China Chronicles January 22, 2013
- China - Guangzhou #19
Araakii has added a photo to the pool:
I reunited with a lot of my elementary school mates after I got back (thanks to Internet!!!). I haven't seen these guys for 16 years!
- launched
- Trance 2
Shanghai 2007 has added a photo to the pool:
- TV celebrity under fire for insulting Chinese soccer
SHANGHAI'S stand-up comedian Zhou Libo has been under fire after he allegedly ridiculed a student's soccer dream and poured scorn on China's scandal-ridden soccer league in a popular reality show.
Yuan Jun, a college student from Hubei Province, disclosed her embarrassing experience at the Chinese Dream Show – a Chinese version of BBC's Tonight's the Night -- and much of her blame was directed to the show's "dream mentor" Zhou Libo.
Yuan wrote on Weibo.com that she was invited by Zhejiang TV Station last April to tell stories about how she learn to play the soccer and has pursued her dream despite her parents' objection.
However, Zhou was so impolite and cut her off to start taunting the Chinese soccer teams, Yuan said.
"Chinese soccer is so corrupt. Why do you still like it?" Zhou said. "Why so many referees were caught? Which of them do you like most?" He went on to say: "Your parents are right (to prevent you playing soccer). Girls shouldn't play soccer! You will have a bleak future."
Even when another show host came to her rescue and reminded her to say how she wished to play soccer with Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, Zhou didn't stop his attack. "You can go there by yourself," he said and rejected her dream.
Though Zhejiang TV deleted her interview from the show and never aired it, Yuan's post still triggered an outcry from netizens, including some eminent football players.
Hao Haidong, once a top player in the Chinese national team, said: "All the football athletes despise him!"
Wang Song, captain of Hangzhou Greentown Football Team, rapped Zhou for insulting every Chinese football player. "Though Chinese football teams had poor performances, many have devoted their lives to the sport," Wang said.
Zhang Xiaofei, a member of Changchun Yatai Football Team, shared Wang's view and said Zhou shouldn't abuse his power. A celebrity should spread positive messages.
- Train ticket buying tools fuel online debate
IT sparked a heated debate after Chinese regulators asked Internet firms to withdraw their third-party train ticket buying tools, which allow users to act faster than others to book tickets online as hundreds of millions in China prepare to rush home for the Spring Festival.
The tools are affecting the operation of the official ticket-buying site www.12306.com developed and operated by the Ministry of railways, ministry officials said.
A surge of online bookers has caused the official website to crash several times and travelers need a bit of good luck to log on to the website.
The Spring Festival, which falls on February 9 this year, marks the world's biggest human migration as hordes of Chinese rush home for family reunions during the most important holiday of the year.
Since early this month, Internet firms including Qihoo 360, Kingsoft and Sougou all launched browser add-ons to help users purchase tickets through third-party tools that make using the 12306 website more convenient and user-friendly.
But the ministry asked them to shut down the plug-ins which added pressure to the already busy 12306 server and made it unfair for people who don't know how to use them. The decision fueled a heated debate on the Internet.
"If it is unfair, then everything is unfair. People can't buy air tickets through Qunar (a Chinese version of Expedia), learn English through software or drive with a navigation device," Kaifu Lee, Innovation Works founder and former Google China president, said on his Weibo microblog.
Lee has 26 million followers on Twitter-like Weibo and his post has been forwarded more than 20,000 times yesterday.
The ministry should improve its website and balance online and offline ticket resources to keep it fair, Lee added.
More than 1 million users have succeeded purchasing tickets with Qihoo 360's tool, which has a user-friendly interface and has been tested causing little pressure on the 12306 website because people would visit 12306! if not using these tools, according to Qihoo 360.
Despite the notice from the railway ministry, Internet firms continued providing these tools they claimed "100 percent legal."
Others, however, didn't like the tools.
"The 12306 represents a national rule and order. The tools just bring disorder," said Mi Wu Xuan Qing Liu on Weibo.
Meanwhile, most migrant workers who desperately need train tickets for home after a year of hard work don't know how to book tickets online. They just go to railway stations to try their luck, Shanghai Daily learned.
The railway ministry made no comments on the debate, but it posted ticket information every day on its website to tell people what tickets are available and what are in "limited supply."
- Chinese fleet monitors Japanese ships around Diaoyu Islands
A Chinese marine surveillance fleet continued patrolling China's territorial waters around the Diaoyu Islands today and monitored Japanese ships that violated China's territorial waters.
The vessels -- Haijian 137, Haijian 23 and Haijian 46 -- followed and engaged in surveillance of the Japanese ships, solemnly declared China's sovereignty over the islands and demanded the Japanese ships' immediate departure from Chinese waters, according to a statement issued by the State Oceanic Administration.
- Chinese fleet monitors Japanese ships around Diaoyu Islands
A Chinese marine surveillance fleet continued patrolling China's territorial waters around the Diaoyu Islands today and monitored Japanese ships that violated China's territorial waters.
The vessels -- Haijian 137, Haijian 23 and Haijian 46 -- followed and engaged in surveillance of the Japanese ships, solemnly declared China's sovereignty over the islands and demanded the Japanese ships' immediate departure from Chinese waters, according to a statement issued by the State Oceanic Administration.
- 成长
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