Home›Forums›In Chengdu›What Happened at the US Consulate?
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Ian.
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November 20, 2013 at 1:28 pm #37248
dvcd
ParticipantThis morning when I walk pass there, I saw rifles, heavy armed guards, a guard even wears a 大红花 (big red flower. means praise in China). The guard who wears a big red flower yelled at someone who was across the street arrogantly.
And I do smell gun powder.
More, one guy who look like an officer speak to another one, said that he came here to 实地了解情况。
Does anyone know what happened?
November 20, 2013 at 4:07 pm #37258JerryS
ParticipantGood question, looks like it’s going through renovation? There was plans for the US consulate moving to the High Tech Zone, not sure if they are gearing up for that. Or maybe Chinese gov is looking for an CIA’s black site in the consulate. Some Jason Bourne shit here!
November 20, 2013 at 6:56 pm #37270Charlie
KeymasterI can’t imagine the US Consulate in Chengdu would ever be under any kind of attack because:
- It’s a fortress to an unbelievable degree
- There are barely even any Americans in or around that place. It’s guarded by Chinese guards who don’t speak English, on the inside it’s filled with Chinese people and perhaps a handful of Americans (if you’re lucky).
I went inside the US Consulate not too long ago and was looking for an American. I literally just walked around asking for an American, amidst a sea of Chinese people applying for US visas, and the general response was “Why’s this guy looking for an American?”
I’d say moving to the High Tech Zone makes a lot of sense. Perhaps we can go back to walking on the sidewalk again and not getting yelled at in Sichuanese by armed Chinese people holding guard dogs and wearing US flag patches.
November 21, 2013 at 12:18 pm #37283Brendan
ModeratorI have it on good authority that there is a very high profile visitor coming to Chengdu very shortly, and there has been ‘reccy’ taking place leading up to this. I can’t say who on an open forum, but it will cause a fair bit of publicity and possible disruption, even though it’s apparently just a whirlwind stop. The Embassy is very likely involved.
November 21, 2013 at 12:40 pm #37284Ian
ParticipantActually there is a group of US marines based at the consulate.
November 21, 2013 at 1:02 pm #37286JerryS
ParticipantThere are always US Marines at the consulate, the US Marine Ball Gala happens once a year, not sure when the tradition started. I known a few Marines in CD in the past. Many of whom work long ass hours.
Hope this ‘high profile’ person isnt Justin Beiber, if it is, fuck him. Otherwise, i wont care less on who it is… Unless Scarlett Johansson!
November 21, 2013 at 1:57 pm #37292Charlie
KeymasterActually there is a group of US marines based at the consulate.
I think you might be mistaken about that. My understanding is that by consulate law, a marine must be on duty. He stands in a thing they call “the box”, where they don’t have cell phone access. I know because I tried to call a marine recently and he couldn’t answer for hours because he was in the box.
There is a group of Marines, and I believe they’re put in luxury housing in Tongzilin by the US Government.
There are always US Marines at the consulate, the US Marine Ball Gala happens once a year, not sure when the tradition started. I known a few Marines in CD in the past.
Oh man, since you mention it…
The Marine Corps Ball was a few weeks ago, I DJ’d at it. And I regret it! I will never do it again because they are a joke. They attempted to extort me and my Chinese friend who provided all of the sound and lights for the Marine Corps Ball until I threatened to tell the story of how corrupt they are to the Chinese media. Then they paid what they agreed to pay. After doing hundreds of gigs in China I find it highly ironic that the worst experience I have is with my own government, at an event supposedly celebrating 200 years of “honor and prestige”. Pretty appalling, even after years of bad experiences with the US Consulate in Chengdu.
At least I have dual citizenship and don’t use my US Passport at all, really. The German Consulate in Chengdu is fantastically friendly and helpful.
