The 39 Dead Chinese Folks

When this trailer-rig was found in the UK with dead bodies...the 39....it was assumed by a fair a amount of people that they were north African, or Afghan, or Pakistani.  Rumors flew around for roughly 24 hours.  Then the rumor was put to rest....they were all Chinese.

So some folks are a bit shocked (not just in the UK, but in Germany as well).

They aren't used to Chinese being in the smuggler group.

For several years, I've followed Chinese business segment, Chinese culture clashes, fake cities newly constructed, Chinese tourism in Germany and Europe, and economic 'pains' in China.  If you live and work in the urbanized areas....great.  If you are stuck in a highly rural area, your life isn't going anywhere, and getting smuggled to some new land might be the only plus-up in your life.

A couple of years ago....some Chinese tour group arrived in Germany and was on a two-week bus ride around the country.  The Chinese tour guide was holding their passports.

They arrived one morning over at the Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.  The guide gave the fifty-odd folks roughly four hours to do the castle tour and possibly even the walk up to the hillside overlooking the castle.  There's a bridge there, which crosses over to the next hill, and there's an abundance of trails there.

There was this Chinese couple that went to the hilltop and then quietly disappeared.  The guide ended up calling the cops, and a search was mounted.  The two were never found, and most believe they had some 'help' to disappear into the German countryside.

Germans say that you can't really hide in Germany, without a visa or paperwork.  It's probably true that you can't buy a car, a house, or rent a place on your own....without some ID or visa.  But after years of walking around Germany, I've come to the opinion that you could easily hide in plain sight.....with a little bit of help, and just not ask for an ID or permission to be here.

How many people exist this way in Germany?  Unknown.  You might speculate 10,000.....or perhaps even 200,000.

These 39 dead Chinese folks?  I think they had this intention of trying to do that in the UK, and simply fell upon bad luck.

But this is the problem with the perception of people now....that staying in one's country, under harsh economic conditions...simply isn't going to work.  So these people are willing to take risks that most of us would avoid.

Update: 27 Oct.  Well, now the discussion is that most of these folks were from Vietnam.