大連市政府への改善要望(英文)
現在、大連市政府では、海外のIT人材を呼び込む方策の一環として、大連で働く外国人を対象に、ヒアリング調査を行っています。「海外の人間に、大連をもっと魅力的だと思ってもらうためには、どのような点を改善すればいいか?」というのが主なテーマです。その依頼を受けて、当社では外国人社員を対象に、意見を募集しました。そこで、私の提出した改善要望を、原文(英文)でそのまま掲載します・・・(すみません日本語訳する時間がなくて)。私の要望は、4つの章からなっています。1)Bureaucracy(官僚主義編)2)Sanitation(衛生編)3)Security and Courtesy(安全とマナー編)4)Finance(金融編)Part 1 : Bureacracy1. Whenever a foreigner arrives in China, he/she is required to follow the police registration process within 24 hours of arrival. In this process, he/she needs to travel to 2 different places. In my case, firstly I need to go to the nearest police box followed by Shahekou District government office. Those two offices are seven kilometers apart and it takes a couple of hours to complete all the process, including the travel time.From my point of view, the police registration process itself sounds quite exotic as I suppose the majority of developed world do not have such system. If this policy is really critical for China, I like to see the whole process to complete in one place.2. When we ship personal things from overseas, we need to go through the custom process. I found it is almost impossible to complete this process without going through an agent. What I found in the Dalian Airport Custom was, we need to fill in the application form to receive the goods but this form is not available on site!!! The custom official says the form is only available in the agent office and we need to pay some hundred RMBs to the agent for this processing. I think, the application form needs to be available for the public at least.3. daughter was born in Dalian in last September. I originally planned to give her an English name but I found only Chinese is the allowed language in her birth certificate. Therefore, I had to register her in a Chinese name however it caused lots of troubles. Later on, I organized her Australian passport however her name in the passport needs to be the originally registered name which is Chinese. To change her legal name to English one, the whole family have to travel to Beijing to do the declaration in front of the Australian embassy officials. If China let us register English names, the things will be much easier.4. To obtain the China resident permit in Dalian, we have to travel to 4 different government offices to obtain 4 backup documents.- For Address certificate... go to Nearest police box- For Health check ... go to Renmin Road health check center - For Work permit..... go to Dalian city government service center - For Resident Permit...go to the police office in Yan-an RoadWhat I want to see is that we just need to travel one or two places to complete the entire process.5.When we want to watch foreign TV channels, we need to travel 3 different offices to get the approval.- Dalian city government service center- Dalian TV office, Wuyi square- Tian-tu satellite TV center, Huayuan square (What I want to see is that we just need to travel one place to complete the entire process.Part 2 : SanitationI noticed many toilets in Dalian's medical facilities are not kept clean. For example, my wife used to go to the Shahekou district maternity center for her pregnancy checks, and the toilets there was among the dirtiest she has seen in her life!! I think those toilets must be clean because it will be of health risks.In Dalian, I see many people spit in the public. The local communist party already sees this as "anti-civilization behavior" and they put lots of such slogans everywhere in the city. Besides slogans, I think the most effective method is to impose heavy fine for those who spit in public. Singapore is one of the successful examples in the fine policy now we see hardly any people spit in this country.Part 3 : Safety and CourtesyIn Dalian, very few drivers seem to be aware of the rule where they have to stop in front of the zebra line when they see pedestrians crossing. In this traffic environment, we do need traffic lights together with the zebra line, so that we can stop the vehicle traffic. In Dalian, it seems many bus and taxi drivers are not very safety conscious. For example, many bus drivers are happy to take so many passengers to "dangerous" level of crowdedness. Many taxi drivers are not buckled up themselves and some of them are not happy to see the passengers to buckle up, they probably think the passengers are challenging their driving skills. I think some regulations need to take place. In many places we go in our daily life, such as banks, post offices, train stations, government offices etc.. I noticed many local people do not want to queue up and it always becomes "Chaotic"...everyone's rushing into the window and nobody knows who came in first! I think this kind of behavior die hard, but I think we could do something better, for example, I suggest government offices to have some staffs to make sure everybody makes lines.Part 4 : FinanceIn China, I noticed it is very difficult to withdraw cash by using foreign credit cards, even for VISA or MASTER card holders. Therefore I had to apply for a brand-new credit card in China and it took me roughly a month with lots of paperwork. I think this needs to be improved so that Dalian will attract more foreign talents.