20/11/0
Commission
At the dawn of the shuttle trade, no commissions existed, but one day a high-ranking Chinese official, upon visiting Russia, saw a sign on a department store: «Store Without Chinese Goods.» What's this? The Chinese man demanded an explanation and learned that for some time the reputation of Chinese goods in the Union had been very low, because mainly «non-factory» goods were imported.
Returning to his homeland, the official took measures, which resulted in the appearance of so-called «commissions», designed to monitor the quality of goods exported from China. The commission was to weed out all «non-factory» goods, and also to ensure that exported goods, even if «factory», were not counterfeits of products of well-known Western firms such as Adidas, Puma, and others. In addition, exported products had to have clear markings «Made in China» or, at any rate, not bear fake inscriptions like «Made in Italy», «Made in Germany». For a time, inscriptions like «Abibas» instead of «Adidas», or some «Puna» instead of «Puma» were allowed. Then even that was banned.
If the commission finds that the exported goods meet the above requirements, it gives permission to load the goods and seal the vehicle; in that case, the truck is not inspected at Chinese customs.
Of course, the shuttle trader cannot fulfill all these requirements, but some of the goods are necessarily purchased of the required quality. These goods are presented as the only ones being exported, while all the «leftist» goods are hidden somewhere in the back rows and far corners. Of course, the commission knows this perfectly well and can easily detect the deception if it wants, but... The fact is that the commission itself will never go to the warehouse; you have to give them «cab fare» through an interpreter, and an amount thirty times the actual fare.
Then, at the appointed time, a man or a woman arrives alone at the warehouse, looks at the displayed samples with a clever expression, and rarely ever orders the nearest box to be opened, which, of course, contains the goods permitted for export. At this point, as a rule, the «commission» ends its work and signs the necessary papers. The official services of the commission are also paid; over a couple of years they increased tenfold and recently amounted to about two hundred dollars.
But recently these commissions came to an end. The same or another high-ranking Chinese official finally realized that they were of no use, and only created extra ground for corruption. And in China, they do not joke about corruption; they even execute the highest state officials. So it was with these commissions: yesterday they were there, and today they are not. Short and clear.
Immediately after the «commission» finishes its work, the truck is loaded, for which diesel forklifts are usually used. Until mid-1995, the trucks were Kazakh, going direct from Urumqi to Moscow. But then the Chinese, concerned about the development of their own motor transport, practically closed the entry of vehicles from Kazakhstan into China, and now you have to hire a Chinese truck from Urumqi to Alma-Ata, and then reload the goods onto a Kazakh truck that will go to Moscow.
Loading the Chinese truck (an open long platform) is professionally done by a team of loaders. They also cover the truck with a tarp (against rain and snow) and tightly tie down the entire load with ropes so that it doesn't fall apart on the road. These ropes damage some of the goods, but that is an unavoidable evil. Such work costs 1,200-1,500 yuan, depending on how you bargain.
The Chinese driver, meanwhile, walks around the group leader and makes characteristic finger gestures. You need to give him 200 yuan and promise another 200 in Khorgos if he arrives on time. If you don't do this, the driver will announce that the truck «broke down» and will go to sleep for three days. Having received 200 yuan in hand, the Chinese starts exclaiming: «Gai-gai, gai-gai», hinting that the Kazakh traffic cops will fleece him. Only after receiving firm assurances that the «loban» (i.e., «boss», «chief») also handles relations with the Kazakh State Traffic Inspectorate does the driver calm down, and you can hope that he will arrive in Khorgos on Friday evening to have time to clear customs and cross the border on Saturday morning.
To be continued.