Mrbitter mugged in china - Page 24

On November 16 2012 07:22 ragz_gt wrote:
Hey, glad you are OK and hopefully you get your money back, and then you'd just have a really kick arse story to tell!

From my experience and what I heard from friends Shanghai is pretty safe (though the bars, especially where foreigners tend to go, were packed with hookers), must be shitty luck.

On November 16 2012 06:19 Gosi wrote:

I doubt he was in a bad part of Shanghai since the party location and the hotel have to be paid by Blizzard, no? If so, I can't really see them being in bad areas at all. I just think it is easy to scam foreigners in China if the person is suffering from language barriers and ain't so streetsmart.

On November 17 2012 00:28 StarcraftMan wrote:
Hi, as somebody who lived in Shanghai, I'm going to give a word of advice to foreigners who go there.

First and foremost, relative to the other Chinese cities in China, Shanghai is probably one of the most safest cities in China. However, there are a lot of migrant workers in Shanghai and more often than not, it's the migrant workers that cause problems because they may not be able to find a job in Shanghai so they resort to other things, and a minority of them may resort to illegal activities.

The reason why Shanghai is safer than other cities in China is because it is a model of development for China so the government usually cracks down harder on Shanghai (ie; there are very few brothels in Shanghai compared to other Chinese cities). On average, the police in Shanghai is also less corrupt than the police in other Chinese cities. However, there is corruption everywhere in China so don't think for a second that the Shanghai police is not corrupt.

Now this is common sense when travelling in a foreign country but unfortunately, Mr. Bitter had to experience this the hard way: when you are travelling in a foreign country, you must always be extra vigilant and more cautious than when you're at home. If you suspect something is not going right, be ready to exit the situation as quickly and as peacefully as possible without offending the people you are dealing with.. This applies everywhere you travel, especially in developing countries. If Mr. Bitter had followed this rule, he would have left the cab the moment the stranger got in the cab with him.

As for violence towards foreigners in China, rest assured, the penalty is 10x more severe for the local offender if he/she is caught. The Chinese government does not tolerate any violence against foreigners, especially in Shanghai, for good reason - the Chinese government wants to keep the news free of any incidents where a foreigner is harmed in Shanghai, which is supposed to be their model city. If Mr. Bitter was severely harmed, and being an American, it made the news in the US, it would really hurt Shanghai's reputation. For that reason, I highly doubt these thugs would have had the guts to kidnap Mr. Bitter either - they simply make the threat but there is no way they would go further with their threats.

Still, if you are outnumbered, it makes no sense to fight back, especially if they just want to rob you of a few thousand dollars. You could be severely hurt if they gang up on you and/or they have weapons and the few thousands dollars you lose would be chump change compared to permanent life long injuries (or even your own life).

Overall, I would say Shanghai is quite safe to travel to compared to cities in other developing countries provided you stay vigilant and cautious. Yes, there is an obscene amount of petty crime in Shanghai day in and day out - always watch your belongings and be careful of con artists. However, the severity of crime usually does not exceed the typical petty crime or con artist situation - it rarely, rarely, goes to violent crime. Contrary to what Mr. Bitter is saying, it is quite safe to travel alone in Shanghai - just be a bit cautious and careful in the more remote areas. By far, I would rank Shanghai safer than say, New York, LA, etc.

Now what I said applies to Shanghai only. It does not apply to other Chinese cities, where the cops and gangsters are probably one and the same. I wish Mr. Bitter the best of luck and hopefully he gets to experience the better side of Shanghai rather than this ugly side.

And yes, Mr. Bitter, you should report this to the police. Unlike the police in LA or New York, I guarantee you the Shanghai police will take this very seriously and they will try to stop it, because it is bad PR for Shanghai if it gets onto the news.