China Chronicles November 30, 2012
- Cold front to bring snow to N China
A cold front will sweep China's northern regions during the next few days, bringing snowfalls and big temperature drops, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) forecast today.
From Friday to Sunday, snow will fall in parts of northwest China, north China and northeast China as the cold front moves eastward, dragging temperatures down by four to eight degrees Celsius, the NMC said.
Some areas may even see temperatures fall by 10 degrees Celsius during the next few days.
In the country's southern regions, persistent rainfall will stop by Sunday. China's southern areas, including the Yangtze River valley and parts of Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, have been hit by rain since Wednesday.
Experts have warned citizens to pay attention to road conditions and traffic safety while driving amid snowy or rainy weather over the weekend.
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- Thousands bid farewell to a hero
Mourners file past the body of Luo Yang, head of production for China's J-15 fighter jet, at a funeral service in northeast Shenyang City. Luo died of a heart attack on Sunday hours after witnessing the jets taking off and landing during exercises on China's first aircraft carrier. Thousands stood in silence in the Huilonggang Cemetery for Revolutionaries to bid their farewells. "In our mind, Luo is the nation's hero, like a military martyr," said an air force official. "Without the dedicated work of Luo and his peers in the aviation industry, we would not see the country's strong national defense."
- China - Guangzhou #8
Araakii has added a photo to the pool:
It's very common to find people taking a nap on the street in China. I remember I used to take a two-hour afternoon nap everyday when I was in elementary school.
- Xi says great renewal goal 'closer than ever'
Party chief Xi Jinping pledged yesterday to continue targeting the goal of the "great renewal of the Chinese nation," as he was visiting "The Road Toward Renewal" exhibition at the National Museum of China with other top Party leaders.
Xi examined the exhibits at the museum in Beijing, which houses a large number of items related to Chinese history since the First Opium War (1840-1842).
Xi, who replaced Hu Jintao as the Party's general secretary earlier this month, described the exhibition as a retrospective on the Chinese nation, a celebration of its present and a declaration on its future.
Citing a line from a poem by Mao Zedong, founder of the New China - "Idle boast the strong pass is a wall of iron," Xi said the Chinese nation had suffered unusual hardship and sacrifice.
"But the Chinese people have never given in, have struggled ceaselessly, and have finally taken hold of own destiny and started the great process of building our nation," he said. "It has displayed, in full, the great national spirit with patriotism as the core."
Talking about China today, Xi borrowed a line from another of Mao's poems - "But man's world is mutable, seas become mulberry fields," referring to the country's hard-earned finding of a correct road toward rejuvenation and remarkable achievements since the launch of reform and opening up. "It is the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics," he said.
Afterward, Xi cited a line by Li Bai, one of the best-known ancient Chinese poets - "I will mount a long wind some day and break the heavy waves." It indicates that, after more than 170 years of struggle since the Opium War, the nation has bright prospects, is closer than ever to reaching its goal of great renewal, and is more confident and capable of reaching that goal.
Xi stopped in front of some exhibits on major historical events in the 19th century, including charts illustrating how the West had occupied China's territories and items and pictures on the 1911 Revol! ution that overthrew the feudalistic regime of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
He also studied the first Chinese version of the Communist Manifesto, material relating to the founding of the Party in 1921, the first national flag of the People's Republic of China, and photos on the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central Committee at which Deng Xiaoping launched the epoch-making reform and opening up drive.
- Harry
/the DON/ has added a photo to the pool:
The Eye is the window to our soul.
Will be posting a whole bunch of kid photos with their eye as the main focus.
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______________________________ - 7 jailed in 'kidney for iPhone' case
A SURGEON and six others were jailed yesterday over their involvement in the case of a teenager who sold a kidney to buy an iPhone and iPad.
Seven of nine defendants were sentenced for intentional injury and two others, though found guilty, were exempt from criminal punishment because of their minor roles.
He Wei, who organized the illegal transaction in April 2011, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment by the Beihu District People's Court in Chenzhou City.
Song Zhongyu, the transplant surgeon, was sentenced to three years with a reprieve of five years.
The other five were given jail terms ranging from one to four years.
