Our first baby is due in May.  Should our baby have British, Chinese or dual nationality?

Ideally we would like our first born child to have dual British and Chinese nationality. This would make it easy to travel and live in Europe or China without any additional visas.

I’ve just telephoned the British Consulate in Shanghai who informed that the Chinese Government does not recognise dual citizenship so we need to make a decision.

Our child will have a very mixed up international identity given the background of his or her parents. Jenny is from Shanghai, but she spent her formative years making friends from around the world and was told by a fortune teller that she would marry a foreigner.

Although I am from the UK, my parent’s family are Jewish and they originate from Germany and Eastern Europe. Our child will be born in Shanghai to a Chinese mother, but he or she will be keeping alive a European Jewish name.

The consulate officer told me that our child will automatically receive hukou or Chinese citizenship as a result of being born in China. We will also be able to apply for our child to get British citizenship and a passport given that I am a UK citizen who was born in Britain. I need to present my passport, birth certificate and my child’s records after the birth.

Our child’s nationality will change once we decide to travel on a British passport. We could choose to travel on a Chinese passport and apply for a visa whenever we go to the UK, but life is so much easier travelling on a British passport. When we arrive in the UK on a British passport our child will lose his or her Chinese citizenship. From this point on, our child will need to travel to China on a British passport and get a visa just like any other foreigner.

I know it is possible to keep two passports and keep this information from the Chinese government, but we were advised not to do this. Our child will in fact be a dual citizen, but only until their first visit overseas.

Given our multiple cross cultural identities, I find the binary logic of choosing a nationality quite strange.

We decided to spend New Year’s Day at Sanlin Forest Park near Fudan University.

The taxi driver told us it would cost 80 RMB to go there so he suggested Binjiang Forest Park in Gao Qiao, Pudong. It cost us 100 RMB to get to Binjiang, but it was worth the journey. We enjoyed glorious cold sunshine. You can see the park is very beautiful, although I’m not too sure about the coastline view of containers and tankers. It was also a good place to go to escape the hordes of Shanghainese celebrating their Yuandan (Western New Year).

Getting back to Puxi was another epic adventure. We hailed a tuk tuk to take us to the nearest line number 6 metro station, but he took us to a port instead. We had to get a boat across to Wusong in Puxi and another taxi home. The taxi driver was a young, stubborn buck who took us to Nanpu Bridge via Lupu and he would not knock anything off our fare. He insisted this was the correct way home. Jenny does not like it when people try to pull a fast one on her so we rang the taxi company who confirmed he was wrong! If you have trouble with a driver you can use your fapiao to call the taxi company to report the problem.

You can find out more about Binjiang Park by going to this webpage.

This is my fifth Christmas in Asia. We spent this one at Nanning and Beihai in Guangxi, South China. We wanted to spend a few days away from people, bustle and rancid air.

Nanning is a green, relaxed city surrounded by mountains whereas Beihai is a rundown seaside resort on the south coast of China. Getting away from Shanghai is just what we needed.

Beihai
We had a good Christmas day in Beihai. The morning boat ride was very odd. I don’t understand the point of taking people on the sea to subject them to a cabaret performance of crude jokes and a freak show involving a dwarf and a lady boy. The view of Beihai from the boat was unremarkable. It looks depressed when the sky is overcast. All you can see are rusty ships and abandoned half finished building projects.

The sun started shining at lunchtime and that gave us a final opportunity to catch a glimpse of Beihai’s fine, white sand. Beihai has a desolate charm. It is meant to get busy in the summer, but it has been a ghost town of empty hotels, half finished building sites, bored pearl sellers, crewless boats and neglected shops. The beach front is clean and unspoiled. Even though the air was cold, the fresh air reminded me that I still have lungs.

We stayed in Beihai for two days. We spent the second night at Gu Li Island Holiday Hotel. It’s a cosy litle boutique hotel that manages to blend luxury and nature with Chinese good taste. We stayed in rustic huts between the beach and a dry cove of moored boats. Lovers looking for a romantic getaway could do a lot worse.

Beihai comes to life when the sun shines. We got a glimpse of it this afternoon at Da Jiang Bu, which is a Miandian minority village. The villagers are an earthy playful bunch who like to paint yellow stripes on their face while breathing fire down their shorts. The best thing about this place is that they get you to join in. What would China look like if the Hans had taken their cues from these folks rather than Confucius? Da Jiang Bu is the best minority village I have been to in China.

By the time we got back to downtown Beihai the temperature had crept up to 20 degrees. We spent our last hour in Zhongshan park, which is a fine green space that is far less crowded than anything Shanghai has to offer.

