China Chronicles November 28, 2012
- Cold air to sweep north China
COLD air front moving eastward will sweep China's northern regions during the next few days, bringing strong winds and big temperature drops, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) forecast today.
From Wednesday to Thursday, north China, northeast China and regions along the Yellow River and the Huaihe River will experience strong winds and temperature drop ranging from 4 to 8 degrees Celsius, the NMC said.
In some central and northern parts of northeast China, there will be light to moderate snow on Wednesday and temperatures will plunge by 14 degrees Celsius during the next two days, according to the center.
The country's southern regions will see persistent rainfall during the next three days. Some regions are expected to see moderate or heavy rains.
- Children of the Corn
- Jermaine
/the DON/ has added a photo to the pool:
______________________________
Put a thumbs up on my Facebook
______________________________
1 Yongnuo flash in a medium softbox 5 o'clock of subject
1 Yongnuo flash with blue gel pointing @ BG
1 reflector opposite the softbox
+ PS - Former palaces born again
A visitor admires a Buddha statue at the Zhongzheng Palace, whose reconstruction was completed yesterday along with Yuhuage and other Tibetan Buddhist palaces and buildings in the northwest corner of Beijing's Forbidden City. Traditional materials and techniques were used to restore the buildings to how they looked in the Qianlong Period (1736-1795). The palaces served as the central area for Tibetan Buddhist activities during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) but were destroyed by fire in 1923. They will now house a Tibetan Buddhism research center and exhibition halls.
- Party chief pays tribute to head of jets program
CHINA'S Party chief Xi Jinping yesterday paid tribute to the 51-year-old head of production for China's J-15 fighter who died on Sunday and asked all Party members and officials to learn from Luo Yang's spirit.
"I deeply grieve for Luo's death and have sent sincere condolences to his family," Xi, also chairman of the Party's Central Military Commission, said.
Xi said Luo had made outstanding contributions to the aviation industry and his death was a great loss to the country.
Xi asked relevant departments to take good care of Luo's family.
Luo, chairman and general manager of the Shenyang Aircraft Corp, died a day after he witnessed the successful take-off and landing of two fighter jets on China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.
Yesterday, he was awarded the title of "Aviation Industry Hero and Model," for his contributions to the aviation industry, the state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China announced.
Luo's wife's last words to her husband, before the body was taken to a funeral parlor on Monday evening, were: "Luo Yang, I know you were too tired these days." Wang Xili recalled: "The last words he told me during our last call on Saturday were 'the experiments have been successful, all the missions have been accomplished'."
She said it was the only call Luo made to her during the eight days of exercises designed to test the J-15's take-off and landing ability on the carrier.
"Luo always had little time to accompany his wife and daughter because he had to work from early morning till midnight every day," said Ren Zhongkai, Luo's secretary. He said Luo had only once asked for leave - a half day to accompany his daughter when she sat the national college entrance examination.
Luo had been on the carrier since the morning of November 18, shortly after he attended the Zhuhai air show in southeast Guangdong Province.
On the carrier, Luo stayed within 20 meters of the jets to closely observe the take-off and landing, despite the ! deafening roar from the engines, said Meng Jun, chairman of AVIC Shenyang Liming Aero-Engine (Group) Corp Ltd.
The Shenyang Aircraft Corp held a special ritual on Sunday night for Luo. His body was driven in a hearse around the research institutes, warehouses and factories where Luo had worked. Thousands of workers came from home to mourn their late boss, CCTV reported.
Luo graduated from the Beihang University in 1982, majoring in aircraft design.
He had been a designer with the Shenyang aircraft design and research institute since 1982 and became deputy director in 1997. He was appointed chairman and general manager of the SAC in 2007.
Thousands of Chinese netizens paid tribute in microblog entries.
"I just could not control such mixed feelings on a day when we should have had thousands of reasons for celebration," one wrote. "Under unimaginable pressure, Luo sacrificed himself to turn J-15 jets' take-off and landing into reality."
- The latest craze takes off online
Entranced by the gestures used to communicate with pilots on China's first aircraft carrier, people across the country have been imitating the signals employed on the Liaoning to tell pilots when it was safe to take-off.In a video of the successful take-off and landing exercises on board the carrier at the weekend, two crew members are seen down on one knee and stabbing their right arms in the air to give the green light to the J-15 jet pilots.
