Eric's Beijing Diary

We started a new English service at the Haidian Church last night. I think this will be a good thing not only for foreigners, but also for students who are interested in spending some time in an English language environment. But there is a problem. The Haidian Church is located in the Haidian Book City. This is a market area which is very busy during the day, but is empty and crawling with thieves at night. When I came out after the service, my bike was gone.

Lydia had called me just before the service and asked if she could ride with me. We met in Wudaokou and rode to the church. I used my cable lock to lock both my bike and Lydia's bike to a telephone pole. When we came out after the service, the cable was cut and my bike was gone. Not sure why they took my bike and left hers, but there are a couple possibilities. First, she did have an additional wheel lock, although it was not particularly strong. The other thing is that my bike might have a better resale value, since it is a large frame bike. Truthfully, I would have felt pretty bad if Lydia's bike had been taken, because she just got it as a gift. It is not new, but it is in very good repair, and she would have been pretty devastated if it had been stolen.

Today I took a cab to the market area near the West Gate of Qinghua University. I finally found a shop that had one bike like the kind that was stolen from me. I started negotiating with the guy, but it was pretty obvious that he was trying to give me the "foreigner's" price, and I was being a bit stubborn, because I have been around long enough to know what merchants usually get for this model. Suddenly, I remembered that I had left my backpack in the student cafeteria, so I took off. He may have thought that I walked out because the price was too high. In this case, that was not true, but perhaps it wouldn't be the worst thing if he thought that. I may just hoof it for a few days and bide my time.

Fortunately, my backpack was sitting right where I had left it. Not everyone in China is a thief. Most people are honest. Most Chinese people are just as upset about the kind of theft I experienced as I am. The constant theft of bicycles is an embarrassment to most Chinese. But I tell them that bicycles in America are stolen, too. The reason there are so many bicycles stolen in China, is because China has many, many more bicycles.