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Barclay Crawford

Elaine Yau

For seven days and nights, Chinese national Zhang Rebing was in no-man's land in the transit lounge of Hong Kong International Airport.
Staff at the airport and others involved in trying to resolve her case could not help but compare her situation to that of the Tom Hanks character in the movie The Terminal.  
However, while the 2004 film was inspired by one man's 18-year-stay at Charles de Gaulle International Airport  in Paris, Zhang's stay appeared to be over last night after the South China Morning Post contacted authorities about her predicament. 
In her seven days at the airport, Zhang became something of a celebrity in the transfer area. 
Staff from the Super Super congee shop said she wore her hair in pigtails, cleaner Tam Miu-yi said.
'She wouldn't talk to any of us but one day she had a long conversation with a young Caucasian man. She was very friendly to him,' she said.
Zhang also had a healthy appetite, gobbling down two bowls of congee three times a day,  washed down with  her favourite Puer tea. She carried her suitcases everywhere she went. 
Zhang, who holds a People's Republic of China passport  and has residency in Canada, had been given a boarding pass on December 11 to go to the United States, without a visa.
She cleared immigration and made it as far as the boarding gate for the lunchtime CX872  flight for San Francisco before a final check by Cathay Pacific staff revealed she could not gain entry into the US. A Cathay  spokeswoman said it was an oversight that she had been given the boarding pass in the first place, but said  there were multiple checkpoints in place that ensured she was stopped before getting on the flight. 
The spokeswoman said that under  carriers' conditions, it was the responsibility of passengers to ensure they had valid travel documents.
After being refused entry, Zhang bought a ticket for the following day's CX888 flight to Vancouver, before backtracking and telling staff to cancel her ticket.  She said she would only fly to the US.
What followed was a search  for a resolution to Zhang's problem involving Cathay Pacific, mainland authorities, the Canadian consulate  and the Airport Authority. 
On Monday,  a memo was circulated to airport staff and the other concerned parties, which noted that the woman had sufficient money to pay for her food.
Airport staff also noted that she had behaved 'strangely' and was not willing to talk to staff or  explain how she would settle the problem,  despite numerous attempts.
By this stage, she had exceeded her allowed stay in Hong Kong, but the  Immigration Department said  it would consider allowing her back into Hong Kong if she presented herself to officers. Authorities tried to contact a relative in Canada through Canadian consul for immigration Dennis MacDonald,  but they  failed. 
On Wednesday, two representatives from the mainland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs came to the airport and met the Airport Authority's duty manager and a representative of the Immigration Department. 
Zhang was reported as being unco-operative and at one stage even locked herself in the toilets. She also told the officials that she was happy  to remain in the airport.
'No need, I am OK to hang around for a while,' another memo reported her as saying. Approaches by the team were met with Zhang telling them: 'Don't follow me.'
Despite being unco-operative,  Zhang was described as being tidy and no longer  displaying any strange behaviour.
Security staff said they had been told to keep a close watch on her. They said police arrived to take her away at around 5pm. Just after 7pm, concerned parties said Zhang's husband had agreed that she could leave the airport for a hospital assessment, with the help of the police.



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Local version of  'The Terminal' ends after 7 days

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