My advice for your friends would be to get a local Chinese person to buy a USD$ 40 Chinese phone/tablet for them which would give them googlemaps.
On 10/13/12, Nicholas Thompson <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dear FRIAM, > > I thought, at the very minimum, this might amuse some of you, and that, at > the maximum, some of you might have something useful to say to my friends in > china. Steve? > > [O]ur colleague Mark,… volunteered to take us out to get Chinese > > telephones. We don’t have much use here for telephones qua telephones, > really. We > > communicate with America by e-mail and Skype; all the people we know in > China are right here > > in the building where we work. Whom would we call? But we are persuaded that > wandering > > around a city -- particularly other cities than Beijing -- will be more > comfortable if we have > > access to GoogleMaps to tell us where we are, even if the labels are all in > Chinese. (“No. See > > here, we are near ‘squiggle-cross-backhatch-box-with-two-lines,’ but we want > to be at ‘double-xon- > > top-of-box-with-three-lines-over-swoopy-x-shaped-thing.’”) So off we went, > Mark, Martha, > > Dominic and me, on the subway to Weigongcun, two stops away. We wound up in > a shop for the > > second largest telecom company in China, which nonetheless felt like a > little hole-in-the-wall > > that badly needed a new coat of paint. There was a wall of sample telephones > and another wall > > of leaflets describing the plans we could buy. Of course we could not > understand them at all. It > > was simultaneously reassuring and disturbing that our Chinese friend, Mark, > had trouble > > understanding them too. From our distant perspective, the choice was easy: > give us the cheapest > > thing that will help us find ourselves when we’re lost in Xi’an, Guangzhou > or Shanghai. > > > > The idea was to buy a SIM card -- “subscriber identity module” -- and plug > it into the iPhone we > > had brought from America. After some back and forth, we settle on a plan > that allows us to get a > > discount by pre-paying the fees for a year. We got another discount by > choosing a telephone > > number that ends with a four. Four (sè, ), apparently, is an unpopular > number in China > > because the word is a (near) homophone with another word meaning “death” > (sě, ). In > > Mandarin there is a tone difference, but there isn’t even that in some other > dialects. Numbers > > that end in four are sold primarily to foreigners. They don’t care about the > superstition, and the > > Chinese don’t care if the foreigners die.2 It’s a win-win situation. > > > > The plan was the install the SIM card into my iPhone. Mark assured us that > “iPhones are easy to > > deal with.” When we had paid our 500 rmb and gotten a little piece of > plastic in return, however, > > the trouble started. Mark expected our phone to have a little slot in the > side where the SIM > > would fit. No slot. Oh, it’s an American phone. No problem, he says. His > friends know how to > > hack into American phones. (“You don’t want any of the data that’s on your > phone, do you?” > > Hmm.) The next day, it turns out that there is a problem. American phones > aren’t just locked, > > they’re somehow sealed in bondage to their American service providers. > Hacking them would > > require chopping out most of their innards and replacing them. We might as > well buy a new > > phone. Alright … but wait! Martha brought her Android phone from home. Would > it be easier > > to deal with? Maybe. Wait. Yes! This phone can work in China! Away Mark goes > with a > > smile, Martha’s phone and our 500 rmb piece of plastic. Back he comes with a > frown. No, you > > need a PIN to “unlock” the phone. Maybe your phone service provider in > America will give you > > the code? (“Maybe our phone service provider will treat us to dinner and a > movie, give us a foot > > massage and wash our dishes while we are away at work.”) So, we sent off > messages to America > > asking whether Verizon will kindly let us unlock our phone so we can join a > competing provider > > while we are in China. Meanwhile, we have a 500 rmb piece of plastic that is > electronically > > connected to a magical Chinese death-number. > > Great. > > > > Nicholas S. Thompson > > Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology > > Clark University > > http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ > > http://www.cusf.org <http://www.cusf.org/> > > > > > > ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
