Crossing the Boarder

For my second internship I traveled to mainland China. In an area called Guangdong, where most of the apparel factories exist. To get from Hong Kong to China I needed to cross an inspection border.

 First I met Louise, the designer I would be working with, and Bryan, manager at Bonsai, in Bonsai’s office located in Hong Kong. Many apparel companies have their offices in Hong Kong and the factories in mainland China. This is because salaries are lower in China than they are in Hong Kong. They offered tea or coffee while I waited because I was the first to arrive. When everyone showed up, we got into a van and headed for China. We picked up two other employees at Bonsai along the way. We needed our passports and arrival forms ready for when we got to the border.

When our car was up for inspection, we rolled down the windows and raised our hands when the woman at the border held up our passports. All of a sudden, a loud noise came on – our car was chosen for a ‘random’ more thorough inspection.  We had to pull to a separate line and wait for the vehicle, luggage and ourselves to be inspected by Chinese boarder control associates. Bryan said
said this type of inspection happens every hour and is completely random.

This process took a little over an hour. We still had two hours of driving once we were in China to reach the factory. Bummer! I was so excited to get there and start. But I had enjoyed my time talking with Louise while we waited. She told me how she became a designer – AND how she had her first big show at fashion week in London at only the age of 26! I was very impressed.