Culture: Tales of Bureaucracy

After working for a government department in Australia, I thought I knew a little something about bureaucracy. But even that didn't prepare me for what I've encountered at the university I work for. It's not surprising really, when you consider that bureaucracy in China has about 2000 years momentum behind it. When you examine the feudal society of ancient China, you find that it was actually much more centralised than European feudalism ever was, and employed a large civil service. And when you look at the pantheon of gods in the daoist folk religion(s), you find that it's strictly hierarchical, with the mortal and immortal realms both divided into many different departments and managed by literally thousands of divine bureaucrats.

The only time I came really close to shouting at somebody was when I was submitting the student results at the end of last semester. The forms are pre-printed with the students' names, and so I wrote down the class mark, exam mark, and total mark for each student in each of the four classes. But when I went to submit them, I was told I needed two copies of each. No problem, I'll just photocopy them, I suggested. But they told me that photocopies weren't acceptable. So I copied the sheets by hand, and tried to submit them again. This time, they pointed out the places were I had made corrections (because I had written a digit incorrectly and immediately crossed it out) and said that this wasn't acceptable either, and I would have to copy those sheets again.

That was just my oral english classes, and after that I still had to submit the results for another six classes. But it was submitting the results for two classes from a different department that almost caused me to lose my temper. I wrote out the forms in duplicate, and even though I was trying to be careful I made mistakes sometimes and had to start over. But when I tried to submit these, I was told that not only was a third copy needed, but also the forms had to be completed using either a felt-tipped pen or a black ballpoint pen but not a blue ballpoint pen, which is what I had used. So I had to start all over again from scratch.

When I first started teaching, there was also form after form to submit: teaching aims and a semester calendar for each course. I was thrown into a panic. I had only found out what classes I was teaching a few days earlier, and already I was supposed to have planned the whole semester! Like the end-of-semester results, the teaching calendar had to be submitted in duplicate, and photocopies were not acceptable. But oddly, typing the form on computer and printing two copies is okay. Most delighful of all was that these forms would land on my desk with a little post-it note attached: "Please fill in this form by tomorrow", or similar. Another foreign teacher finally saved my bacon when he instructed me to just copy the textbook's contents page onto the teaching calendar.

You see, I had been assuming that the contents of the form was actually important. Now I have realised that it's only important that you complete the form; what you write has little significance. The fact that this semester, the same person who accepted my teaching calendar handed me a new textbook just ten minutes later, an additional textbook which I had known nothing about when filling in the calendar, seems to prove this point. And this is a pattern that I have seen again and again. Come rain or hail, the bureaucratic requirements are diligently completed, but the reality of the situation is completely divorced from what is on the written records.

For example, in theory exam papers are checked by two people. The first person writes the result on each paper and then signs the front of the bundle. The second person checks the results, and then adds their signature to the front sheet too. In reality, what you do is you go to your friend and they sign the front sheet without even glancing at the exam papers.

The exam papers are bound together so that the names can't be seen by the teacher. But what's the point of this, when the bundle is simple untied and returned to the teacher straight away so that they can record the marks? It's fairly easy for teachers to manipulate marks, and there's not much recourse for the students. I heard about one boy who was very surprised to find he had failed an exam. He went to the teacher and asked to see his exam paper, but was refused. Students who fail an exam always have an opportunity to do a make-up exam, but this boy failed that too. The story that the students tell is that he made some silly mistake in the first exam, which the teacher thought was unacceptable and punished heavily. Then the teacher failed him in the second exam because he had requested to see his first paper. Although there's no way to know if this is true, the fact that the students consider it credible says something at least.

The SARS period was when things got really strict. All the teachers and students were issued with thermometers, and to enter the school I had to show the guards a form on which I wrote my body temperature for the morning and the previous evening. If I lived with my family, I would have had to record their temperatures too. Likewise, each class had to submit a form listing the body temperature of each student. The only flaw in this scheme was that nobody actually measured their temperature, at least nobody who I spoke to. We just wrote down a random number each day. One of my friends, a student, said that in her class everybody would simply sign the form and leave it up to the poor class monitor to "devise" (her word) temperatures for everybody in the class! Also, although teachers were not confined to campus as students were, it was necessary for us to apply for permission to travel outside Kaifaqu. But as one teacher said, she didn't think it was necessary to "trouble" the bureaucrats by submitting that form.

When I worked in Australia, we would sometimes grumble about forms and red tape, but nevertheless we followed the rules. I think that in my culture we are much more faithful to rules and procedures, whereas in China rules are easily overshadowed by other things such as personal connections or the exercise of power. For example, although the college library has a computerised check-out system, I heard recently that there is an alternative informal method that teachers can use for checking out books, which involves writing their name on a piece of paper somewhere. This is probably useful if they have reached the limit on their library card, or want to borrow a book for longer than the usual period of time. And as well as this, I think that some of the rules I have encountered in China are simply unrealistic. You can't expect people to go to the trouble of measuring their temperature every morning and night unless you first persuade them that it is necessary. But of course, at the highest level the fact that the school is seen to be doing something to defend against SARS is more important that the actual efficacy of the rule. As for the rule about double-checking exam marks, I contacted a friend who in the past has done some exam marking at a reputable Australian university, and he told me that there was no such rule in his department.

I suppose this all sounds like a rant, but really it's not my intention to go about trying to "fix" chinese culture. I just want to reveal some of the differences between China and Australia, as I try to adapt to the conventions of a different society.

Heh! It obviously hasn't changed in the decade I've been away! But have to admit that on return here I found Oz bureacreacy had devised its own kind of hell. Opening a bank account, for example. Or ANYTHING connected with social security. The problem here is the pervasiveness of computers which requires a more stringent compliance with the idiocy. At least in China, they (mostly) shuffle papers around in the dust. And over there you *can* just "forget" to (re)do stuff ;-)

Ian A [] 19.09.2003 , 09:33

hi, bureaucracy is a drag but as a foreign teacher it is something you should not have to put up with in that way. sounds like you're not being treated very well. i can't believe they gave you such an incredibly hard time (start again, again) when submitting marks. i would never put up with that sort of treatment. if that happened to me (photocopies not acceptable, blue ink pen only) i'd tell them (politely) to get over their anal retentiveness or else, see ya later guys. don't like the look of my marks? too bad, deal with it. there's a thousand schools in china literally crying out for english teachers so if they give you shit like that - just calmly and subtly suggest many other places are offering you jobs without such obtuse asessment requirements and maybe the school/university would do wisely to alter its assessment recording requirements to make it smoother for the foreign teacher, above all, stress that having to re-record assessments in australia is akin to slandering the teacher's ability and seriously makes him lose face (this is not true, but it works - i've found saying things like that works magic.) in any case you could come to my school, it's looking for another native english teacher, you'll get 6000 a month, a beautiful 2 bedroom apartment with 2 acons, 17" TV, DVD, fridge, hot water gas burner, dish dryer, broadband internet, fridge and quality furnishings. thing is it's in nanchong, only 15 other foreigners here, city of 4 million. it could get pretty lonely (which is why i'm trying to get people here, i want a friend :) even students at this school get hot water and acon though so it's a good school. all the best with your assessments!

daniel [] 26.09.2003 , 01:09

I'm researching a programme on the history of bureaucracy for BBC Radio and would like to talk to the author of the article about his experiences of bureaucracy in China. Would be really grateful if he could send me an email. Many thanks, Jenny

Jenny [] 24.03.2004 , 23:32

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