November 21, 2013 at 3:47 pm #37299JerryS
ParticipantWhoa, did not know how bad the ball was. All i can think of ‘Do my patriotic duties’ and attend the ball, but im too lazy for that heh. ‘The Box’ sounds like solitary confinement to me. No cell phones for 8-12 hour shifts must blow! As for their housing.. I knew a US Marine a a few years ago, he had a pretty sweet pad on the Waterfront. The price for it was about… 20-30k RMB per month! So yea, the US gov’t paid for his sweet pad.. And i mean sweep/pimpin pad!
November 21, 2013 at 4:03 pm #37301Charlie
KeymasterWhoa, did not know how bad the ball was. All i can think of ‘Do my patriotic duties’ and attend the ball, but im too lazy for that heh. ‘The Box’ sounds like solitary confinement to me. No cell phones for 8-12 hour shifts must blow! As for their housing.. I knew a US Marine a a few years ago, he had a pretty sweet pad on the Waterfront. The price for it was about… 20-30k RMB per month! So yea, the US gov’t paid for his sweet pad.. And i mean sweep/pimpin pad!
From what I can tell they are highly paid people who mostly do nothing. The US Consulate is open what, like 5 hours a week? And even during those hours even simple things are a major headache.
I would be surprised but I’m from Washington DC and know all about the appalling inefficiency of people who are coasting on the federal government payroll. No accountability, especially within the military, where hundreds of billions of dollars goes “unaccounted for” on a regular basis. I don’t consider it patriotism to celebrate that, nor all the impoverished countries we’ve started wars with. Decimating peasants with drones and apache helicopters is not honor.
Before I came to China I worked for an investment group that got many $1 billion+ government security contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wish I didn’t know how corrupt it all is.
November 21, 2013 at 5:51 pm #37306JerryS
ParticipantOf course looking at it deeply, supporting the US gov’t is not justified. On a facial level, i guess the ‘American’ in me comes out. But yea, like you, i feel the same. Washington is pretty fucked up, the difference between DC and Chinese gov’t is that DC has too many factions and can not keep anything stable (cuts to shit ton of programs, budget woes, waning of infrastructures, war on drugs, ect ect). Then there’s the military war complex… Another issue within itself. I bet you read that the Pentagon is cooking their books, like you said earlier Billions and billions goes unaccounted for. Thankfully Snowden is leaking info, other countries are mustering up the courage to ‘shame’ the US. But with the US leading the world in military might, i highly doubt any reform will come against the US.
Like the new healthcare website. I would imagine that the site was not made by tech savoy technicians, but rather those who bid for a gov’t contract… And thusly it becomes a circle jerk for the media to let the lemurs talk about this instead of the real issues (as i wrote from one paragraph up).
November 24, 2013 at 10:45 am #37354Ian
ParticipantSo who is coming? Maybe last nights rain was fake to clear the skies for this mystery guest.
November 25, 2013 at 9:14 pm #37387chengchel
ParticipantI was at the Marine Ball and let me just say that Charlie’s ‘great sound guy’ showed up an hour late and everyone was freaking out because the show was about to start and he wasn’t there. Not only that but Charlie and his guys showed up in jeans for a very formal event AND the music was awful. Totally inappropriate for the vibe and the crowd present. Furthermore when people asked to request a song Charlie was rude about it- you’re not in a club dude, you’re being payed to DJ a small intimate event. In the end they did not ‘attempt to extort you,’ you did a crappy job and did not deserve to be paid whatever astronomical amount you were requesting. Believe me, no one wants you back next year either.
Also from your rant about the US consulate it is clear you have no idea what the marines do or have done and you also appear to have no idea what the Americans in the consulate do either. Maybe you should go back to Washington DC and ask your ‘horrible’ government what they are doing to protect you and your interests abroad.
Cheers.
November 25, 2013 at 10:40 pm #37391Ray
ParticipantBack to the topic: is the VIP Miley Cyrus and since it is Miley Cyrus will Miley be performing any of her hits?