Wang, a 17-year-old high school student from Anhui Province, agreed to sell one of his kidneys after he found the group through an online chatroom. His kidney was transplanted to a recipient in Chenzhou on April 28, 2011.
Wang was given 22,000 yuan (US$3,529) and he bought an iPhone and an iPad with the money. But he later suffered renal failure and told his mother what had happened.
He earned 56,360 yuan and Song was given 52,000 yuan for the transaction. The other seven defendants all received a share of the proceeds.
Of the nine defendants, five were prosecuted as main culprits and four others, including two nurses, a surgical assistant and an anesthesiologist, were tried as accessories, the court said.
The court added that the nine defendants had paid compensation worth more than 1.47 million yuan to Wang. The compensation and forgiveness from the teenager and his family led to leniency in sentencing.
Human organ trade and organ donations from living donors, except for close family members such as spouses and blood relatives, are illegal in China. An underground trade in human organs is booming in the country where there is a huge demand for transplants.
Ministry of Health statistics show that about 1.5 million people in China need transplants, but only 10,000 operations are performed each year.
Medic! al experts have long urged the establishment of a transparent system for organ donation and distribution in order to boost the number of donors.
"China should not only crackdown on the underground organ trade but also speed up in establishing a scientific and comprehensive system for organ transplants and donations," said Xia Xueluan, a sociology professor at Peking University.
Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu has said China is considering an organ transplant system that incorporates measures, including offering donors compensation, to encourage donations.
- Health fears over ice cream cone wrapper
AN ice cream cone paper sleeve used by the Iceason chain was found to have an excessive level of fluorescent agents, a bleaching chemical that can lead to cancer in large amounts, according to test results released yesterday.
The wrapper came from the Zhaojiabang Road branch of Shanghai Iceason Food Co Ltd and was made in April by a paper production firm in the northern city of Tianjin.
At Shanghai Iceason, an official surnamed Liu said she had to report to her bosses before she could comment on the test results.
Two smaller companies - Shanghai Qingfangxi Qiye Catering Corp Ltd, a producer of matcha, a green tea, and Shanghai Weiyou Catering Management Corp Ltd, a baking company - were also found to have packaging with excessive fluorescent agents.
The city's Consumer Rights Protection Commission said it conducted tests on the plastic and paper packaging of 100 food products bought from local supermarkets and catering companies.
Another firm, Shanghai Changfa Corp Ltd, had plastic packaging with evaporation residue containing a toxic heavy metal.
Fluorescent substances do not decompose easily and may be absorbed by food, affecting people's immune systems, according to doctors. Some companies reuse printed paper to cut costs or add fluorescent whitening agents to substandard packaging, the commission said.
In August, the Beijing-based International Food Packaging Association said it found some famous brands had packaging with excessive fluorescent agents. On the list were Lipton milk tea powder, Master Kong beef instant noodle, Kraft's banana and milk taste biscuit, Nissin's shrimp meat instant noodle and Jinmailang beef instant noodle.
In May 2011, the Shanghai Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision's Qingpu District branch seized 80,000 popcorn buckets that had illegal fluorescent brighteners.
Fluorescent agents should comprise less than 5 square centimeters per 100 square centimeters of food packaging, according to a national sta! ndard.
The commission said consumers should check paper packaging and avoid those with a strong smell or which looked too white.
- Famine film sparks sad memories
Moviegoers packed cinemas across China yesterday for the first public screenings of a film that explores a painful topic for the nation - famine.
"Back To 1942," directed by Feng Xiaogang, focuses on a drought which killed 3 million people in central China's Henan Province.
The morning showings left some members of the audience, many of whom were elderly, visibly upset.
"The movie is very heavy and truthful, it reminds me of many scenes from my life," said 75-year-old Chen Mingya in Zhengzhou, Henan's capital.
The film tells the story of refugees who fled their hometowns in search of food, a situation made worse by the Japanese invasion and a dysfunctional Nationalist government. Many starved to death on the grueling journey to nearby Shaanxi Province.
"People lost their dignity," said Feng's wife Xu Fan, who plays a farmer who sold herself for a handful of millet to feed her children.
