I'm an American studying overseas in Hong Kong, and I often go over the border to SZ to visit my girlfriend on weekends. Lately I've been getting stopped and pulled aside for "random checks", so I wanted to see if anybody else has this problem or to gain some insight as to why it's happening.
A typical border crossing goes a little something like this:
1. The border guards ask me if I have a Chinese name in Mandarin (my parents are Taiwanese, but I don't have a Chinese name on my birth certificate), to which I reply no.
2. The border guards looks at my passport all confused and calls somebody over.
3. They pull me aside and ask me to wait in a small room while they look at my passport and back at me multiple times.
4. Without a word, they bring me back to the counter, and I'm free to go.
So, has anybody else had this problem? It's been happening to me 2 or 3 times every month, and it's very frustrating to be treated this way. Any ideas why this is happening, or why they're asking me if I have a Chinese name?