Dazed and disoriented

‘Do you know that what I’m doing is downright illegal?’ my friend asked in exasperation when we met for tea. ‘I’m not a trained or qualified tour guide and neither is the broadcasting station registered or licensed to operate as a travel agency. If the tourism regulator takes this matter seriously we can easily get caught. And yet when I raised my concern, I was asked either to treat this as a business opportunity or get lost’.

Nicknamed Mr Radio for his love of the media, my friend had successfully worked on news, entertainment, sports and music programmes over the years, yet at what should have been the peak of his career, found himself the victim of an unsuccessful business deal that his employer had made. He was offered a ‘golden opportunity’ to host a tourism programme at weekends provided that he ran a travel agency during the week. Not wanting to change his profession entirely, he found himself for the past two years being forced to operate a dubious business on behalf of his broadcasting station. It was Catch 22: either he worked illegally on behalf of his employer or he lost his proper job.

‘You know how ironic it is. It’s a typical scenario in which one state organisation takes advantage of the slack way in which another state organisation enforces its regulations, ’ my friend continued, in evident discomfort.

‘I’m very confused as to who I am. One minute I’m this charming presenter, broadcasting live from the top floor of the radio station about how lovely certain beauty spots are. The next I’m on the ground floor and wearing the face of a businessman to take cash from my devoted audience in return for giving them a guided tour. My life is topsy-turvy and the whole business is a fraud. A sightseer once asked me if I was the same person as the one who had been on air just a couple of hours before. “You sounded just like him,” she observed, not being able to reconcile my different roles either’.

Indeed, those who are more used to the old ways are bound to be disoriented by the new realities of China.