2010年10月，中國海關對攜帶入境的每台iPad徵收1000元關稅。海關無視iPad配置不同價格也不同，一律以5000元的價格徵收20%關稅。在香港購買智能手機和其它電子設備遠比大陸便宜，有人在香港花了3000多元買的iPad要按照5000元來徵收。即使是在國內購買的iPad，攜帶出國回來時也要繳納關稅。
| 中國作家余華Michael Lionstar |
這個突如其來的規定引起一片反對聲音。國家商務部也明確表示反對：海關向iPad徵收1000元進口稅，違背中國2011年加入WTO時的承諾。
2011年1月，我攜帶iPad出國，在北京機場出境時詢問哪裏可以申報，以免回國時還需要繳稅。
問了四個工作人員都說不知道，第五個終於知道了，他說徵收iPad關稅的規定取消了。(事實是，關稅減半，並未取消。)
我問他：「規定取消了為什麼不向社會公佈?」
他反問我：「為什麼要公佈?規定實施時也沒向社會公佈。」
相比國家部門的一些可笑規定，地方部門的一些規定更加荒唐。2001年，深圳一些醫院要求，護士應保持「露八顆牙齒」的職業性微笑;2003年，湖南省在錄用公務員的體檢標準中要求女性乳房對稱;次年，哈爾濱市公安局巡防支隊發佈了一項命令，在編警察腰圍超過2尺7的將下崗;2006年，浙江省交通廳規定，男性工作人員不能留鬍鬚;2007年，為了遏制過高的輟學率，福建省平和縣規定，初中沒畢業不能結婚。
雖然這些令人啼笑皆非的規定有些已被取消，但它們顯示了權力在中國的傲慢姿態。不難想像，那些官員們在討論這些可笑規定時的情景，坐在舒適的沙發里，喝着好茶抽着好煙，用邏輯思維判斷社會問題，不管社會問題的複雜多變，也不會去考慮社會是否能夠接受。他們知道會有反對的聲音，對此他們不在乎，因為中國社會的公權力長期以來侵犯私權力。只有當這些規定出台引發社會強烈反對，繼而讓他們的上級領導不高興：「你們是在添亂，不利於社會穩定。」他們才只好悄悄撤銷這些規定。
在中國，行政部門發佈的規定與國家法律相牴觸的事例比比皆是，比如今年1月1日實施的修訂版《機動車駕駛證申領和使用規定》。為減少中國交通事故發生率，公安部交通管理局頒佈的這個新規定被稱為史上最嚴交規，其中闖黃燈扣除6分引起社會的廣泛反對。(中國的機動車駕駛證一年只有12分，如果12分全部扣除，駕駛證就被吊銷。)
許多人批評，闖黃燈扣6分會造成更多的追尾事故。就是官方媒體也質疑這個規定，新華社說：「《中華人民共和國道路交通安全法》第二十六條規定，交通信號燈由紅燈、綠燈、黃燈組成。紅燈表示禁止通行，綠燈表示准許通行，黃燈表示警示。三個信號燈各司其職，交管部門將黃燈作用歸於紅燈，不僅技術上難以做到，且明顯違法。」在社會輿論的壓力之下，公安部交管局被迫表示：對闖黃燈的司機以教育為主，暫時不扣分。
這期間一個段子流行起來：
某男子一夜未歸，第二天早上才匆匆到家，妻問何故。
他答：「昨夜路口遇一黃燈閃爍不停，今天早上六點才恢復正常，闖黃燈扣6分，路口倒車扣9分。」
妻又問：「為何不打個電話?」
他答：「開車打電話扣3分啊。」
該男子凍得直哆嗦，妻問：「在車內何故凍成這樣?」
「下大雪，我在車外不停擦號牌，遮擋號牌扣12分。」
余華是中國作家，著有《活着》、《許三觀賣血記》和《十個詞彙中的中國》等。他是《紐約時報》特邀專欄作者。本文最初用中文撰寫，由Allan H. Barr譯成英文，中文譯文經余華本人審定。
——紐約時報
[page]
In China, Power Is Arrogant
By YU HUAMay09,2013
BEIJING
In late2010, Chinese customs officialsimposed an import taxof1,000 yuan(about$150 then) on every iPad brought into the country. Ignoring the fact that iPads differ in features and prices, officials set a single tariff:20 percent of the tablet’s listed5,000-yuan value. People who paid3,000 yuan for an iPad in Hong Kong— where smartphones and other electronics are much cheaper than on the mainland— were charged the same tariff. Even Chinese tourists returning home with their own iPads, bought in China, were taxed!
