Replies

,,, don't think the US is exclusive when it comes to profiling. The first time I went to China, way back in 1987, I took a day trip by bus, via Macau. The drama getting thru the border was memorable for all on board. Pure theatre but they certainly made sure who was coming into their rice fields and run down towns - not that the towns were ever glitzy at any stage. Mirrors were run under the bus whilst we stood in line and were all but undressed. Consequently, I never carried out any terrorist action while lunch was served.

I was negatively profiled in Hong Kong a few years ago, after we gave away our crown jewel to the Commies. I was on a bus on some island returning from a mountaintop Buddhist monastery when the bus was stopped by armed soldiers. It happened in the vicinity of a prison which could be seen as the bus was coming down the hill. The soldiers asked everyone for their internal passports, detained a couple of characters, but waived me through, the only non-Asian-American cat on the bus. (Just kidding about the Asian-Americans.) I don't know why, but I was scared chitless while this was going on. They were looking for wetbacks not escaped prisoners, by the way. And the reason I was the only non-Asian-American was that I took a wrong bus which went to a train station near some drab, modern residential part of town, whereas the "right bus" would have taken me to other tourist attractions.