Pictures of people imitating the gesture in various situations soon flooded the Internet.
Dubbed "Hangmu Style," or "Carrier Style," netizens across the country uploaded pictures showing their take on the gesture regarded as "cool, powerful and confident as well as amusing and comical," according to one microblog entry.
"Hangmu Style" has rapidly eclipsed the online craze for copying the "Gangnam Style" music video, with more than 8 million web users retweeting posts in just one day, ensuring the craze stayed top of the list of hot topics on Weibo.com.
Shanghai residents made the gesture beside Metro trains. Stock exchange workers did it in front of share-price graphs. Students at Tongji University posed in front of a jet model on campus. There was even a picture of babies kneeling in line in a parody of the crew's actions.
A dairy producer in Zhejiang Province dressed in a cow costume did it to promote his products.
In north China's Tianjin Municipality, tourists at an aircraft carrier park wore overalls and safety helmets as they copied the gestures on the deck of the former Soviet aircraft carrying cruiser Kiev.
Even firefighters have been taking part, giving the green light to a fire engine leaving a station in Beijing.
"Although the gesture has often been seen in movies, I couldn't restrain my excitement the first time I saw it used in instructing a fighter jet to land and take off from China's first aircraft carrier," said Han Lu, editor of a car website.
"The gesture has actually be! en carefully designed," Li Jie, a researcher with the China Navy Military Academy said.
The crew members go down on one knee and incline their upper body to resist the strong blast from the jets.
Meanwhile, the arm gesture makes sure the pilots can clearly see the signal, Li said.
The basic requirements for the signals are that they shoul be "timely, accurate and standard," said Li Xiaoyong, deputy chief of the carrier's aviation section.
More than 30 different gestures with various meanings are used, because the noise of the jets makes verbal communication impossible.
- Officials sacked over pupils' bread and milk lunch
FIVE education officials have been sacked after primary school pupils in a remote mountainous county in central China were found to be getting only a small bun and carton of milk for lunch.The miserly meal cost no more than 2 yuan (about 32 US cents), 1 yuan less than the national allowance.
Suode Primary School, in Hunan Province's Fenghuang County, is one of the beneficiaries of a charity project aimed at improving the diet of primary and middle school students in remote areas.
The "Free Lunch for Children" project was initiated by Deng Fei, a Phoenix Weekly reporter, in September 2011 and is now operated by the China Social Welfare Foundation.
The State Council announced its own rural nutrition program on October 2011, earmarking 16 billion yuan a year to feed 26 million students in 680 impoverished counties and cities, each of whom would get a free lunch worth 3 yuan every school day.
However, the more than 100 children at Suode Primary School were given just a small bun and milk, a volunteer teacher identified as Diaoya disclosed on her Weibo microblog.
"Is the combo worth three yuan? We all remain doubtful," she said. The school has three teachers and three volunteers.
Diaoya said the students had also been left hungry for two days when meals hadn't arrived, and the school had handed out expired milk on one occasion.
The news triggered a public outcry with many people suspecting that local officials might be in collusion with the company supplying the food, with funds being diverted from the free lunch program.
"It is not that bad if children indeed really get a two-yuan meal. After all, some people want to gain a fortune," Deng said, implying that the actual situation could be worse, People's Daily reported.
Deng said he had suggested building a school canteen, but local officials refused. "It is so strange," he said. "We would like to use public donations to cover all of the expenses, but this was rejected."
Wu Yua! ngui, newly-appointed director of the Fenghuang Education Bureau, announced that the headmaster, two deputy heads and two county education officials had been fired and admitted that there had been "management loopholes."
But he dismissed allegations of corruption.
A school volunteer said they had received donations from the public of up to 20,000 yuan in the days after the news broke and there were plans to recruit a chef to cook for the children for the rest of the semester.
It is estimated that more than half the schools qualifying for the free lunch program employ cooks while 35 percent give the job to outside caterers and 12 percent distribute the allowances to parents.
In June, China published regulations regarding the implementation of the program, pledging safe and nutritious lunches, following public concern after several food poisoning cases, Xinhua news agency reported.
