When China Called: Antecedent Part 2
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| Washington, D.C., Photo Credit: Mohamed Hakim |
I immediately reached out to the organization, Top China Travel or TOT for short. TOT is a branch of a government approved agency called China International Travel Service or CITS for short. It started as an information outlet for foreign visitors amidst shortage of accessible information even in Tourist Centers (2016 DK Eyewitness Travel guide, p. 600).
Like I alluded to before, TOT is in the business for group tours. Personal tours can be arranged, which I opted in for, at a premium, and I'm not kidding about the premium.
Three months and some fifty emails later, my tour morphed into a cultural exploration of China encompassing four religious identities: Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, and Taoism. I was genuinely interested in finding out how, just how, can so many people of so many distinct backgrounds live in harmony!? The tour was now two weeks long compared to the original three days. The whooping 300% increase of days aside... it is important to keep in mind that two straight weeks away from work is sizable by American standards. Here is one take on that conundrum: "Most Americans only get two weeks off right now. But many don’t even take the full two weeks out of fear of losing their jobs."
And how gullible I was for thinking that planning a trip is all I needed. Little did I know that permission for entry is a whole other universe. China is not a country that allows U.S. citizens entry without a visa. Luckily, the Chinese embassy in the U.S. allows travelers to hire a proxy. This, as I soon found out, does not necessarily mean you will not be summoned as I was asked to come in for finger printing.
You can hire a proxy to apply for a visa on your behalf
As is customary when dealing with Chinese superiors, in this case an embassy, every attempt must be made to always please said superiors. I was asked to produce documents from my pre-citizenship days, my green card and then "passport." Luckily my mom had photocopies!
The agency I was working with is in the same building as the embassy in Washington DC which made things a little easier.
Since I've never been to D.C. before, it was a most opportune time to plan a stay the night before visiting the embassy there.
