Chinese time traveler spotted

A young Chinese girl begs for money to buy a ticket back to the past

At the risk of turning Flares into the Chinese time travel blog -- although, come to think of it, that probably is a niche ready for the taking -- I offer yet another Chinese time travel post. This one involves a rural Chinese girl from 500 years ago who was flung through time only to land in a Shanghai Metro station. That's her above.

As the always zany ChinaSmack recounts in their post Time Traveling Woman from Past Begs in Subway, Has iPhone (there are some vulgar remarks in the comment section) the woman, claiming to be from 500 years in the past, has appeared at an exit to the Metro and is begging for money to return to her village in the distant past.

At the link there is also a video, served by YouKu (China's dodgy version of YouTube), in which she has the following conversation with a man:

MAN: Um, miss, what are you doing?

WOMAN BEGGAR: Begging for money to go home.

MAN: Your home is Qingyuan village?

WOMAN BEGGAR: That’s right.

MAN: Qingyuan village… where is that?

WOMAN BEGGAR: It’s from five hundred years ago.

MAN: From five hundred years ago? In that case, if I donate some money to your cause, how will you be able to give it back to me?

WOMAN BEGGAR: With noble sir’s kindness, I should [repay you] by being betrothed to you, but I am so homesick! But when the day comes in the future, this humble girl will definitely repay your noble sir’s kindness.

MAN: Noble sir’s kindness…heh, no need [to repay]. But if at that time you were to run away [disappear, renege on her promise], how would I find you?

WOMAN BEGGAR: This is a token/pledge. [she hands him a "Certificate of Life-long Full Financial Support", a fake document identifying a kept mistress, a woman who is financially supported by a man.]

MAN: So with this…this…this lousy card? But even with this lousy card I still can’t get a hold of you.

WOMAN BEGGAR: That’s not a problem, wait a second…oh, here it is. [Pulls out a mobile smartphone] What’s your phone number?

MAN: Al….right.

Well, yea... the iPhone is an incongruous touch, but then again we know from Chinese TV time travel shows that young men who time travel to the past are all the time impressing old-timey babes by showing them their smartphones, so maybe that's where she got one?  Also, let us not forget the 1928 Charlie Chaplin film that purports to show a time traveling woman yakking on a cellphone at a silent film premier as she walks by in the background. Man, who knew cell phones were so prevalent in the past?

Then again, you could be a cynic like many of the commenters in the Chinasmack thread, and think it was nothing more than a marketing gimmick for a Chinese MMORPG called Journey 2. Regardless, much as we like zombies, the Chinese seem to be on a time travel binge these days.