Today there were almost no people at the time I entered (just after lunch), so it was a very quick procedure. First to counter 12 with my receipt, where the clerk found my passport in the bins filled with hundreds of passports waiting to be picked up, which was then handed over to another clerk at counter 14, where I had to wait a short while before she gave me a slip of paper and directions to the nearest ICBC branch. I had to go there first to pay the 400 RMB fee. At the police station they only accept Chinese bank cards. No cash or credit cards.
After a short ride on my bicycle I arrived at the bank, payed the money, and returned with a red stamp on the paper. Then back to counter 14 where I received my passport. After verifying the correct name and date on my residence permit sticker, I happily cycled back to campus through the East gate, to meet some classmates who were just having iced Vietnamese coffee, which is the best coffee I tasted in Nanning.
I'm very relieved that the whole affair with the police is now over, and I can stay and leave and re-enter without restrictions for the coming year, until September 15, 2011. I am actually already able to read the Chinese text on it: Issued at 广西南宁 (Guangxi, Nanning), Purpose of Residence 学习 (xué xí = study).
I am lucky to have a one-year permit, because I was only entitled to a half-year permit, having payed the tuition fee for only one semester. But last week at the student registration office where I met ms. Wei to get a corrected statement from the university, I could convince her to put the end date of two semesters on it, allowing me to get the one-year permit. She made an exception for me, maybe because it was due to her mistake that I had to come back for a new statement in the first place. It saves me from having to go through the procedure again next February, at the start of the second semester, and having to pay the fee twice. Xie xie Wei laoshi!
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