Nanning
We ended the holiday as we began in Nanning. The distance between Beihai and Nanning is a 2 and a half hour bus ride. Tickets cost 65 RMB each way and you get to see some lush hilly vistas from the road.

I was impressed with Nanning. It looks modern and prosperous, but greener and less busy than Shanghai. We’re staying at Hanting Inn, which offers comfortable, inexpensive rooms throughout China. The only snag was being woken at 8am by a spoorts day at the adjacent primary school.

We’re back in a chilly, but sunny Shanghai anticipating China’s first official new year’s holiday. Apparently, it is a 3 day holiday. This means I need to stay away from Yuyuan and Nanjing Dong Lu. Will it still be impossible to hail a taxi? I need to add a side car to my bike to carry Jenny around.

I’ve just returned from Hainan Island with a group of 56 teenagers.

It was a great trip, but I am happy to be home in Shanghai even though the Shanghai weather is deteriorating day by day. Highlights in Hainan included Houhai Beach and Yanoda Rainforest Park.

I was a teacher supervisor, which meant I spent the week observing from the sidelines as the children got stuck into surfing, swimming and beach games. Houhai is wonderful, because it is so good to find a deserted location free from crowds of tourists. I didn’t surf, but I really enjoyed scrabbling on the granite rocks until we found a cave with natural air conditioning.

It is still very hot and the sun is very strong. Hainan is the only place in China that has all year summer.

We also spent some time at Yanoda. Yanoda manages to do a fine job of taming a rainforest without ruining it. The paths in the forest made it accessible without being like a twee theme park. We saw Banyan trees, vines, ferns, rocks and complex ecosystems. The headsets used a geolocator to trigger each commentary, but they should have recruited a native English speaker without the syrupy and repetitive use of ‘Dear Visitor’. All the staff were also welcoming and ultra polite, but they don’t need to make the Yanoda v-finger symbol to everyone on every occasion.

We spent a night camping at Yanoda. Our students are living in the gilded cage of affluent Shanghai expat life so living in the great outdoors is a much needed antedote to the soft living that these teenagers are so familiar with. We didn’t really rough it, however. The camp site had great eco-friendly toilets and hot showers. The camp staff also prepared an amazing barbecue of fish, meat and vegetables. The local villagers even put on a show of Li music and dancing that I must upload at the earliest available opportunity.

Every group also had the chance to go canyoning on rocks and through streams wearing funny straw shoes that look like a cross between flip flops and mini boats. They managed to keep us on our feet mostly.

Going back to Hainan was an amazing experience. Our school organises activity week trips at the beginning of each November. It is always one of the highlights of the school year, because it opens up our students’ horizons while developing their social skills. The best memories and lessons often happen outside the confines of a formal classroom. The best thing about our school are the students who are some of the nicest young people you could ever hope to meet. The only thing I would like to change about future trips is that it should be a little more difficult for them so they are even more challenged as they develop their social skills and sense of adventure.

I could ride a bicycle for 20 minutes before boarding a company bus that takes me to school. It’s a good workout that increases my heart rate without having to find a spare hour to go the gym. I enjoy listening to podcasts as I see old people exercising on Xizang Lu at 7am. During the warmer months, I arrive at the bus stop dripping in sweat and it’s not good for days when it is raining. Overall, it is a good way to start the day. It’s totally free and my bike is ghastly to look at that it has not yet been stolen. There is a downside that I need to be organised to leave the house on time before 6.45 am. I cannot carry much, although I cycle with a Macbook over my shoulder. The bus is also getting crowded and I don’t have enough time to get ready for classes once I have arrived at school. The journey is an adventure, but I am sure I am going to have an accident one day. Other cyclists, taxis, buses and pedestrians are constantly surprising me.
Total journey time: 60 to 75 minutes

I could also take a taxi to the bus stop, which costs 15 RMB. There is often a fleet of taxis parked outside the hotel opposite my building early each weekday morning. The taxi drivers like to cherry pick long, expensive airport fares and a taxi ride deprives me of my morning workout.
Total journey time: 60 minutes

The quickest and most convenient way to work is to take the taxi from my appartment to school. It only takes 25 minutes and I get to daydream with my ipod until I arrive at school for an early start. The taxi fare is 45 RMB each way, which soon starts to add up if you take a ride alone everyday.

I have also experimented with taking a metro to Longyang Lu before taking a taxi to school. The taxi fare is 25 RMB from Longyang Lu, which is not a great saving considering it takes almost as long as getting the school bus. Changing crowded metros and finding a taxi are hassles I could do without.

