China Chronicles April 24, 2012
- Hu Congratulates Kim
CHINESE President Hu Jintao met a top North Korean envoy yesterday in a reaffirmation of traditional ties.
Hu met Workers' Party international relations chief Kim Yong Il in Beijing. Hu sent his congratulations to North Korea's new leader Kim Jong Un.
- Electricity Council predicts summer of blackouts
SOME parts of China will experience severe blackouts this summer as the result of electricity shortages, the China Electricity Council said yesterday.
The more developed eastern and southern regions will bear the brunt, followed by north and central China, while northeast and northwest regions are expected to see an electricity surplus, it said.
China has suffered seasonal power shortages in recent decades due to rising electricity use amid breakneck economic growth.
- Confucius in Beijing
Sokleine has added a photo to the pool:
The Temple of Confucius at Beijing (北京孔庙) is the second largest Confucian Temple in China, after the one in Confucius' hometown of Qufu.
The temple was built in 1302, and officials used it to pay their respects to Confucius until 1911. The compound was enlarged twice, during the Ming and Qing dynasties and now occupies some 20,000 square meters. From 1981 until 2005, the Temple of Confucius also housed part of the art collection of the Capital Museum. It stands on Guozijian Street near the Imperial Academy.
Source: wikipedia - Navies unite in celebration
A Chinese Navy special forces soldier joins his Russian counterparts in Qingdao City in eastern China yesterday to celebrate the 63rd anniversary of the establishment of the People's Liberation Army Navy of China. The celebration was part of events held by both navies during the current Russia-China joint naval exercises taking place in the Yellow Sea off China's east coast. The drills involve 16 vessels and two submarines from the Chinese navy and four warships from the Russian navy's Pacific Fleet as well as three supply ships.
- China denounces Philippine call over South China Sea
China yesterday denounced Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario's call for other countries to take a stand regarding the South China Sea, adding that China's stance on safeguarding its territory and sovereignty was clear and firm.
Del Rosario, in a message sent to reporters on Sunday, urged other countries to "consider what China is endeavoring to do" on Huangyan Island in the South China Sea.
The Philippines has claimed sovereignty over the island, which is part of Chinese territory.
"The Huangyan Island concerns China's sovereignty and the stance of the Chinese government on safeguarding its territory and sovereignty is clear and firm," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in Beijing.
"It will only complicate and scale up the issue to ask other countries to take sides over sovereignty issues," Liu said, adding that such a move would not help to properly settle the current situation.
On April 10, a dozen Chinese fishing boats were harassed by a Philippine Navy gunboat while taking refuge from bad weather in a lagoon near Huangyan Island.
Two Chinese marine surveillance ships conducting routine patrols in the area later came to the fishermen's rescue.
As the standoff enters its third week, China has a maritime surveillance ship and six fishing boats in the area while the Philippines has a coastguard vessel and a fisheries boat.
On Sunday, Lieutenant General Juancho Sabban said after annual US-Philippines war games on the western Philippine island of Palawan he had asked for more ships and aircraft to step up patrols in the area, Reuters reported.
"We have more patrols now than before and we are asking for more air assets so we can patrol the area," he said.
China's military, in a commentary in the Liberation Army Daily last Saturday, warned the United States that US-Philippine military exercises had raised the risk of armed confrontation in the South China Sea.
Peking University professor Jia Qingguo said China may! be prep aring to take a tougher line on disputes, adding many in China want the US to rein in the Philippines.
"Quite a lot of people are thinking that the US is encouraging the Philippines to create a problem for China in the South China Sea," Jia said.
US and Philippine troops launched two weeks of the naval exercises in mid-April. Amphibious landing drills are set to take place tomorrow in areas facing the South China Sea.
However, US and Philippine military officials said the drills were not directed at China or any other party.
- Former Wukan officials expelled from the Party
TWO former officials from south China's Wukan village have been expelled from the Communist Party of China over corruption and election-rigging charges, provincial authorities said yesterday.
Xue Chang, former Party chief of Wukan, and Chen Shunyi, former head of the village committee, were also ordered to hand over illegal gains of 189,200 yuan (US$30,031) and 86,000 yuan respectively, said Zeng Qingrong, deputy head of the supervision department of Guangdong Province.
Wukan hit the headlines last year when village residents staged three waves of large-scale rallies in four months to protest at village officials' alleged illegal land grabs, corruption and violations of financing and election rules.
In December, after a senior provincial official held direct talks with villagers, order was restored. Re-elections were held earlier this year while an investigation into the villagers' complaints continued.
Zeng said authorities found that Wukan's former officials were involved in illegal transfers of land use rights, embezzling collective properties, accepting bribes and rigging village elections.
Six other former village officials were also punished.
Twelve township and municipal officials who collaborated with the Wukan officials were also punished, including two who were transferred to judicial authorities for suspected law infringements.
