"Hi, I am accepted as a Chinese like my classmates," said 10-year-old Fu Jiawen with his Shanghai residence card. Even though learning Chinese and remembering the complicated Chinese characters has proven a painful task for the Canada-born boy, he is very excited to be accepted among his Chinese peers at a local primary school.
Actually, the boy misunderstands the real meaning of the card, for he is not a Chinese in law, while the direct benefit for him is that he has not been charged an extra 2,000 yuan (US$241) for tuition every semester, as foreigners usually are.
His father, Peter G.H. Fu, principal of Stone Architectural Design Consultants (Shanghai) Co, is among the first foreign nationals to receive the Shanghai residence card, issued by the city's Personnel Bureau and Public Security Bureau on July 15.
Sense of belonging
Foreign residents are not permitted to hold Chinese nationality, but without a residence certificate they can also have some difficulties living and working here. "The residence card is supposed to solve their problems and attract more foreign talents to Shanghai," said Huang Weimao of the Personnel Bureau.
The card enables the holders to enjoy almost all the benefits of Shanghai citizens, such as social insurance, education, housing and health care, although taxation preference and voting rights are excluded.
Qualified applicants can hold residence cards providing one, three or five years of permission to live in Shanghai.
The residence card is more than an identification card for foreign residents. With an eight megabit memory chip, the card can be connected with the city's general and public service information networks.
"I feel the card has been very helpful over the last several months," Fu said.
As a Canadian citizen holding a Chinese working visa, Fu used to leave the Chinese mainland to renew the visa every few months. "It's quite inconvenient to fly to Hong Kong, just to renew my visa," Fu said. "Besides, the frequent departures made me feel somehow distanced from the country where I was born and grew up. Sometimes I even felt that I was not a real Chinese."
The three-year residence permit not only spares Fu meaningless travel, much time and money, but brings him great spiritual inspiration and the sense of belonging to the country.
Several weeks ago, Fu lost his way in the Lujiazui area and drove his car the wrong way up a one-way street. When the policeman asked for his driving license, Fu showed his residence card.
"You see, what happened? The police officer merely made a face and let me go, he must have known that not everyone could easily get the card," said Fu with great happiness.
Policy transparency
In many respects, guanxi (relationship) is still very important in China, especially in relation to government offices, but applicants need not consider it when applying for the residence card since the evaluation system is quite transparent and fair.
"The evaluation method is quite scientific and objective, and I am sure that this is the most transparent policy," said Chen Jingtian, an official of the personnel bureau.
Chen and his colleagues reviewed the migrant evaluation systems in Canada and Hong Kong, and then mapped out the present Shanghai version, which evaluates the applicants on the basis of their professions, ages, education and other factors. All information concerning the policy is published on the official website.
The application process is also very convenient. Applicants can get their results within seven working days after handing in the application forms.
"But problems still remain because this is a system project and needs the co-operation of many other government offices," admitted Huang Weimao, who is responsible for introducing foreign talent to Shanghai.
Robert Zhang from the United States, president of Allrizon Communications Equipment, doesn't think the card is very helpful to him because he actually doesn't know how it works.
"The personnel bureau has very good intentions in issuing the card, which is supposed to benefit people like, running businesses in Shanghai. But the card has not been accepted by all government offices," Zhang said.
The evaluation system also needs to be improved in some respects to abide with international norms, such as introducing recommendation letters, Huang said.
Up till now, all applicants have to apply for the residence card in person, while in foreign countries such business can be settled by professional service agencies.
Information about the policy can be obtained at the website http://21cnhr.com or by consulting the English service hotline at (8621) 6404-5568 ext 6318
(China Daily December 25, 2002)