In Jiangsu Province, about 40 middle school students developed food poisoning symptoms after eating a free lunch at their school's canteen in April.
Yunnan Province has also reported four food poisoning incidents in schools since March.
- Crowds mourn cop who died to protect others
THOUSANDS of people turned out yesterday to bid farewell to a 24-year-old police officer in Xuzhou, a city in eastern Jiangsu Province, who sacrificed his life to save other officers from an armed attack, officials said.
Huang Sheng and three other officers from Zifang community questioned a man surnamed Liu last Thursday in Bingzhou in Shandong Province as part of a fraud case investigation.
Liu, upset by the questioning, decided to attack the officers shortly after they left, authorities said. Liu gathered a group of people who used three off-road vehicles to box in the officers, smashing their vehicle's windows and beating the officers.
Huang, trying to protect his colleagues, was slashed in the back and later died at a hospital emergency room from excessive blood loss, according to a preliminary investigation. There were no details on the other officers' injuries.
Shandong police have arrested 15 suspects, China Central Television reported.
Huang's heroic acts deeply moved the public and crowds showed up to mourn him. Five police motorcycles led a hearse carrying his body in a funeral procession that went around downtown Xuzhou around 9am before going to the funeral home.
Locals lined the road, some with banners with messages such as, "You will always live in our minds." Hundreds of police queued outside the funeral home and saluted Huang's portrait.
Police officers, government officials and local residents lined up to pay tribute, many with tears in their eyes.
"He was such a great guy! I am so sad that he passed away just two years after he started working with us," a senior police officer told People's Daily.
Huang graduated from Jiangsu Police Institute in 2010 and was assigned to Zifang police station. His devotion and outstanding performance earned him praise from the Xuzhou Public Security Bureau as a star officer.
His girlfriend, called Sunny Tianrandai on the Internet, posted nearly 40 messages and pictures on Weibo. "Baby! , you always wanted me to support and encourage your work. Now I will never hinder you."
- Fashion website accused of dealing in fake goods
A FASHION and luxury products online retailer has been accused of selling fake products, exposing a legal vacuum in supervision of online shopping websites and questionable purchasing by sellers.
The accusation was lodged after a Hangzhou consumer surnamed Gao, who bought a pair of NewbarK shoes and a D&G T-shirt from Shenzhen-based Xiu.com, complained the shoes were broken after a week, and the T-shirt was poorly sewn, Hangzhou Daily reported this week.
"The T-shirt looked like those bought at roadside booths," Gao said. She was told by NewbarK through an email that the shoes were counterfeit. The producer of handmade shoes said it never used a light-colored shoe pad and lining, according to the newspaper.
The brand's women's shoes are priced at 1,399 yuan (US$225) to 2,599 yuan on the website, much lower than those sold at department stores.
The website denied the allegation in a statement, saying all the products it sells are genuine. "We have drawn some similar complaints when there were big orders, but our supply channels are legal and we check each batch of products. Therefore, there should be no problem," said Huang Jing, its chief strategy officer.
But a former employee of Xiu.com who asked to remain anonymous said the company usually did not check every product it sold as it was time-consuming and costly. Also the staff could not tell whether the products are genuine or not for some brands.
Similar complaints were posted on Weibo.com. A Beijing resident identified as qianniuhuamama said she bought a Bottega Veneta wallet at the website, only to find its leather was different from those sold at department stores.
China's Administration for Industry and Commerce has started drafting a law to regulate the online market, with a possible cap on discounts.
- Distiller suspends production
PRODUCTION of Jiugui liquor was halted yesterday as its maker began removing plastic equipment said to be responsible for toxic plasticizers found in the drink.However, the Hunan Jiugui Liquor Co, based in central China's Hunan Province, has said it would not be recalling liquor already on shelves, the Beijing News reported.
Last week, the company apologized to customers and investors for the plasticizers found in samples of its products. But it said the liquor was safe to drink and claimed media reports had caused "confusion and misunderstanding" among its customers.
"Our products would not be recalled because the company wants to focus on the current modification works and risk control," Xia Xinguo, the company's general manager, told the newspaper.
The report said that vendors across the country had expressed concern as there would now be few customers for the liquor and they could not return it to the producer.
Some Beijing vendors told the Legal Evening News that no one had been buying the liquor recently and the company refused to take back the product.
