Here at Laonei, we are in the process of making some big improvements to the site. We figured the best way to ring in the holidays was to give Laonei users the gift of a new and improved site.

But we need your help. We want to know what you think is important information to have while living in China. Help us reach our goal of making Laonei.com the most useful and aesthetically pleasing site in Beijing!

Two of the English-challenged studs from our IT team made a video especially for you! They couldn’t read an English script, so we put it in Chinese characters. Check out the video, Experiment in Transliteration, and make sure to take the questionnaire!

We have all experienced BBC blocks, Youtube denials, Wikipedia outages, Flickr rejections, and Google image search smack-downs. It’s simply become a fact of life when surfing the web in China.

But now, not only those of us lucky enough to live in the People’s Republic of China can enjoy the wonder of the Great Firewall. A new Firefox add-on - China Channel - allows anyone to surf the web Chinese-style!

By far, not the most useful of all add-ons, China Channel is better as a gag or fun experiment for friends and family that don’t know how hard life is without sustained Google image searching. Give it a whirl and send your condolences to those that have no choice in the matter.

From the site:

The Firefox add-on China Channel offers internet user outside China to surf the web as if they were in China. Take an unforgetable virtual trip to China and experience the technical expertise of the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (supported by western companies). It’s open source, free and easy.

China Channel Screencast from fi5e on Vimeo.

Not too long ago, the Laonei Team threw a bluesy bash to celebrate the photo contest winners.

The party was held in quite possibly the snazziest bar/live music venue in 798 Art District  - The Acoustic House. The sound system was a musician’s delight, bumpin’ the blues a la Mr. Mojo, a veritable staple in the Beijing blues scene. There was also some kitchy prizes (some quite useful, like the baijiu and cigarettes seen in the video below) and free Qingdao to boot. And I ought not forget about the cool people and photographs on display!

Location: Traffic Police Department, Liang Xiang County, Fang Shan District.
Combined bank account balance: 0 (last 800 went to pay part of the hospital deposit).
Money in pockets: miscellaneous change.
Time: approximately 15:30-16:00.

As a totality, the police officers were extremely nice. They were talking to us matter-of-factly, asked us how much we paid for the vehicle, asked us how we liked China, but as to inquiries regarding the accident - not too many of those were made.

List of protocol procedures we underwent:
Police photographing the car
Police taking away the keys and impounding the car as “evidence”
Police taking us to the next-door hospital for my husband’s blood test just in case he was DUI
Police copying the passport information and taking away the car registration and driver’s licence

At the end - when my husband signed the required papers, and sealed them with his fingerprint (also procedure, apparently), we were told the following in the following order:
1) Since we moved the bike off the road and drove off from the crime scene - whatever the intentions - we were 100% liable for the accident and it does not matter who or what caused it;
2) Because we were foreigners, we were to be dealt with by the Foreign Affairs department of the Beijing Traffic Police, so all we could do at this point was to go home and wait for their call in the next couple of days.

When I inquired about going back to the crime scene, they reminded me (in the most friendly manner) that since we drove off and moved the bike, we are already fully liable and going to the crime scene would not change anything.

Time: around 6 pm.
Distance from home: about a 2 hour drive.
Remaining means of getting home: none.
Mood: stunned and disoriented.

At this point we were broke and car-less. We brought it up hoping to negotiate our damaged ride out of the impound lot. The attempt failed, but one of the officers loaned us 300 yuan to make sure we could pay for a taxi ride home.

We got home and - after ordering pizza with the remaining taxi money (as an emotional damage control measure) and a long and freaked-out conversation reliving the day, drifted into uneasy sleep.

Day 2, June 30th, Monday.
Mood: still stunned.
Most feared object: a ringing phone.

The next day was uneventful until lunch time, when the “daughter” of the man we hit called and told me to come pay the remaining 9200 of the hospital deposit, or the hospital will refuse her “father” medical treatment (by law, the medical institutions are not supposed to do that, but it can and does happen). Travelling back to the hospital for 2 hours was out of the question, so a bank transfer was the only option at that point. I left work early and went to the bank to conduct the transfer.

On the way to the bank, the Foreign Affairs Traffic Police Department called. A friendly male voice inquired about my husband, then told me that the next day we were expected at the Police Department Headquarters in BeiYuan for the deposition.

End of Day 2.

To be continued…