So, the story goes: Only a few months into China, I was near Tinglin Road in Kunshan and I had just withdrew 1,000RMB from an ATM for an upcoming trip. I rode my green public bike home, placed the bike into a rack, and reached into my pocket to pull out my Public Bike Card, but realized that my wallet was gone. I'd back track several dozen meters to search for it, but it was no where in sight.
A few days later I entered my gym and the front desk attendant was trying her best to explain, to my surprise, that there was a message for me. She made a phone call and handed me the phone. Turns out, on the other end of the line was a local journalist that was contacted by a factory worker that had found my wallet and, because he could not read English, contacted a new station for assistance in tracking me down. The journalist had recognized my gym membership card, notified the gym, and they had notified me. Whew.
Furthermore, because the person of contact was a journalist, she arranged a meeting between the factory worker and I the next day and had politely asked if she could bring along a news camera to capture the friendly and caring side of the people of Kunshan. I obliged and what you see in the video is what occurred when we all met up the next day.
After meeting the worker I thanked him and even offered 200RMB–the 1000RMB was still there–but he refused. Following the video’s release onto local news, my ESL students and several strangers around Kunshan shared that they had seen me on TV. Not bad for my 1st 6 months in China!
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