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Mark O'Neill

Concern about al-Qaeda targeting China was the last thing on the mind  of businessman Yang Wensheng as he sat in a German prison for 45 days in January and February this year.

A businessman from Nanshao county, Henan province, Mr Yang had arrived at Frankfurt airport on January 13 to attend  an international carpet  fair in Hanover.

When customs officers asked him what was in his two suitcases, he replied: 'Eight carpets.'

But, when officers examined the suitcases, they found 36 carpets, which they valued at Euro43,768  (HK$413,100). They demanded more than Euro11,000  in taxes.

Mr Yang said he was carrying the carpets for a business delegation from Guangdong that was attending the fair, but had no documents to prove it.

The officers suspected him of smuggling. They confiscated money, a mobile phone and his passport, and took him  to jail.

Mr Yang said that for three weeks, the prison authorities refused to let him use a phone. It was  30 days before he was  allowed to meet a court-appointed lawyer.

During that time, his cell companions were drug-users, thieves, smugglers and illegal immigrants.

Finally, on February 26, a Frankfurt court ruled that the customs officials had over-valued the carpets and imposed  too high a tax. Mr Yang eventually was fined.

After being released, he found himself penniless on the streets of Frankfurt, before being rescued by a prominent local Chinese.

Mr Yang's treatment reflects the ambivalence that authorities in some developed countries show Chinese travellers.

They welcome the dollars they spend in hotels, department stores, universities and property, but are suspicious that they won't return home.

In the European Union, illegal immigrants have access to a network of lawyers and experts in local laws, who can help them apply for political asylum, resident rights and welfare benefits.

But the numbers of illegal immigrants, from many countries as well as China, wouldn't be tolerated unless they serve a useful economic purpose, doing the 'three D' jobs - dirty, dangerous and degrading - that locals don't want to do.



None of the fun of the fair