Not sure if it falls into the category of 'bureaucracy' but i've met my share of people in official positions who've been total arseheads here. Getting a new visa one time I was chewed out for drawing a line across old visas, though I explained it was just because I have so many that it makes it easier to find whichever one is current. But nope, they threatened me with 11 days in jail, then sent me off to the university I was currently attending to get a letter from teacher of all things. I had to explain to the head teacher (why, I do not know) what i'd done, and then write a letter explaining why i'd been a naughty naughty boy. My wife was stood next to me the whole time giving me stern looks, afraid that I was going to tell them to get f**ked and get myself kicked out the country. I think they just wanted to see the foreigner jump through some hoops.

  Did come across a policeman as I was cycling under a road in Beijing once who made me get off my bike, explaining that there was no cycling. I said sure, fair enough, even though the underpass was completely empty, and got off and started walking, but he then went on to tell me to turn back, which was when I started to laugh. I pointed out to him that I was half way under the road and that I had the same distance to walk in either direction, the only difference being that I didn't want to go in one of those directions and he was now insisting that I must. Just bloody-minded stupidity really, I guess he'd gotten out of bed on the wrong side that morning and was having a BCD. It was in fact small instances like that and being turned away from two hotels, one for being foreign and the other for not being married to the girl I was with, that made me nickname Beijing 'The Forbidden City'. Yeh, I know, I think someone else got there first, right?

I came to China on tourist visa, for a job interview. I got the job, great ! Then, to get my work permit and the right visa to stay for one year, I have to

1) Leave China

2) Enter China again

Love that logic... So off to Hong-Kong at my employer expense, a public university. My employer was not too happy to pay for this trip. So I had one single day to arrive in HK, go to the visa office, and then return to China. Completely unrealistic, impossible to make my employer listen to some reason. Once in HK, surprise, surprise, some papers were missing in my work permit application. And a typhoon was coming, closing all administrations for two days. My employer was very scared I was trying to cheat to get free tourism. Getting the missing papers and getting him to pay for the hotel was epic.

At a top-tiers university in China (same as above), students petitioned the director of the department I was teaching at. See, their grades were not good enough. Half of them did not show up at the class, yet, they were supposed to get a good grade. The other were supposed to be Comp. Sci. majors, but they had huge holes in their curriculum. What did the department administration ? Backing me up ? Nope. They asked me to write an apology letter, for making students loose face. I gave them a letter explaining to the students their failings and detailing how their attitude not moral (with quotes from Mao and Kong Zi ). The administration sat on that. They said whatever they said to the students, gave them grossly inflated grads ("everybody get a prize !") and I got a 30% pay increase. I think the veterans will recognize this logic with Chinese characteristics.

I think hospitals. The wife was hospitalized for a week about a year ago. We arrived one night late, went to a reception kind of place, paid a small fee, then went to see a doctor, doctor ordered a bloodtest, then we needed to go back to the reception, then back to the doctor, then to another department with the doctor to do the bloodtest, then wait for bloodtest results, then bring the bloodtest results to the doctor. Then go to another department, run around a lot more. ANd the best part was that the reception wanted to see my wife along her ID and social security card each time, so I was wheeling her around in a wheelchair while she was in bad pain. I think we were at that reception 5 times.

Once diagnosed, they made us pay for the hospital one day at a time, that is until the insurance company got their ass in gear and told the hospital all expenses would be covered. 

Once my wife was release there was several trips to the hospital to get paperwork to and from the insurance company. Not sure why the "patient" needs to be involved in something that is between insurance company and hospital. 

Went to big shopping mall. Bought some socks, wanted to pay them with groceries like in any shopping mall, only to be rejected by clerk, who sent me back to department. I wanted to leave them at cashier, not to buy, but I was curious what's the deal, so I went back to clothes department, where clerk gave me 2 paper slips and send me to another cashier, not at the exit, but inside of mall they have other specialized cashiers.

Ok, so I went there, waited in line, paid 10Y, clerk took one paper slip and return one to me, stamped it for confirmation and attached another one with glue and told me to go back to clothes department. I went back, gave clerk at clothes department slip, he gave me yet another slip for cashier at the exit, where I had to show them, that indeed I bought socks.

So, for a pair of socks, after you choose them, have to ask clerk to give you slip, then go to cashier inside of shop and pay, then go back to clothes department to get another slip from clerk and then you finally can go to the cashier at the exit.

It was the first and last time I bought there, but interesting experience. There are 3 clerks needed to get pair of socks. First will write you paper slips, second will charge you and glue another slip (wondering why there is no another person for gluing, maybe he had day off) and third person will check slips.

It would be way too complicated to just pay the damn socks at the exit.