Robs' Blog: incoherencies from an american ex-pat in exotic beijing,
  or: how i learned to stop worrying and love bureaucracy

With much apologies to William Shakespeare:

  What's in a chop? that which we call Sun
  By any other chop would smell as sweet;

So, you may ask, what induces me to mangle the words of this famous bard from Act II, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet?

Well, this note regarding the documents needed to get my passport and visa:

   Unfortunately it is returned from the Exit & Entry Administration Bureau that that all 
   documents must be chopped by Sun Microsystems China, rather than Sun ERI, if there is no 
   separate business license of ERI.

   Now I need produce the documents again, chopped by our company stamp, to meet their requirements:

   *  Certificate of losing visa;
   *  Certificate of applying for a new visa. 

Ah, man, I get to espouse the virtues of bureaucracy *and* mangle Shakespeare in a blog written in Beijing... I'm loving this.

Hmmh, what's next? Perhaps I'll delve into The Rocking-Horse Winner, how it relates to the current Chinese socio-economic state, and whether there are similar tales in Chinese lore. Or, perhaps not.