It happened about 10 PM on a cold, dark night outside of the people's square subway station... My friend and I were walking back after a night of eating and shopping around the Nanjing Road area. We were kind of joking around with each other at the time so I guess I didn't notice the guy take the wallet out of my front pocket. In fact, there were a number of people outside the subway station, but it wasn't super crowded so I wasn't too concerned with people bumping into me. As we walked down the stairs of the subway entrance we saw a woman yelling at another woman. I asked my friend what was her problem. My friend said the woman was saying her purse was just stolen. My first impression after hearing that was to check my pocket to make sure my wallet was still safe. My pocket of course was empty and I started checking all of my pockets in both my pants and jacket. A girl saw me and came up to us and told my friend in Chinese that she had seen someone take my wallet.
At first I was stunned. I couldn't believe I had just had my wallet stolen. I hadn't felt a thing! Was this the work of a magician? I didn't know what to do so we walked outside. At that point my shock turned into anger and I cursed the thief to hell in front of about 50 people. I could have killed that thief at that moment I was so angry! After that I smoked one of my friend's cigarettes and came to my senses (cigarettes - the Chinese Valium!). There was no sense in being mad at this point. What was done was done... Even if I knew who stole my wallet and there were there standing right by me, it would have been too dangerous to try to go after them (these kind of people carry knives, you don't want to risk a couple hundred US dollars for that). Anyhow, the main thing was my passport was safe at home and I could always get more money later.
I went to the police station with my friend after that. The police station there was an old room in a side room of the subway. She explained what had happened to the police officer there. The officer was nice and spoke a little English. He took his time and filled out the police report thoroughly. He told me the thieves were Xin Jiang people (ethnic minority from Western China). He told me not worry. He said these kind of people were not smart enough to use my debit or credit card. I was relieved to hear this. The last thing I needed was some guy buying random stuff on the internet with my credit card.
We spent about 40 minutes talking with the police as they got our information. Of course, I didn't think they would be able to recover any of my money (or even my wallet or cards for that matter) but I thought it was worth a try, even just to get my driver's license back. After they got all of my contact information I thumb printed a document and we left. I lost about 1,000 RMB ($150), which can pay for 3 or 4 really good meals and some drinks. My friend gave me 100 RMB to get home and to eat the next day.
Today (Thursdsay) I got a call when I was at work. The person was talking in Chinese so I gave my phone to my coworker. My coworker said someone had found my wallet. At first I presumed it was the police, but it was actually someone who worked around the subway. We left work to meet with the person at the subway station. It turns out that the person who found my wallet was a newspaper salesman. I could tell he was quite poor. His clothes were dirty and he sold his papers on the sidewalk. Since I come to that station his face actually looked very familiar. He gave me my wallet which had everything in it except of course my money. I gave him 50 RMB because that is what I was told was expected. He actually wanted me to give him more, but I refused since my wallet was super cheap and my card in it had been canceled anyway. The only other thing in there that would have been useful for me was my driver's license. Basically he couldn't refuse my offer of 50 RMB since he wouldn't have been able to sell my wallet for more anyway and the cards were useless for him. After we left my coworker told me that he might have been the thief. What I don't understand is why the police didn't confiscate the wallet because he had to have gone to them to get my number.
After I told my Chinese friends what happened they all told me similar stories about how their purse, wallet, or cell phone got stolen. One friend told me she had her purse stolen which had 6,000 RMB (Chinese people sometimes carry a lot of cash!). My coworker said she knew of someone who got his cell phone stolen 3 times in one week! Needless to say, although I am usually very careful, this is an important lesson to never let my guard down.