The younger generation may be unfamiliar with the period, but it had left a scar in the memories of the middle-aged and elderly, Feng said.
"Our nation is characterized by tremendous sufferings in history. To know where we come from helps us understand where we should go," Feng said in Shanghai.
"Hunger can make people do crazy things," said Yu Baoyou, a 51-year-old resident of Henan's Zhumadian.
Yu recalled how villagers jumped into floodwater to catch dead cattle and rotten vegetables after a dam burst in 1975 killed more than 26,000 people and left many others without food.
Weakened by wars
Historians say China's huge population but uneven distribution of resources meant food allocation by central government was essential when drought and floods cut supplies to some regions.
"Mass famine broke out when the regulating hand of government was weakened by wars or political upheaval," said Gu Xiaoming, a history professor at Fudan University.
Gu said China also suffered from a scarcity of food in recent decades as a result of backward agri! cultural production.
Cao Bin, a college student born in east China's Zhejiang Province, said that one legacy of the era was his grandparents' sanctification of dining and frugality with food.
"For grandma, it's like blasphemy to say you want to skip a meal simply because you're not hungry," he said. "Grandma often says she feels secure only when she is stuffed, even after so many years living in affluence."
Sociologists say discussions about hunger are still important today. As urban Chinese begin to fret about obesity-related diseases such as diabetes, there are still rural areas where impoverished farmers can only afford instant noodles on special occasions such as their children's birthdays.
Zhang Youde, a sociology professor at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said: "Though China's coastal regions are no longer plagued by hunger, there are still many people who are not fed decently in central and western parts of the country."
Only this week, children at a primary school in Hunan Province were found to have been getting only a small piece of bread and some milk for lunch, triggering a public outcry.
"China still has a long way to go in the battle against poverty and starvation, and should always remember the bitter lesson of its hunger history," Zhang said.
- Singapore strike: Chinese charged
FOUR Chinese bus drivers have been charged in Singapore with inciting a strike that highlighted tensions about an influx of immigrants and the treatment of foreign workers in the wealthy financial center.
The walkout by 171 Chinese drivers at the beginning of the week, over pay disparities and dormitory conditions, was the first major strike in tightly regulated Singapore in more than 25 years. It was mostly over by Wednesday.
Singapore, an ethnic Chinese-majority island with no minimum wage, prohibits workers in public transport and other essential services from taking industrial action without giving 14 days' notice.
The four drivers from China were arrested for the offence of instigating or inciting an illegal strike, police said.
They were formally charged yesterday, according to media reports which said court documents allege that one of the drivers, He Junling, incited his colleagues in an online message titled "The insults and humiliation suffered by Singapore drivers."
If convicted, the men face a maximum fine of S$2,000 (US$1,600) and up to a year in prison.
The Chinese Embassy said it was very concerned about the arrest of the Chinese citizens and was arranging consular visits to meet the men, Xinhua news agency reported.
It also urged all the relevant parties to "be unbiased and calm and not to make things worse."
Chinese drivers did not report for work on Monday over a recent pay rise that saw their fellow workers from Malaysia getting a larger increase. Some 88 of them continued to stay away from work on Tuesday. They had all resumed their duties by Wednesday after Singapore authorities and the Chinese Embassy stepped in to urge them to go back to work.
In a statement, China's Commerce Ministry said it was "paying very close attention to this labor dispute."
The ministry said it "hopes related parties will properly handle and respond positively to the reasonable demands of Chinese drivers to be paid the same wages for doing ! the same work and be treated fairly, and protect the legal rights of Chinese workers."
Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan Jin said he expected bus, train and taxi operator SMRT Corp Ltd, controlled by state investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, to address the grievances but that there was "zero tolerance for such unlawful action" by the Chinese drivers.
- Female physician hacked to death with axe
A FEMALE doctor was hacked to death with an axe in a hospital in north China's Tianjin Municipality yesterday.
Kang Hongqian, around 40 years old, was attacked around 1:30pm by an axe-wielding man in her clinic on the second floor of the No. 1 Hospital affiliated with the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, police said.
The middle-aged attacker, whose identity had not been confirmed by late yesterday, was injured when he jumped out of the building to flee after the attack. He was in custody.
