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Winning the paperwork war in China is a challenge that can test an expat's temperament and I was pushed to the limit last week at the counter of a Beijing bank. Frustrations began to boil over when my Chinese translator friend said to me: "Do you want me to fill out the form? Maybe I can do it better." "What do you mean?" I moaned. "This form is in English." After five attempts, I had failed to correctly fill out the Western Union money transfer form despite the fact it was in my native language. My house back home needs major repairs and I was forced to send back $7,000 - the maximum transfer amount Western Union allows - to pay Fast Eddie the Roofer from Ironbark, Australia. But there were more holes in my application form than there were in my broken roof. (One), I didn't use capital letters throughout, (two) I didn't include my father's middle name, (three), I didn't write down my middle name, (four) I kept writing outside the little boxes, and (five) I forget what five was for. My Chinese friend was right. She could have filled out the form better than me in her second language. After mustering the concentration of a brain surgeon, I completed the sixth form and passed the all-important paperwork under the bulletproof glass to the teller. Tasks that take about 15 minutes back home, often take more than an hour in China. Thank goodness for my Chinese friends who help me weave my way through the maze of banking bureaucracy, and other areas of daily life in the Middle Kingdom. | 
