Its almost 8 AM and already people are lining up at the Chinese legation next door to my digs here in London. I stay at a B and B on Portland Place that happens to be next door to the building where the Chinese issue visas. If you want to take a trip to that nation of 2 billion people, you have to have a visa. Its pretty much automatic you just pay the fee — about $100 and you go. Of course that fee is for one visit only. So this is pretty much a scam (I think the US does it, too). It means that the Chicoms net hundreds of millions of dollars every year as an entry fee. Not bad work if you can get it.
My guess is about 500 people a day go through this embassy in the UK — you do the math.
JVH
