About 25 years ago I met Snake Heads in BeiJing. If I remember correctly, FuJian people payed more than twice as much as other Chinese because so many Chinese restaurants in the U.S. were bringing in family members. Wealthy FuJian restaurant owners drove up the price.
We went to a tea house in BeiJing owned by a man from Taiwan. (The 1992 accords made this possible)
Upstairs in the tea house my snake head friends told me not to speak Chinese. They wanted it to appear their English was better than it actually was, for “street credibility”.
One table had a couple from some African nation, I didn’t ask what nation. My snake head friends left me and sat with the African.
They smuggled people into the U.S. by starting with a visa to this African nation. Flight access to this nation was through Rome, but the connecting flight from Rome was not on the same day. So Chinese flying to the African nation required overnight visas to spend the night in Rome.
From Rome they were driven to Britain. I don’t know how they got from Britain into the U.S.
Snake heads provided papers, falsified if needed. And they provided an elaborate network for moving people across borders. I think, bad memory, Beijing people would pay around $30,000 for their services in 2001, but for a person from FuJin the price was $70,000
I moved to Taiwan in 1979 just after President Carter recognized Beijing as China’s capital.
As I arrived, folks in Taipei were angry and were breaking windshields of American owned cars. British were angry at Americans because they were being mistaken for Americans.
I watched Americans pull out. The U.S. Officers’ Club was an empty shell, so many memories.
“Carter” became an expletive in Taiwan.
In Tainan, Air Asia lost all U.S. contracts and had to lay people off.
This is fascinating.
Are many of those using this method to enter the U.S. from the FuJian province?
Many are! But not all
About 25 years ago I met Snake Heads in BeiJing. If I remember correctly, FuJian people payed more than twice as much as other Chinese because so many Chinese restaurants in the U.S. were bringing in family members. Wealthy FuJian restaurant owners drove up the price.
We went to a tea house in BeiJing owned by a man from Taiwan. (The 1992 accords made this possible)
Upstairs in the tea house my snake head friends told me not to speak Chinese. They wanted it to appear their English was better than it actually was, for “street credibility”.
One table had a couple from some African nation, I didn’t ask what nation. My snake head friends left me and sat with the African.
They smuggled people into the U.S. by starting with a visa to this African nation. Flight access to this nation was through Rome, but the connecting flight from Rome was not on the same day. So Chinese flying to the African nation required overnight visas to spend the night in Rome.
From Rome they were driven to Britain. I don’t know how they got from Britain into the U.S.
Snake heads provided papers, falsified if needed. And they provided an elaborate network for moving people across borders. I think, bad memory, Beijing people would pay around $30,000 for their services in 2001, but for a person from FuJin the price was $70,000
So interesting. Thank you for sharing!
The Carter Center
I moved to Taiwan in 1979 just after President Carter recognized Beijing as China’s capital.
As I arrived, folks in Taipei were angry and were breaking windshields of American owned cars. British were angry at Americans because they were being mistaken for Americans.
I watched Americans pull out. The U.S. Officers’ Club was an empty shell, so many memories.
“Carter” became an expletive in Taiwan.
In Tainan, Air Asia lost all U.S. contracts and had to lay people off.