Getting home is a different challenge. The bus leaves at 5pm, which gives me some time to get things done after school ends at 3.15 pm. On a good day, the bus can get back to Madang Lu in 35 minutes, but traffic jams and bad weather can double the journey time. Finding a taxi during rush hour is very challenging. I can walk home in 45 minutes or cycle home in 25 minutes. It is often dark and treacherous to cycle back, but I enjoy my ride around Lujiabang Lu’s back streets. You see old men fixing bikes and vendors selling food. I enjoy listening to podcasts and stopping off in DVD shops. It’s one of my favourite times of the day if I am not in a hurry and it is not raining.

Today we went to Red Town, Moganshan Lu’s art studios and on the Pudong side overlooking the Huangpu River.

Much of Shanghai is closed during the first week of October to celebrate the 59th anniversary or The Communists seizing power in 1949. Red Town’s sculpture space was closed, as were many of the studios in Moganshan Lu.

We wanted to see The Bund all lit up from Laris, but we forgot to take into account the chaos of national holidays. Imagine Trafalgar Square on New Year’s Eve. We ended up hanging out on the Pudong side of the river near Superbrand Mall. The weather has been warm and sunny with a comfortable breeze, although it is starting to cooling down as autumn settles in. It was still madly busy as hordes of locals and visitors enjoyed the city lights. We had fun wearing red devils’ horns that a friendly merchant sold to us for 10 RMb each.

Everyone in a car wanted to be a taxi driver tonight. Even the licensed drivers were trying it on. They wanted to charge 100 RMB for a 15 minute ride to Nanpu Bridge. I felt like writing down their numbers and reporting them, but we found a reputable taxi after a while. I don’t like drivers who try it on, but reporting them is not worth the bother and they are just trying to make a living.

I’ve been filming much of the week using my Sanyo Xacti. The video has been really good especially when I shoot in 720p using natural sunlight, but there are no mic inputs and the sound is not very satisfactory. I’ve been getting to grips with Imovie to edit the footage after everyone goes to bed. It turns out my Macbook can cope with editing HD h264 footage, although Imovie crashed a couple of times. I have a rough cut almost ready to burn a DVD for my mum as a momento of her holiday. Imovie is great. It saves so much time for basic video editing.

Tomorrow we are heading over to Jenny’s family in North Shanghai for a slap up meal. I hope to throw up more highlights from the footage I’ve been filming. Observing Jingan Temple made me realise that it is a microcosm of Shanghai. I never thought of Jingan in this way before. I need to share the footage to drive my point home.

We’ve just come back from a relaxing two day trip in Nanjing, staying at Dongjiao State Guesthouse. It is quite an elegant hotel with rooms at 458 RMB a person, although breakfast and meals are extra. There is a swimming pool and hot spa area, but there is not very much to do there. We wanted a quiet place to relax as an antidote to Shanghai.

This is our second trip to Nanjing and we deliberately chose to stay in the hills outside the city where you can find the Ming Tomb, the Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum, Soong May Ling’s mansion and Nanjing’s Botanical Gardens.

We wanted to escape city life for a couple of days to enjoy fresh air, trees and beautiful views. The best thing about Nanjing is that the countryside is so accessible from the city. We left Shanghai on September 28th before the National Holidays, which gave us two days of peace before Nanjing’s sights were overrun with visitors on the morning of our departure on the 30th.

My mum has been staying with us for 9 days during my half term break. Nanjing was an unexpected treat for her. The city is only two hours north of Shanghai taking the fast bullet train. Soft seat tickets cost only 93 RMB each way, but if you have to queue at the station or pay a 15 to 30 RMB (per ticket) commission to an agent.

Downtown Nanjing is just like a run of the mill modern Chinese city, but we ventured to Xuanwu Lake, Cinna Lane and to the Qin Huai River area to enjoy the lights of the night boat cruise. A colleague recommends a visit to the Nanjing Massacre Museum , but we were not in the city long enough to go.

I was pleasantly surpised by the food we ate. I normally get fed up if I eat Chinese food every meal without a break, but I really enjoyed servings of fresh prawns, fish and vegetables at our hotel and the Botanical Gardens.

Travelling on China’s train system is a necessary rite of passage. The infrastructure is amazing yet arcane. I don’t recommend rushing to get on a Chinese train, because you may have to walk a long way to get on the correct carriage in a hurry. My mother and I got separated from Jenny when we got on the wrong carriage and had to wait until Nanjing before we found each other again.

We’re back in Shanghai now enjoying full on city life once again. My mum has discovered the fabric market near our house and Chog the Cat will only let us rest if I sleep on the couch with him. Cats don’t like their routines to be disturbed. They prefer to vandalise others’ instead.

