The Shanghai police called me and asked whether I would mind going down to the police station the following morning to have my photograph taken. I was a little suspicious but not overly worried as I was sure that I had not done anything which might upset them (except hang out with a convicted criminal every Monday night).
I told them that I would be in Nanjing the next morning and they said “OK, never mind” and that was about it.
I have wondered since, why they called me and what they wanted from me and why they didn’t seem that bothered that I couldn’t go. Then yesterday I read a blog by a westerner in Shanghai saying that he had had the same phone call from the police. He had gone to the station the next morning and had been asked whether it was ok for them to take some markjeting photographs. These photo were to be used to remind westerners that they had to register their residential address each time they moved.
Then of course I was gutted that I hadn’t been able to go. Just imagine that – Sian on a bill board smiling while sitting signing a form watched by a load of police. Another missed opportunity.
Or – Sian with her face on a wanted board!