Email for help

Names and specific locations have been redacted.

Dear [redacted] and [redacted],

So sorry to bother this close to the break. I hope you both are well.

Key Request

I am writing to ask if there are more documents that can be made for me (in Chinese) that will give me authorisation to be doing interviews in Sichuan and Chongqing?

Namely, I need the following:

1. Letter saying I am a Tsinghua student (in chinese)
2. Letter saying the objective of research (课题）
3. Letter saying the data I may need - 内容 of research

I have been told that if I ask you for a 公函 you will understand what to give me.

I am not sure how extensive these documents tend to be, but please let me know if I need to provide further details or if my initial email from 2 weeks ago will suffice. Alternatively, I can pull out the key parts of my capstone proposal to explain.

课题: The research aims to elicit insights about the process of planned relocation that has taken place in Sichuan and Chongqing,

Additional Context

I have been in [redacted] (Sichuan) the last few days trying to start on my fieldwork and learn about the planned relocations in the town around 2005. In the course of this I was speaking to a community centre that spoke harshly about the documents I had (from the previous email) being insufficient to do this research. I was then sent to 3 more government buildings, each sending me to the next or rejecting my request to do research in the town on my lack of documentation. The last one sent me back with this list of things that I require (above).

I have run into more complications over not having registered my presence on arrival as I was not staying in a hotel, and have gotten many calls from authorities that culminated in 2 police officers showing up to my door to take my details down. The "research" component of my being here seems to have caused quite a bit of concern, because besides local authorities calling me through the night I also got a call from [redacted]. The tone of the visit and calls have seemed stern but also generally friendly or curious, but I was left a bit perturbed and rattled after the visit.

This morning I left the town to get to the next province (Chongqing). I received another missed call from the police, and worryingly when I asked to get off the bus at the rest stop (so I could explore a more rural town instead of following the bus all the way to 重庆市）the driver had to make a call to ask for permission because he had received a call about me mid-journey. It was unclear to me where the call had come from. I was eventually allowed to get off the bus and I did not tell the driver which town I would be going to when he asked (I said it was close but I wasn't sure I could pronounce it).

I'm sorry about the ramble! I'm just a bit worried about the attention I am getting from authorities and don't know if this is normal. I would rather keep the college informed in case this becomes a bigger issue. It would be great to get more documentation that I can show to authorities if I choose to return to Sichuan or if I decide to do the research from Chongqing.

Thank you for your time,
Ben Freeborn

January 2024