Imagine this: You’re having a great time out with your friends. The cab drops you off at home and you’re ready for bed. Then, as you watch the taxi speed away, you realize you’ve left your purse/cell phone/wallet/insert-important-thing-here in it. Great.

If you’ve lived in Shanghai for any lengthy period of time, chances are you’ve experienced this situation (or at least something like it). It’s a pain to lose something in a public transportation vehicle, but it can be almost impossible to get anything back here in Shanghai. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to increase your chances of finding your possessions again.

In a taxi

The first and foremost rule of riding in a taxi is to get a receipt when you exit the car. This almost guarantees that you’ll be able to recover your lost item (unless another passenger steals it, of course). The fapio provides the taxi’s number, the time, and the fare, all of which are vital in the ensuing search. With over 45,000 taxis operated by over 150 taxi companies in Shanghai, don’t underestimate the power of a receipt.

Of course, after a night out at the clubs, remembering to get a receipt probably isn’t very far up on the list of priorities. So at least try to remember the taxi color. This can indicate which cab company they worked for and allows you to call the right number. Call 021-96822 for the Dazhong (turquoise) cabs, 021-62580000 for the Qiangsheng (yellow) ones, and 021-96961 for the Jinjiang (white) taxis. The number for the Bashi (light green) taxis is 021-96840 and for the Haibo (Expo taxis), call 021-96965.

Reporting your lost item to the cab company is a good first step, but be sure to go to your local police station to report it there, too. Granted, some stations will be more receptive to investigating your claims than others (Jing’An is a particularly good one; Fahuazhen Lu, not so much).  The good ones will review the camera footage of where you exited the taxi and, if need be, contact the traffic police to review the traffic camera footage that essentially follows the cab from where it picked you up to where it dropped you off (yes, there are truly cameras everywhere here). Getting a license plate number from this video can pinpoint the driver and which cab you rode in. Sometimes even telling the taxi company you’re going to get the police to review the traffic camera footage results in your lost item magically appearing, so it never hurts to apply a little pressure.

In the metro

Unfortunately, if you forget something in the metro, it’s a lot more difficult to recover it. Immediately report to a help/information desk at any exit/entry gate. The problem here, however, is that if you don’t speak Mandarin, you’re not likely to get your point across. It helps a lot to have someone who speaks Chinese to explain the situation – if that’s the case, they can usually track down the exact train you were riding. It does, of course, depend on whether someone on the train decided to help themselves to your stuff. If you don’t have anyone with you who speaks Mandarin, try calling up a bilingual friend to come meet you at the station, or approach one of the million Expo workers posted at various stations who usually have at least a rudimentary English level.

At the airport

Losing something at the airport is slightly less of a hassle (usually) as there are specific offices to which lost or forgotten items are taken. If you forget something at the check-in counter, head back there as soon as you remember, because they usually hang on to items behind the counter for at least a little while. At the Pudong Airport, there is a Left Luggage office on the ground floor, near Gate 7. Or, if you’ve already left the airport, you can call them at (021) 6834-6324. At the Hongqiao Airport, there’s a Lost and Found beside Gate 1 in the Arrivals Hall (021-5114-2071) and a Left Luggage office in the East Traffic Center on the first floor (021-2238-1085).
It’s important to remember that if the airport ever loses or damages your luggage, they are liable for compensation fees. This is roughly 135rmb per kilogram. If your bag’s value is less than 135rmb, the compensation price is the actual value of the lost baggage.
 

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