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Getting a taxi in Beijing nowadays is increasingly a game of luck.One needs that perfect combination of right time, right place andthe right people. The right people here means no one will try towalk ahead of you and intercept the taxi coming your way or thedriver will not reject you without any explanation. Fortunately, in the absence of a taxi, a black car often comes tomy rescue. A "black car", or heiche in Chinese, is not necessarily a carthat's black in color (though often they are) but a private carwithout a taxi license whose driver is willing to give you a ridein his spare time, or this might, in fact, be his job. My first experience with a heiche was quite adventurous. It's 11 pm in Central Business District area. My friend and I hadbeen standing in the freezing cold for 20 minutes, waiting for ataxi. Then a small car with a flickering red dot shining from itsfront window stopped by and the driver asked: "qun'ar (where to)?" My friend and I looked at each other and realized both of us lookedquite small and weak - a potential target of robbery. We shook ourheads and the car left. Another 10 minutes passed and still no sign of a taxi. Anothersmall car stopped by us, this time, without the red dot. "Qun'ar?" "Tuanjiehu and Chaoyang Park". "Twenty yuan". Fearing the prospect of waiting there forever, we jumped into thecar. As if sensing our fear, the driver said to us: "Don't worry. Thereare surveillance cameras everywhere." Then he gave us his mobile number. We tried and it worked. Isecretly messaged his number, together with his license platenumber, to another friend and asked her to call me in 20 minutesand call the police in case there was no response. While imagining the horrible scenes of being kidnapped in my head,I saw another woman waving for a taxi around the corner. Our carslowed down. "Going to Jiuxianqiao?" "Yes. 30 yuan." She took the front seat without any hesitation. My friend and Iexchanged a smile of relief. Neither of us would be left in the caralone now since the woman would get down last. She didn't seem tohave any fear or concern. Obviously, a heiche regular. A year has passed. I too am a heiche regular now. I even have mydedicated heiche to drive me to work in the morning. Liu, mydriver, is now practically a friend, always available when I needhim. Liu has many other clients living in my neighborhood, most of themspeak as little Chinese as he speaks English. Earlier Liu had to ask his daughter to translate the messages fromhis foreign clients or they would have to ask their Chinese friendsto help. Now he has a mobile phone with quite a few freetranslation apps. Every day the English SMS Liu receives is automatically translatedinto Chinese. "Leo, do you have time to take me to the NationalMuseum by Tian'anmen?" Liu has no idea why they all call him "The Lion" (in fact, hedoesn't know his zodiac sign, except that he's born in the Year ofthe Ox), but he is happy that he can get the key info such aspick-up time, from and where to. When both he and his clients are in the car and need tocommunicate, he just types an SMS, gets it translated and shows theEnglish version to them. They will understand each other by justlooking at the key word and ignore the rest. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Frequency Counter Circuits Manufacturer , High Power Audio Amplifier Circuit Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Comparator ICs.
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