November 26, 2013 at 12:04 am #37393Charlie
KeymasterI was at the Marine Ball and let me just say that Charlie’s ‘great sound guy’ showed up an hour late and everyone was freaking out because the show was about to start and he wasn’t there.
If you amateurs could find your own sound guy then you wouldn’t be asking me for one. I didn’t want to have anything to do with that, which I said. But you hapless dunces don’t speak Chinese or have any clue so I figured I’d at least give a phone number to help, which I did. And then you burn him, a completely innocent Chinese guy who was there at 4pm, before the event begun.
Not only that but Charlie and his guys showed up in jeans for a very formal event AND the music was awful. Totally inappropriate for the vibe and the crowd present. Furthermore when people asked to request a song Charlie was rude about it- you’re not in a club dude, you’re being payed to DJ a small intimate event.
- I wasn’t told or asked to dress formal
- Music is subjective. I don’t play Lil Jon, Rihanna, Skrillex, or Whitney Houston. I play American music like James Brown, Parliament, Michael Jackson, Talking Heads, etc at events like that. Perhaps you wanted me to play Bone Crusher, Katy Perry, or Tiësto, it’s hard to be certain what kind of terrible taste in music you probably have.
- The organizer specifically told me “Do not fulfill requests. Do your thing.”
Also from your rant about the US consulate it is clear you have no idea what the marines do or have done and you also appear to have no idea what the Americans in the consulate do either. Maybe you should go back to Washington DC and ask your ‘horrible’ government what they are doing to protect you and your interests abroad. Cheers.
I have plenty of ex-Marine friends. Guys who were lost and didn’t know what to do with their lives, and then joined the Marines. You know, the typical story. They’ve moved onto productive lives generating positive things. When this consulate gig happened I called an ex-Marine friend in Shenzhen. His reply when I told him what happened: “Those guys are probably fresh off the airplane from the mid-West and barely have a high school education. Expect them to be obnoxious and petty”.
In the end they did not ‘attempt to extort you,’ you did a crappy job and did not deserve to be paid whatever astronomical amount you were requesting.
I’ve done hundreds of gigs in China, the Marine Corps Ball is the least desirable one by miles, which I said before you even emerged. Next time you cheap asses should book the cheapest Chinese DJ you can find and prepare a playlist of all Ted Nugent and Kid Rock for them to play. Make sure you give them an American flag pin and beef up security at the hotel by parking a tank outside. Playing music at the Marine Corps Ball is like DJ’ing a prom for 50 year olds – it is the most painfully uncool gig around.
Back to the topic: is the VIP Miley Cyrus and since it is Miley Cyrus will Miley be performing any of her hits?
I would probably go to that just for the sake of her recent controversy. She has newfound, morbid appeal!
November 26, 2013 at 10:23 am #37397dvcd
ParticipantPerhaps we can go back to walking on the sidewalk again and not getting yelled at in Sichuanese by armed Chinese people holding guard dogs and wearing US flag patches.
I have to correct you on this, if you can hear the accent of the Chinese guards, most guards are not local Sichuanese. So most of them don’t speak Sichuanese. That is a principle of the Chinese army. I can’t tell what it is on an open forum also.
November 26, 2013 at 1:59 pm #37400dvcd
ParticipantWell, There are many 五毛党 (5 dime party) in Chinese forum nowadays. They control the public opinions around the Chinese language world. They post against you or use strategy to fool the public as their daily job. They are called as 5 dime party because they are enlisted in a government payroll and get 5 dime for one posting.
The five dime party is despised among ordinary netizens because they just sell off their Conscience and countrymen for just 5 dime.
There are companies who hire 5 dime party to help them get rid of negative image or to help them with marketing too. Those non-government payroll enlisted 5 dime party are mainly communicated through qq groups.
I am sad to find that even country like US start to follow this way too.
December 2, 2013 at 11:07 pm #37558Ian
ParticipantDavid Cameron will be visiting Chengdu this week….. Wish I could find out what day the Tory bastard.
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