundaries are just about
nonexistent here -- so don't take it amiss.
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Expect no privacy elsewhere in the post office either. If you are filling
out forms or addressing envelopes there in the post office, anybody who
is the least bit curious about foreigners, or who is just plain bored,
feels no compunction about standing right at your elbow watching everything
you do. Welcome to China.