Yes, just omit it.

I doubt they really care about herpes.

At the time my Z visa was being issued I was in the Philippines visiting my wife's family. I needed my medical so I went to the local hospital in Lipa City and asked for a occupational screening and gave them the med form from the Chinese embassy. They did not omit anything, just simply tested for what was requested ... that did include the drop your pants, turn your head and cough. So if you have anything active down below it may be noticed during the hernia check. I am not sure how strict they are, but if your home country health care system will not provide, go visit your neighbor to get it done ... They did not seem to care that the American had a Philippine health screening and it was much cheaper than getting it done at home.

Danmairen,

a couple of advices about doing the health check abroad.

I did it in Europe about three years ago and also had some troubles with the form. In the end...
- I provided a complete blood count and I think you won't get around this, but a blood type test was not required on the form.
- I had to pay an extra fee for the syphilis test for the same reasons you quote but if I remember well there are two types of tests and taking the cheaper and less secure one was ok.
- I did not provide ECG printouts and X-ray pictures but had my doctor write "ok" in these fields (the X-ray is for TBC). You'll be doing another ECG and X-ray when you get here anyway.
- also, for all the fields where it says "status of..." spine, neck, etc, I had my doctor just write "ok".

What is really important though is that
- you have your doctor chop (in red! and preferably round) and sign each page
- you need a chop over your picture on the first page (they had me do it again because it was NEXT to the picture).

For the medical things they're really not so picky because as I said before you'll be doing a full health check again once you get here.

If the Z visa has been issued to you, then you should not need to do the medical exam here. Unless, of course, this is one of those new rules...

And the answer is...an apparent compromise. The Quarantine folks (who, we discovered after arriving at the advertised place near Heping Li subway station had moved a 70 kuai cab ride away to Haidian) wanted to see detailed lab test results despite the completed form. So they had me do the blood test and an x-ray, but none of the other stuff.

But of course the health document I got on Friday declaring me officially alive still has the No. 20 Hepingli Beijie address. All I know about the new place is that it's somewhere on the 333 bus line. The map handed out at the old place is entirely in Chinese, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense for newly-arrived foreigners (or to the taxi driver, for that matter). The health documents themselves are conveniently bilingual (he said selfishly).

Hey Danmairen,

Good to know that someone is trying to follow the footsteps of Peter, an older Danish gentleman who lived and worked in Beijing for many years. He was even on TV, co-hosting an English teaching programme on BTV. As I said, he was a gentleman, which apparantly you are not.

If the whole process of getting your medical is too difficult/costly/tedious in Denmark (why do they need English teachers from Denmark? Do they also require Danish teachers from England???), then I suggest you quit the process and stay where you are. There are simply too many people here who experience f***ing this and bull**it that, nobody forces you to come here.

Consider this, you aren't allowed to bring food to Australia, at least they let anybody bring their herpes to China.

Adios

It's May 2011, I've been teaching in China for 10 months, and passed the pan-STD test needed to get my Z visa, back in August of 2010.

Since arriving in China, I acquired Syphilis, which is now at the secondary stage. I got 3 separate penicillin shots here, my symptoms vanished, I waited a month, took a blood test and tested positive-- again.

I will return to the USA for the summer in a month, so I will wait get my second treatment for it there, as I don't want to go through the nightmare of dealing with Chinese hospitals again.

My question is this: I will be changing jobs and cities when I return to China in late August of 2011. They have told me that I will have to take all the medical tests again to renew my Z visa.

What if my Syphilis is not gone by the time I take the medical tests in August? I will only be in the USA for 2 months, and if the treatment there does not work by August, I will test positive again.

Could my Z visa be denied if I test positive for Syphilis, or will they just make me get treatment and approve it once I do test negative?