"We are stuck in the business as we may lose dealership for the products in the future if we insist on returning all the products piling up in storage," said a vendor surnamed Sun.
Last week, quality watchdogs in Hunan said they detected plasticizers in samples of Jiugui liquor and urged the producer to determine the source of the toxic substances, believed to impair male sexual function and cause liver cancer.
- Scandal-hit liquor maker suspends packaging lines
A Chinese liquor maker suspended its packaging lines today after being hit by a plasticizer scandal.
Initial investigations indicated that liquor produced by Jiugui Liquor Co., Ltd. might be contaminated with plasticizer during the packaging process -- from plastic tubes and corks, according to Xia Xinguo, general manager of the firm.
Xia said only the packaging lines are suspended while the production lines are still in operation.
The scandal broke a week ago when a business news website (www.21cbh.com) reported that one kind of Jiugui liquor contained 1.08 mg per kg of dibutyl phthalate (DBP), a type of plasticizer.
The report prompted an investigation by the food quality watchdog of the Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Xiangxi, in Hunan Province, where Jiugui is based.
The results found the DBP in Jiugui liquor was higher than the 0.3 mg per kg standard, a provisional regulatory limit set by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in June 2011.
The food quality watchdog urged the liquor maker to determine the source of the plasticizer and make sure other products were not tainted.
Plasticizers are used to thicken liquids but alcohol products do not need them, according to health experts. The chemicals can cause male reproductive problems as well as damage to the digestive and immune systems.
The scandal sent Jiugui's shares tumbling and some of its products taken off the shelves.
Shares closed at 34.69 yuan (US$5.52) per share by midday today. It marked a third consecutive trading day its shares have dropped by the daily limit on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Most liquor companies have seen their shares contract over 10 percent since the scandal erupted, including Wuliangye Yibin Co. and Hebei Hengshui Laobaigan Liquor Co. The least-affected company, Kweichow Moutai Co., has slumped 3.3 percent.
The China Alcoholic Beverage Association said last week that large-scale tests on China's liquor showed that almost all alcohol products contain! ed plasticizers, with an average level of 0.537 mg per kg. High-end liquor products contain more plasticizers than low-end ones.
Some industry observers defended the liquor makers because there is no law or formal regulations on the levels of plasticizers liquor products are allowed to contain.
Dai Qi, an official of Hunan Provincial Administration of Quality, Inspection and Quarantine, said the MOH has not put the provisional regulatory limit into the production standards for liquor products, so legally it is impossible to say whether Jiugui contain "excessive" amounts of the plasticizer.
- Primary school which I missed@HongKong
Jimmy101cactus has added a photo to the pool:
20121111
Minox BL-1217214
Ilfordpan 100
Rodinal 1+50
15min.20℃
Tap Water
DIY reel in JOBO Tank
Dots report : Minor black & white
Film wide : 9.30mm - Home building during high school @HongKong
Jimmy101cactus has added a photo to the pool:
20121111
Minox BL-1217214
Ilfordpan 100
Rodinal 1+50
15min.20℃
Tap Water
DIY reel in JOBO Tank
Dots report : Minor black & white
Film wide : 9.30mm - Model punished for faking cop in sexy photos
A young woman who struck sexy poses in police uniform and posted her photos online has been sentenced to nine months in prison with a one-year reprieve, today's Beijing News reported.
The woman surnamed Wang was convicted of the crime of cheating and bluffing. Prosecutors said her real profession was modeling.
Wang posted the photos on her Weibo microblog with a nickname of Xing'er Hui'an. She said she felt pressure working as a policewoman because she had to accompany local leaders at banquets.
Photos showing her wearing a police jacket in bed and pulling on black stockings had been retweeted more than 500 times and commented by about 300 posts.
Police in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, said they checked their database and failed to find any information about the policewoman. Weibo operator also confirmed that the woman's user account was faked.
Other Weibo users also doubted the woman's claim even before official verifications were announced.
- 管
- China - Foshan #16
Araakii has added a photo to the pool:
Even when I was a kid, I remembered seeing a lot of advertisements about curing various kinds of STDs. This kind of ads usually show up at the same place as the ones for hiring "nightclub princesses" (aka prostitutes).
Comments