Written by Elizabeth Ann Kinderlen
Much has been made recently of Haikou's application for the designation "Civilized City". Massive cleanups, streets repaved, scores of plantings, media events staged, uniformed police as well as volunteers positioned as crossing guards to insure order, just to name a few. Yet one wonders if these are truly the type of things that can earn any city the designation of "Civilized".
I believe Haikou has earned this designation not only because of the huge public efforts by the city government but by the citizens themselves. There are many stories of civilized acts that rarely make it into the news. But that's not why the people do them anyway. What makes a city civilized, are people doing good things simply because it's the right thing to do, never thinking of praise or even reward.
What follows are two random stories that came to my attention this past year. I met Cai Feng or as he likes to be called, Dr. Frank, at a luncheon for Inner Mongolian and Nepalese medical students from Hainan Medical University. His perfect English allowed us to converse on many subjects including the challenges he faces in serving the increasingly diverse population of Haikou. He told the story of a young man from England who had suffered serious brain trauma in a traffic accident and was admitted to his hospital. As the young man lay unconscious in a coma, Dr. Frank and his staff tried desperately to learn the identity of their patient. The victim had been travelling without identification documents on an unregistered motorcycle and his mobile phone was locked via a password. With over two million residents and thousands of foreigners in Haikou, where does one start to learn the identity of an unconscious young man in desperate need of treatment? Dr. Frank picked up the phone and started calling and calling and calling. Many hours later, through a myriad of professional as well as personal contacts, Dr. Frank was able to locate some expats who could put him in touch with the family and begin treatments. Thankfully, the young man survived and is back in his home country recovering.
Next, there's Garett Reid, an American from Miami, Florida who arrived in Hainan 6 months ago to study Chinese and follow his passion of running marathons and Iron Man Competitions. One of his prized possessions is his custom built, Mosso racing bicycle. Valued at over 6,000 yuan, its real value to Garett is sentimental because he used it to enter his very first Iron Man Competition. Recently, Garett attended an International Boxing match at Evergreen Park in downtown Haikou. He was careful to lock his bike at a local store for safekeeping. The owner said he would be closing at 10pm. Even though it meant leaving the boxing match before it was over, Garett hurried back to the store arriving around 10:20 only to find the store closed for the night and his beloved bike gone. Refusing to believe it was truly gone; he searched the area in vain. Dejected, he went home. The next morning, determined to get his one of a kind bike back, Garett posted notices of his stolen bike and offering a 1,000rmb reward for its return. We all got involved. All morning Garett and some friends canvassed used bicycle markets and turned up empty handed. Finally, with a heavy heart, Garret went to his local gym where he helps train body builders. When he opened the door to the gym, he could not believe his eyes: there was his bike! The Chinese store owner knew where Garett worked out and had brought it to the gym. Both wheels were still chained so, the middle aged man had to carry it and then take it up to the 5th floor! It would have been so easy to ignore but the store owner went out of his way to do the right thing.
Finally, there's my story. This past New Year's Eve I joined some friends for dinner and later we went to a small bar to ring in the New Year. It was crowded with happy party goers and there was great music, even some dancing and of course, lots of beer. Sometime after midnight, I left for home. I got a taxi and was on my way when I realized my wallet was not in my purse. To make matters worse, my mobile phone was out of power. I was distraught. Had it fallen out somewhere? Had I been pick pocketed? The Hainanese taxi driver immediately understood I needed to go back. I told him to please come inside with me so I could at least get money from my friends to pay the fare. He refused even though I insisted and wished me well. As I climbed the stairs to the second floor, my mind reeled at the thought of the money, bank card and flash disk in my coin purse as well as my house key that was attached to the cloth handle. What a rotten way to start the New Year. The crowd had thinned and I felt hopeless. Some of my friends were still there and I immediately started pulling the chairs away from the table searching the floor for my coin purse. Nothing. The bar is owned and operated by two very nice Chinese women who I had just met earlier that evening. It was the first time I had ever been there. I went over to where they were standing behind the bar and started to plead through tears about my missing bar. Not only were they kind and sympathetic, they had found my bag and it was laying safely on the back counter! They happily handed it to me and absolutely refused my offers to give them reward money. They did allow me to give them a big hug and an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek. I could hardly believe my outrageous good fortune!
Too often we allow bad news to dominate our media and discussions on life abroad. I hope to balance that by giving some credit to the everyday heroes who make living in Hainan a very civilized experience. Happy New Year!
