In Israel, as in most western countries, I am used to first getting services and then, later, paying (”getting billed”) for them. The obvious example is credit cards, but it’s everywhere - telephone/cellphone bills, electricity bills, water bills, and so on. I’m by far no expect in economy, but I assumes that the prospect of added earnings (because customers don’t have to commit in advance as to how much they’ll be using) compensates for the higher fraud risk (customers can run away without paying).

In China this is clearly not the case. Everything is payed for in advance, with the exception of restaurants (where you usually pay at the end of the meal). Take cellphones, for example - you have to “charge” your phone with cash before you can use it. When it runs out, you have to buy more. Israel does have this option too (though I’ve rarely met someone who used it), but in China this is the only option. The same goes for electricity - you have to “charge” your electricity meter with cash and the moment it runs out you have no electricity. The same with your landline, water, and gas. In hotels you usually declare in advance how many days you plan to stay and pay for them in advance (this in addition to the deposit).

This leads to an interesting phenomenom. The Chinese have long ago discovered smart-cards, and these are widely used for prepaid stuff. Take electricity for example - you have an “electricity smartcard” which you take with you to the bank, load with cash, then come back home and stick it directly into a slot in the electricity meter. Voila! Your meter is loaded with more electricity. The same is done with water and gas bills. In cellular phones it’s a bit different - you can buy in any grocery store a sort of scratch-card (similar to lottery cards, but made from plastic) and then scratch the coating to reveal a password. You then a certain number on your cellular phone, enter the password, and your cellphone account loaded with more money. On buses you can still pay by cash but the preferred way is buying a wireless smartcard, load it with money (at the bus station) and then swipe it near the wireless reader while getting on the bus. Even some public internet access places require you to buy a smartcard and then insert it into one of the computers whenever you want to log into the internet.

One of the results of all this is that you have way too many cards, and it’s kind of hard to keep track. Lin has already tried to swipe her cellular phone card when boarding a bus, and realized it only after she got off. Fortunately for her and unfortunately for some other passenger who boarded at the same time, the ticket-seller-lady accused him of not swiping his card.

correction: yesterday I’ve talked with someone who had actually seen the statistics, and it appears that in europe 90% of the phones are actually pre-paid. So I guess it’s not such a far-fetched idea after all…..