Oiwon, thanx for chiming in. Let's look at your post, point-by-point:
Wanna google the laws? I can't, google is blocked here....
Ok, sure. So perhaps Chinese "don't have the laws" at the click of a mouse. But ... I'm guessing there's "laws", right ? Sure maybe not perhaps something you can study on line. But ... I'm guessing it's written down somewhere. Right ? Then what's to stop a Chinese citizen from simply going to where that exists, in binder form, and reading them there ?
Or if you say "That's not possible" . That it exists nowhere in print form. And that "It's totally arbitrary, capricious, and whimsical", eh ? So does that mean you could walk down the street tomorrow there, and be arrested for "wearing a blue shirt" ? That was made-up on-the-spot, and no such law exists that prohibits blue shirts ? Ok, let's assume it's
that horrible and corrupt. That you can't learn the laws. Laws can be "made up on the spot. Ok, then how about this solution:
You ask a power-that-be at the spot "Hi. Can I metal detect?". Eg.: local police station or policeman standing there. Lifeguard at the beach, gardener at the park, etc... They say : "Sure, help yourself". Does that green light (from the person duly authorized with authority over said-spot of public land) suffice ? Or is it
so corrupt and awful there that someone higher up can come and arrest you ? Dismissing your "permission" and "due diligence" to "find out laws"? Then how does ANYONE there know what they "can and can't do" ?
And I find it odd that you cite laws, to back up your assertions. Yet on the OTHER hand, are saying that "laws can't be looked up or known". And corruption makes laws meaningless, blah blah. Well gee, then why/how can you cite a "law" to back up an assertion of something legal vs not-legal ? Do you see the inherent contradictions in what you are saying ?
....The fact is the government owns all the land in this country. All of it. Everything on this land belongs to them and all located cultural relics should be reported. ...
Ok ? And... ?
SO TOO can the same be said of England. SO TOO can the same be said of Mexico. Yet ... last I checked, md'ing is going on there. Oh sure, so long as you don't make a nuisance of yourself (raiding pyramids, not reporting to the UK archies, trying to smuggle caches out of the country, blah blah blah). And BTW: Mexico is about as corrupt as they come ! Talk about "arbitrary" and "lack of rights if accused" ?? Try Mexico on for size! Not saying to "throw caution to the wind". But just saying that the fact of "the crown owns all the minerals and wealth underground" type-laws is not unique to China. And ... barring some P's and Q's to abide by, legal detecting goes on.
Heck: While we may
not have those "crown" laws here in the USA regarding private land, we
DO have them on public land. What I mean is: Take any parks (or beaches or forests or deserts, etc...) here in the USA. If you study the laws here long enough, you will see that "park features" or "forest features" belong to the city or county or state, etc... In other words: You can not just waltz out there and start cutting down trees to sell for lumber. Or harvesting the sand, or taking home the bathroom fixtures, etc.. COULD such laws/rules be applied to individual single coins ? SURE ! But are they ever applied in such a way ? Of course not. Unless someone took out a treasure chest and started making a big news stink about it. Then sure: such laws could be trotted out, and "dire conclusions" be made about "illegal md'ing", etc... Yet reality is far different.
because it just takes 1 government official having a bad day to mess up your world....
I don't know of a country in the world where this can't be said of. Everything that you are saying sort of reminds me of when I was preparing for an md'ing trip to Mexico in the early 1990s: Some club member friends of mine were giving me "dire warnings" of how I could be arrested at the border". Corruption. Don't drink the water. No rights of the accused, Cultural heritage belongs to the govt., etc.... So I started looking into it further (asking my host-to-be). Turns out that as long as you don't do something stupid (trespassing on historic sensitive monuments), or make waves of bags of gold, that .... it's no different than anywhere else in the world. Yet all my friends could envision (same as you talking to a "lady and her family") is that dire-consequences are sure to be envisioned. Because, sure, there are stories that circulate of someone getting roughed up at the border for something silly. Or cops taking bribes for traffic tickets. Or drug cartels murdering people in the desert, blah blah blah. Yet american tourists come and go all the time. Detectors are a common site on the beaches there, etc...
