Adventures in Guangzhou!

The form I got is titled "Request Form for Travel" (in both English and Chinese) and goes as follows:
Request Form for Travel for the foreign teachers of The Affiliated High School of SCNU
Name-
Travel Destination-
Travel Period-
No. of Days-
Contact Telephone Number at Travel Destination-

I hereby assume full responsibility for the travel and release The Affiliated High School of SCNU from any responsibility.

Signature-

Reminder: All travel (for other cities away from Guangzhou) request should be submitted to School Affairs Office one week before the holiday.

When the secretary gave it to me I asked her for a quick explanation and she seemed mildly embarrassed. She said that they simply wanted to be able to contact us in the event of an emergency, which is a perfectly legitimate reason; however, as I walked away, I immediately realized how ridiculous that was. This year the school has been a bit forgetful, shall we say, when it comes to informing us of scheduling changes. We've shown up a handful of times when classes have been canceled and been away when we were supposed to be teaching. And that's fine. It's actually to be expected when you're teaching in China. But it brings me back to the initial question--why?

In the year and half I've been here, I have never once had to fill out a form or even tell anybody where I was going. As long as I was in the classroom when I was supposed to be, everyone was happy. And since there are no official government restrictions on where I'm allowed to go (according to my residence permit), I am speechless. I suppose I do have to allow for the possibility that the Guangzhou municipal government has changed policies for the schools out of nowhere, but I haven't heard anything about that scenario.

In all likelihood, the form means nothing and will simply get filed away amongst a mountain of paperwork, but the fact that it's worded as a request allows for the possibility that sometime in the next few days someone will approach me and tell me I'm not allowed to leave. I'm not quite sure what I would do in that situation, but having already purchased plane tickets for the upcoming spring festival holiday, I am definitely leaving one way or another.

It's also interesting to note that the form is both a request form and liability waiver wrapped into one. Maybe I'm reading into this too much but it may reflect a growing concern and need for all official groups to watch their backs in terms of avoiding litigation. The law system in China has a long way to go, but it's definitely becoming more and more legitimate all the time, with both domestic and international pressure. There was a clause added into my contract last spring that requires me to inform the office anytime I have an overnight guest. This also came as a surprise and was explained to me as a safety precaution mandated by the government, presumably to give schools the right to fire someone if they start bringing home prostitutes or something like that. Regardless, it has been conveniently forgotten by both me and the office.

So once again, why? I quietly showed the form to a few coworkers who initially laughed at it and told me that I'm allowed to do whatever I want and that I should ignore it. I was starting to entertain the possibility until one of the senior members of the English faculty saw the form in the cafeteria yesterday. He was also chuckling and remarking how ludicrous it was until he asked an important office worker (in Chinese) whether it was necessary. She gave him a serious nod and mumbled something to him that was incomprehensible to me. This response seemed to be enough for him and he proceeded to hand me the paper and instruct me to do it. Strange.

I've decided that I need to look at the glass as half full and simply assume that they're concerned about our well being and would like to be in touch with us if something comes up. I have already passed along the fact that I have no idea what my contact phone numbers may be but that I'm always on email. They seemed fine with that. With no real control over the situation, I choose to believe that the form is rather meaningless and that Big Brother is not trying to keep a short leash on me. We'll see how it turns out...