The Schengen agreement allows visitors to travel around continental Europe without requiring a separate visa for each country, although the UK has a separate protocol. This means Chinese visitors need to get a visa for the UK and a Schengen visa for the rest of Europe.

Our fears and worries were explored in my post from two weeks ago when the Spanish Visa Office refused to accept the legality of our notarised marriage certificate, but fortunately they still granted Jenny a tourist visa. Several things helped her.

• She already has a visa to go to the UK
• She has a passport full of stamps and visas to the UK, Japan, Thailand and France
• She proved she has funds to support herself during the 5 days we are in Barcelona

We saw other people in the visa office on The Bund who were not so lucky even though they had spent months planning their trips to Spain. The most unfortunate thing is that these folks will not get their visa fees of 630 RMB per person refunded. It’s going to cost a couple we saw this morning 1260 RMB just for the privilege of filling out the forms, queuing for ages and being served by surly Chinese bureaucrats on the lookout for errors and omissions in documentation. The visa fees to the UK are even steeper at 940 RMB per person, but at least they recognise wedding certificates when they see them.

Presumably, the rejected visa applicants are entitled to a refund on plane tickets and hotel bookings, but they may stand to lose a cancellation fee. Plus, they are branded as rejects unfit to visit Europe. When you fill out the Schengen visa application form to enter Europe you have to declare all your previous applications.

Such shoddy treatment looks rather similar to attempting to book a table in a restaurant and having to pay the bill even if you have not been allowed to walk through the door to eat any food. Of course consulates need to cover admin costs and pay the rent, but rejected applicants should be entitled to at least a partial refund to show some goodwill and humanity. After all Chinese tourist are lining up to spend money in European countries and they should not be derided as illegal immigrants or potential terrorists.

If your visa application has been rejected then don’t give up. A Welsh friend’s Chinese girlfriend is going to the UK next month even though her visa application was rejected last year. Bear in mind that the following things will help you.

• Show you have plenty of money
• Show you have lots of good reasons to come back to China including a job and a house
• Make sure you jump through all the hoops they provide for you, however absurd or humiliating
• Cultivate guanxi with consulate officials. Jenny’s visa application to France was fast tracked after we found out that a friend of a friend was working at the French Consulate.
• Getting sponsorship from your compnay to visit Europe on business is your best bet of getting a visa to go to Europe short of marrying a Euro citizen (for love not for scam!)

One day international travel will have fewer physical restraints like the Internet. Where is that flying pig?

End of rant.

This morning we went to the Spanish visa office on The Bund armed with all our documents expecting more of the same. There is an office staffed with Chinese administrators vetting all applications to make sure there are no mistakes or discrepancies. The woman we spoke to told us that our wedding certificate was not recognised by the Spanish visa office. I told her that it was good for the Brits and the French, but she was not having any of it. Given that the Spanish do not regard our marriage as being legally valid they were unwilling to consider the fact that I am paying for my wife’s visit to Spain. They sent her away, because her bank statement did not have enough funds to support her over four days in Barcelona. I was seething with anger at this point and became very abrupt with the visa clerk, because it felt like she was denying the voracity of our marriage.

This is a classic case of outsourcing, except it seems a little weird when a Chinese petty officer tells you that your wife can or cannot go to Spain. It’s a lot like me going to the UK and telling the English wife of a Chinese man that she cannot go to China. The visa soup nazi succeeded in sending us out in the rain on a pointless exercise to transfer funds into my wife’s account. We raced back to the visa office to present our evidence before it shut for the day. Now it’s a case of waiting and hoping.

We have already paid for the flights and hotel. You have to show this as part of the visa application. If Jenny’s application is rejected then we stand to lose 5000 RMB for no good reason.

In the afternoon I paid a visit to the UK Consulate in Nanjing Xi Lu to answer a few questions about our wedding certificate. It unsettles you when a soup nazi tells you that you are not legally married. I was reassured that we made no mistake. The British Consulate officer told me that the Spanish and French offices frequently refuse to accept such marriage certificates, although it is recognised by the Brits. Nobody was able to tell me how you can satisfy the Spanish is legally valid. Maybe they are trying to settle an old score for Gibraltar or Catherine of Aragon.

The helpful British Consulate officer also told me that Jenny is eligible to apply for a five year visa to travel to the UK, which means I only have to write two letters of invitation on behalf of my wife every ten years. As absurd as this seems, the British visa bureaucracy is starting to appear almost reasonable and humane. I wish I had known about this a month ago before we applied for Jenny’s visa.

I’m starting to feel less embarassed about being from the UK.

Click to download UK Visa Rant