.... With that said.. some people, even cops, might just think it's cool and no big deal
They'll probably be curious about it. ....
Say it isn't so ! No automatic hands cut off for md'ing ?
....Do you know the story of the man who found the terra cotta warriors? He's a farmer and found them one day by accident, while digging on his land. When word got out that he had found something special the government took his land from him and didn't give him a cent.....
Yup. There it is. When the subject of legality of md'ing in odd-ball foreign countries (that are either 3rd world, or are not in the "western" culture mindset) comes up: Someone is sure to point to such treasure things as this. Eg.: laws regarding the pyramids. Shipwreck salvor hassles. Or some such priceless treasure that "got someone in hassle". As if to conclude that : Therefore, SO TOO do the same hassles/laws apply to fumble finger coin hunting .
Then think of it: SO TOO could the same be said of the USA: Recall the Mel Fisher legal hassles. Why wouldn't a single gold coin find on the beach be subject to the same laws that got Mel Fisher (just like your farmer) in hassles ? Because, of course, such laws realistically simply do NOT get applied. Could they be ? SURE! If I went and started asking enough lawyers and enough purist archies: "Hi, can I keep this coin I found on the state beach here?" I'm sure I could find someone to say "no".
Also: As for the confiscation of the land owned by that farmer who found the statues: So too does this happen in Mexico if you find oil (a resource/riches as an example) on your own land. Do you think the "farmer is rich"? (like in the Beverly hillbillies story of the USA) ? Of course not. That farmer's land is taken away and only the Mexican government gets rich off that oil. So again: The same legal principle applies. And again, it doesn't get applied to singular coin fumble fingers beach hunting type stuff. Could it be ?? SURE. Anywhere you go in the world.
I'm not saying to throw caution to the wind. I'm not saying that some countries aren't more corrupt and capricious than others. But just saying that if you ask enough questions, and think through things long enough, you will eventually never leave your front door in the morning. "Lest you be attacked by a lion".
How is it that people are md'ing in China right now ? Why can we look up on youtube and see their videos ? And read their posts ? If it were all-fired illegal, then *certainly* it's not hard to track down these persons and go after them, eh ?
.... Don't come here acting like a cocky laowai thinking you're invincible and hot sh*t with your metal detector or you will ruin it for everyone....
Well sure. But a respectful humble non-defiant attitude (if approached by authority) exists EVERYWHERE. Right ? I mean, even here in the USA it's *possible* to get a cop or a gardener waltz up to us and say "you can't do that". And sure, you can defy them, rattle off "your rights" and debate the laws with them, etc.. And sure, you might prevail (they might agree it's not prohibited). OR
THEY can prevail. By relying on ancillary verbiage. Of harming earthworms, or ARPA, or "alter/deface", etc.... Thus I agree with you that NO ONE should have such a c*ck-s*cking legal-know-it-all attitude when approached. I'm the FIRST to admit we're in an odd-ball hobby with lots of ... uh ... "connotations".
Thus the discussion of "legal" versus "not-legal" at a place where md'ing is still relatively unknown, or where the culture is vastly different than our western culture, is NOT to imply that a westerner go there, and start "waltzing about demanding his rights", blah blah blah. No more so than anywhere else we go. Because, sure: There scores of things that *might* apply. The same can be said of anywhere. And a little respect, and a little logic of when and where you detect, goes a long way. Like even here in Calif, there are places I won't detect until odd-ball times of day when the places are deserted of park goers. NOT that I think "I'm doing something illegal". But simply because I know md'ing is an odd-ball thing that carries connotations (that I might be about to leave holes, etc....).
If so: Then how does ANYONE there decide to do ANYTHING there ? Eg.: fly frisbees, whistle dixie, etc...? If you have utterly no knowledge of what they would come up and put you in prison for ? 
