At ever bus stop now, you can see one of these policemen with a giant billy club for crackin’ would be thieve’s heads:

It’s that time of year again when the thieves are especially bad. What time of year, you ask? Why, Chinese New Year, of course! That’s the time of year that almost all Chinese people make mass exoduses back to their home towns. Shenzhen, being a city of immigrants, sees its population shrink by fifty percent, if I had to guess. When people return to their hometowns, they don’t want to return empty-handed. If they’ve gambled their money away or spent it on drinking or prostitutes, then they’ll try to find a stash on an unsuspecting person.   A deep-pocketed foreigner is always a favorite target. Coming home with their pockets pulled-out would not be good for one’s face. When I first heard this story, or this ritual, I almost couldn’t believe it, but it was true. Having been in China for a few months now, I can’t believe that I once questioned it.