More than 1.06 million yuan of illegal gains had been confiscated from officials.
Investigators said that as the probe continues, Xue and Chen, the former Wukan top officials, may also be handed over to judicial authorities.
Yesterday's announcement was welcomed by the villagers, who also urged the authorities to swiftly settle the disputed land use rights concerning the land allegedly impropriated by businessmen through under-the-table deals with former village officials.
- Spurned teen accused of burning girl stands trial
A high school student accused of setting fire to a girl who rejected his romantic advances stood trial in a district court in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei yesterday on charges of intentional injury.
The Baohe District People's Court is handling the closed-door trial of 17-year-old Tao Rukun, who admired his classmate Zhou Yan for a long time but failed to win her heart. Feeling spurned, Tao went to the home of Zhou last September, poured gasoline on her face and ignited it with a lighter, prosecutors said.
The case prompted public outcry after the victim's mother detailed the gruesome details of the assault online, posting photos of her daughter's bandage-wrapped face.
Hospital officials said that about 32 percent of the girl's body was burned. Zhou's left ear was mutilated, most of her face became disfigured and she was left with severe burns on her head, neck, hands and legs, the Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
The girl's parents previously asked for a public hearing, a request that was turned down due to the defendant's age.
Zhou had surgery on April 10 in Beijing.
To avoid infection to her wounds, Zhou traveled with an air cleaner on her way from a Beijing hospital back to Hefei to attend the court hearing, which is ongoing.
- Groundwater depletion causing land woes
MORE than 300 of China's 657 cities are short of groundwater, with over 70 seeing land-subsidence hazards due to exploitation, including Shanghai.
The overdrafting of water has formed around 150,000 square kilometers of sinking areas, from Harbin in the northeast to Haikou in the far south, from Shanghai in the east to Urumqi in the west, said Wang Guangqian, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Authorities tested small amounts of toxic pollutants in underground water in cities and suburbs in the Yangtze River Delta, Zhujiang River Delta and the Beijing area, said the Ministry of Land and Resources.
It announced that the underground water quality is better in south China, where 90 percent is of high grade, and in mountain areas compared to the plains areas. The coastal areas tested as the poorest in the research.
The situation has improved somewhat in eastern China while worsening in northern China, the ministry said.
More than 400 cities nationwide use groundwater, the ministry said, adding that in northern China more than 65 percent of household water, 50 percent of industrial water and 33 percent of irrigation water comes from aquifers.
The excessive exploitation and the contamination pose great threats to the safety of drinking water, the ministry said.
Large amounts of sewage, including industrial discharge and pesticides, have leaked into aquifers, deteriorated the water quality and to some extent decreased the storage of the recoverable water, which is clean and safe.
"It needs at least decades to clear the tainted underground water," said a professor who wished to remain anonymous. "It's also hard to monitor the underground water pollution."
The Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences said in a research paper that nearly 4 billion cubic meters of groundwater was excessively extracted in the North China Plain every year. The region, in fact, can't draw any more, it said, because it has essentially sucked the aquifer dry.
! Meanwhil e, nearly 72,000 square kilometers of land surrounding the Bohai Sea has subsided in the last 50 years. The over-exploitation causes cracks in the ground and poses great threats to the urban infrastructure.
Shanghai, Tianjin, and Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, have sunk more than two meters. In February, a 10-meter-long road crack emerged in the Lujiazui area, Shanghai's financial zone.
- Lamborghini, Gallardo, LP 550-2, Tricolore, Luk Keng, Hong Kong
Daryl Chapman's - Automotive Photography has added a photo to the pool:
The not so well known black version of the LP550-2 Tricolore.
- west railway station
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- Family compensated for death in manhole mishap
The family of a woman who died after falling into a hot water valve manhole in Beijing on April 1 received 900,000 yuan (US$142,830) in compensation, Legal Evening News reported today.
Yang Erjing, a young mother, was walking on the sidewalk of Beilishi Road when the manhole cover collapsed under her feet. She suffered 99 percent burns and died days later despite rescue efforts.
The accident was caused by a heating water pipe that goes into the Wuhua Building. Leakage eroded the soil under the pavement and caused the cover to collapse.
The owner of the building, its management company and the heating supplier, were held responsible for the woman's death, according to Xicheng District government.
Three employees of the property management company and the heating company have been detained.
- Drug capsules dumped in ditch as crackdown intensifies
Large amounts of drug capsules are found in a roadside ditch in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province as police intensified the crackdown on capsules made from industrial gelatin.
The dumped capsules have dyed the ditch in bright colors, local news website, dahe.cn, reported today.
No brand name was found on the capsules, which felt like plastic and easily breakable.
Authorities have confiscated more than 77 million inferior drug capsules made from industrial gelatin in a nationwide crackdown. The dumped capsules were believed to be made by illegal workshops in vicinity.
