Matters of Privacy

To teach at a Chinese university, I had to be cleared by the Department of Entry and Exit Inspection and Quarantine for the People's Republic of China. A thorough physical examination was required. Along with three newly arrived professors from Korea, I was driven to a government clinic in a university van. Two graduate students from the international office accompanied us. Below: graduate students and two of the Korean colleagues.

Dozens of foreign students and professors lined up in the lobby(above). We submitted passports, our 3"X 2" photos, and piles of paperwork, we were lined up, and in full view of our colleagues and future students, a technician drew our blood. Personnel wore gloves and used new needles for everyone, but spattered blood on my shirt as they withdrew the needle. Neither gauze pads nor bandaids were available when I failed to stop bleeding. I made a fuss, and someone finally handed me a tissue.

After this, we were marched to various rooms where our eyes were checked, weight and blood pressure taken, and EKG's, chest X-Rays and sonograms performed. We were ushered into these rooms in groups of four to six, and there was no privacy; everyone saw everyone else's procedures. Other than medical personnel, men were seldom present; once or twice they were.

In the U.S., these services would have cost several hundred dollars, but because of low labor costs, were less expensive here. But even in an era of HIV and bird flu, the exam was more thorough than anything necessary to safeguard public health, and I still wonder why they did so much. The Asians were accepting of the disregard for privacy. I was told that for China, en masse delivery of healthcare is routine. With the long lines, the process was far from efficient, and it serves to erode individualism.

It is interesting what different societies consider necessary for safety. For example, our Department of Homeland Security compels visitors, including foreign professors we have invited, to supply their fingerprints.