Kang, on duty when she was killed, was a chief doctor with the department of acupuncture at the hospital.
Police are investigating the cause of the attack.
Online posts said the victim "was a quite nice person and was responsible in dealing with patients." The doctor's picture was posted on Weibo.com.
The attack is likely to further erode relations between doctors and patients in China.
Mistrust has grown between overworked and relatively poorly paid Chinese doctors and their patients, who are faced with high medical bills and are not satisfied with brief consultations.
In the eastern city of Hefei in Anhui Province, a man stabbed five doctors and nurses on November 13. One head nurse who was hacked on her neck died.
The man was caught by the police. It was reported that the man held grudges because the hospital stopped treating him because he cannot afford to pay the medical bill.
In September, a man armed with four knives injured four people at a hospital in Shenzhen before he was seized by police.
In one of the most notorious cases, a teenager stabbed a doctor to death and injured three others at a hospital in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province in March.
The man convicted in the case, sentenced to life in prison last month, said he attacked the medical workers because he believed they denied him treatment because he is poor.
After the case, some hospitals started to require nur! ses and doctors to wear protective gear and posted more guards.
A survey of nearly 6,000 physicians in 3,300 hospitals in China by consulting firm McKinsey & Co said 59 percent of doctors claimed to have been verbally assaulted by a patient or family member and 6 percent said they have been physically assaulted by patients.
- 'Lucky' Liu wins car tag lottery 7 straight months
CAR plate hunters in Beijing are joking that they may have to change their name to "Liu Xuemei" to be a winner in the city's plate lottery after the name won in seven consecutive months, the Beijing News reported yesterday.A record 1.26 million Beijing dwellers competed for fewer than 20,000 car tags through a lottery system this month. The lottery is used to relieve traffic congestion.
Frustrated would-be car buyers were surprised to find that Liu Xuemei was so lucky. In May, Liu won two license plates, the paper said.
"It's so extraordinary," a Beijing resident surnamed He said, adding that he entered the monthly lottery 18 times without success.
He had planned to change the lottery number the authority randomly allocates to applicants, but was told everyone could get only one number and couldn't change it. Records show the name Liu Xuemei has eight different numbers. It wasn't clear whether they were the same person. According to People's Daily, Liu Xuemei, in her 30s, is director of the vehicle and driver management department with the Ministry of Public Security. She is in charge of drafting related rules and issuing vehicle licenses. Many netizens suspect she was the one who won eight car plates due to her affiliation to the authority.
Liu denied any wrongdoing yesterday on the microblog of the publicity and education office of the ministry's traffic administration.
"I can understand it if it's just a white lie. But if somebody has a malicious purpose, I will resort to laws to protect myself," she wrote.
Tian Xiaowan, who said he is a Beijing lawyer, said he wrote to the Beijing Transport Commission to ask for details of Liu's lottery wins.
- Negative feedback used to extort web merchants
SEVEN online blackmailers who used negative reviews to target sellers on taobao.com, China's biggest e-commerce website, have been arrested, police said yesterday in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province.
The suspects, arrested on extortion charges, made negative comments on their online shopping experience and demanded money to change their reviews. Online sellers' business is greatly affected by comments left by customers.
It was the first time that Hangzhou-based Taobao and police launched a joint crackdown on so-called professional critics, according to local news portal www.zjol.com.cn.
Taobao sellers started complaining to the site in June, saying they were threatened with more bad ratings if they didn't send money and products to the "critics."
Hangzhou police traced the suspects to the cities of Changsha, Guilin, Chongqing, Shenzhen and Shijiazhuang. After months of work, police caught seven, including a woman, they said yesterday.
Official data show 65,000 malicious online buyers have been punished by the site and 100,000 deals rejected due to suspected fraud and other reasons. Racketeering-involved complaints on the site have dropped 90 percent since police began the crackdown, officials said. Police said more offenders are expected to be apprehended. Blackmailers can face up to three years in prison if convicted.
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- Huangpu River Ferry Pier / Shanghai / PR China
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© André Vogelaere. All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, not be used on websites or blogs, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission.
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