Local villagers are worried that their water could be polluted by these toxic capsules. They said a few nearby capsule workshops were closed months ago before the crackdown.
An investigation into the closed workshops is under way, the report said.
- dramp
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The two days of spring are over. Summer's here. Shanghai, China
- Student arraigned for disfiguring classmate with petrol fire
A 17-year-old high school student who poured petrol on his adored female classmate and set her on fire was brought to court this morning on charges of intentional injury.
Tao Rukun, a teenager in Hefei, capital of eastern Anhui Province, has admired his classmate Zhou Yan for a long time but failed to win her heart. Feeling spurned, Tao decided to disfigure the girl this past February.
Prosecutors said Zhou got ravaged in her face and neck and suffered burns covering 30 percent of her body surface, China National Radio reported.
Zhou's aunt Li Yun insisted that Tao should be charged with attempted murder but prosecutors disagreed.
To avoid the infection of her wounds, Zhou traveled with an air cleaner on her way from a Beijing hospital back to Hefei. She had a surgery on April 10.
The court hearing is still ongoing, the report said.
- Student arrested in robbery committed by sister
POLICE in Fuzhou, capital of southeastern Fujian Province were accused of mistaking a college student as a robber and keeping her in custody despite the fact that the real criminal had handed herself to police.
Chen Baonu, a woman from Hainan Province, took part in a robbery in Fuzhou in 2007 and used her sister Chen Weigu's ID card to board a ship for Hainan after the robbery, she said.
Fuzhou police arrested her sister, a student at a computer software college in Hainan Province last September. A few days later Chen went to Fuzhou to surrender herself but Fuzhou police wouldn't accept her confession, the hinews.cn reported today.
"I can't let my little sister to get punished for my fault! Why can't they trust me?" said Chen Baonu, adding that Chen Weigu had never left Hainan. "It's easy for police to recognize me in the video footage, not my little sister."
But no one could prove Chen Weigu's innocence because the robbery took place on a Saturday and police believed she was the only gang member still at large, the report said.
"She performed well at school. Her arrest really shocked all of us," Chen Weigu's teacher Li Ying told the news website.
Chen Doushi, the sisters' brother, said Chen Weigu would stand on trial tomorrow, but Fuzhou police have made no comment on the issue, the report said.
- Lama Temple in Beijing
Sokleine has added a photo to the pool:
The Yonghe Temple , also known as the "Palace of Peace and Harmony Lama Temple", the "Yonghe Lamasery", or - popularly - the "Lama Temple" is a temple and monastery of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism located in the northeastern part of Beijing, China. It is one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. The building and the artworks of the temple is a combination of Han Chinese and Tibetan styles.
Its construction dates back to the 17th century.
The temple is said to have survived the Cultural Revolution due to the intervention of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. It was reopened to the public in 1981.
Source: wikipedia
www.sacred-destinations.com/china/beijing-yonghe-gong-lam... - Buddhist faith
Sokleine has added a photo to the pool:
The Yonghe Temple , also known as the "Palace of Peace and Harmony Lama Temple", the "Yonghe Lamasery", or - popularly - the "Lama Temple" is a temple and monastery of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism located in the northeastern part of Beijing, China. It is one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. The building and the artworks of the temple is a combination of Han Chinese and Tibetan styles.
Its construction dates back to the 17th century.
The temple is said to have survived the Cultural Revolution due to the intervention of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. It was reopened to the public in 1981.
Source: wikipedia
www.sacred-destinations.com/china/beijing-yonghe-gong-lam... - Burning incense
Sokleine has added a photo to the pool:
The Yonghe Temple , also known as the "Palace of Peace and Harmony Lama Temple", the "Yonghe Lamasery", or - popularly - the "Lama Temple" is a temple and monastery of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism located in the northeastern part of Beijing, China. It is one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. The building and the artworks of the temple is a combination of Han Chinese and Tibetan styles.
Its construction dates back to the 17th century.
The temple is said to have survived the Cultural Revolution due to the intervention of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. It was reopened to the public in 1981.
Source: wikipedia
www.sacred-destinations.com/china/beijing-yonghe-gong-lam... - Roof in Lama Temple
Sokleine has added a photo to the pool:
The Yonghe Temple , also known as the "Palace of Peace and Harmony Lama Temple", the "Yonghe Lamasery", or - popularly - the "Lama Temple" is a temple and monastery of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism located in the northeastern part of Beijing, China. It is one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. The building and the artworks of the temple is a combination of Han Chinese and Tibetan styles.
Its construction dates back to the 17th century.
The temple is said to have survived the Cultural Revolution due to the intervention of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. It was reopened to the public in 1981.
Source: wikipedia
www.sacred-destinations.com/china/beijing-yonghe-gong-lam...
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