Relationships

Before I got to China, I heard many times that everything here functions off of relationships, the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" theory x 1000. Here is one example of how it works:

My lovely coworkers in San Antonio sent me a care package by Fedex. It arrives in China, but doesn't get delivered for 3 days because Fedex can't figure out the address. Hmmm....but I have received boxes from my mother sent to this address through the post office with no problem. Weird. So I look into it further...

It turns out the boxes my mom sent me also don't have a complete address, but didn't matter because when the mail arrives at the local post office, they just deliver it to the general post office for my school, who then calls the secretary of my dept., who then calls me and tells me I have a package and to go collect it. My school has a relationship with the post office, no complete address needed.

Fedex doesn't have this relationship. (In fact, when I asked my dept. secretary how Fedex packages are delivered, she said, "I don't know, I've never heard of Fedex.") I didn't realize I don't have a complete address, but Fedex sure did. I ended up meeting the Fedex driver at the front gate to my school. I flagged him down as he drove by and he stopped in the street and gave me my box. (And he didn't speak English, btw. I speak more Chinese than I thought to be able to arrange this plan!)

Morals of the story: 1. Even a large international corporate like Fedex is going to have problems transitioning business to China. 2. Perhaps understanding how China works can translate into some employment opportunities for me upon my return. 4. I don't have a real address and no one here seems to mind. 3. Don't send me anything by Fedex or UPS. The postal service is the most reliable way to get things here.