Mahjong Cops

My 200th post :-) I've been writing seriously* for three years now. Dig around the archives if you'd like. Everything prior to July '06 are op-ed pieces written for the Spinnaker [my college newspaper] or the Folio Weekly [Jax alt weekly]. Mainly just liberal ideas I tried to present in conservative clothing with varying degrees of success. Everything since July has been my experience in China.

Thanks for reading.

* lol
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So as soon as I figure out how to get money out of my credit union and into my Chinese bank account I'm going to buy a new Sony Ericsson camera phone with a 2mp camera. I had my old phone stolen/lost and I'm not taking nearly enough pictures with my bestial FZ-30. I'm used to taking landscape photos. I'm really just too big of a coward to walk up to a stranger and start snapping away while they're at work cooking or begging. Cell phones are so omnipresent here that I can snap away fairly incognito.

What I would have taken a picture of today [and likely lost my new investment] would have been the 25-30 police officers we saw marching in formation down the street as we were scouting for caramel bananas. I went Chinese and jumped across a busy street to follow them. Sixty of my closest friends followed suite. Rubbernecking is a national sport here. It's high entertainment watching a firetruck pass and then see 300 Chinese running after it.

The cops turned a corner into a big alley and broke into a trot. All of them had their special batons in hand: short metal pipes with flattened wedged edges for a bruising whack on the flat side and a bloody whack with the edge. The only people that carry guns are the guys who bring cash to and from banks. They also have flak jackets and a real armored vehicle. Like one I'd feel safe driving through Baghdad in. They carry shotguns, which I suppose is the weapon of choice for mowing down cash-starved crowds. I've repeatedly been told to stop making hand gestures at them suggesting that they want to shoot the foreigner.

Back to the cops.

The turned another corner and sprinted into a small alley and began piling into an apartment building. By this time everyone who could possibly see what was going on had piled up to watch them. Easily 150 people, with me at the forefront. In fact, when they broke into the trot I was told to back off by a sergeant I hadn't seen. I waited to see what what happen... but nothing was immediately apparent. I walked back to Hou Li and asked her what happened. She wouldn't ask anyone and we walked off at her insistence. Being the alley rat that I am I walked us in a complicated circle right back to the scene of the crime.

I begged Hou Li to ask someone what happened. She blushed and refused but kept walking with me back to the scene of the crime. I took matters into my own hand, "nay ga sh she ma?" [not pinyin, but translates to "this is what?"]. An older man told us the story... turns out it was an illegal gambling den of high stakes Mahjong. Apparently the cops likely went in, took the cash, and left. Go figure.

Walking home later I saw another great photo-op and a first for me - I present you with the mental image of a paddy wagon bus. A full-sized city bus with lights-a-blazing [cops always leave their lights flashing here] and a cage fitted inside. It was about half full. Guess some people didn't make enough at the Mahjong table that night.


Tags: Treyopia stories current events cops police China Chinese law gambling weapons mahjong mahjongg