This levy, imposed without prior warning, provoked a torrent of criticism. Even the Commerce Ministry registered disapproval, fearing that the levy would violate China’s commitments as a member of the World Trade Organization, which it joined in2001.
As I set off for an overseas trip in January2011, I asked the staff at the Beijing airport how to report that I would be leaving the country with an iPad, so as to avoid being taxed when I returned.
The first four people I asked said they didn’t know; the fifth told me the levy had been revoked.(In fact, the tax wascut in half, but not rescinded entirely.)
「Why hasn’t this change been publicized?」 I asked.
「Why should it be?」 he retorted.「When first implemented, it wasn’t publicized, either.」
If the central government’s decrees are opaque, local authorities』 can be downright ridiculous. In2001, hospital officials in the southern city of Shenzhen specified that nurses should show precisely eight teeth when smiling. In2003, Hunan Province, in central China, stipulated that the breasts of female candidates for civil-service positions should be symmetrical. The next year, public safety officials in the northern city of Harbin ruled that policemen whose waistlines exceeded36 inches had to go. In2006, transportation officials in Zhejiang Province, just south of Shanghai, banned employees from sporting facial hair. The following year, in an effort to reduce the school-dropout rate, Pinghe County in Fujian Province, on the southeast coast, decreed that a junior high school diploma was required to marry.
Several of these rules have since been revoked, but their wacky and arbitrary nature demonstrates the arrogance of power in China. One can imagine all too easily their creators— sitting in comfortable armchairs, drinking high-grade tea and smoking fine cigarettes— discussing the issues at hand as if they were purely intellectual abstractions, never considering how ordinary people might react. That people will be unhappy is no cause for concern because, for so long, the power of the state has trampled on individual rights. Only when rules are so onerous that they stir actual protest do higher-ups take notice:「You guys are just making a mess of things,」 they』ll tell their bureaucrat underlings.「This is not good for social stability.」 The rules are then quietly rescinded— sometimes.
Often, regulations are even inconsistent with national laws. Take, for example, revised driving regulations that went into effect on Jan.1. To reduce the accident rate on Chinese highways, the Public Security Ministry came out with what have been called particularly harsh rules. The imposition of a six-point penalty for running a yellow light produced howls of protest.(In China, a12-point penalty leads to revocation of a license.)
To many, the yellow-light rule seemed certain to cause an increase in rear-end collisions. Even the official media raised questions.「According to Clause26 of China’s traffic safety law, signals consist of red, green and yellow lights,」 the state-controlled Xinhua News Agency patiently explained.「The red light prohibits passage, the green light allows it, while the yellow light signifies warning. Each signal has a separate function, and now to nullify the distinction between yellow light and red light is not only unfeasible but also in conflict with current law.」 The ministry backed down and downgraded the penalty to a warning.
During all the kerfuffle, a joke began to circulate:
A man fails to return home one wintry night. When he shows up the next morning, his wife demands an explanation.
「The traffic light at the corner kept blinking yellow,」 he says,「and it didn’t go back to operating normally until just now. I would have been docked six points if I』d run the yellow light— or nine if I』d tried to make a U-turn at an intersection.」
「Why didn’t you at least call me?」
「You get docked three points if you use a phone while driving.」
The man is shivering uncontrollably. His wife asks:「How did you get this cold, just sitting in the car?」
「It was snowing so hard I had to keep clearing off the license plate— you’re docked a full12 points if the number is obscured.」
Yu Hua, the author of「China in Ten Words,」 is a guest columnist. This column was translated byAllan H. Barrfrom the Chinese.