China Chronicles January 23, 2013
- 5.1-magnitude quake hits northeast China
A 5.1-magnitude earthquake jolted the bordering region of Liaoyang and Shenyang in northeast China at 12:18pm on Wednesday, said the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).
The epicenter, with a depth of about 7 km, was at 41.5 degrees north latitude and 123.2 degrees east longitude. - Beijing chokes on lingering smog
The air quality in Beijing Municipality on Wednesday hit serious levels again, as smog blanketed the city.
At 9am, air quality indices in most monitoring stations in the city proper exceeded 300, or Level VI, a serious level, according to statistics from the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center.
A high concentration of fine particle pollutants was spotted moving from southeast Beijing from 3pm Tuesday before shrouding the entire city, said an official with the center.
The PM2.5 data, a gauge monitoring airborne particles of 2.5 microns or less in diameter which can embed deep in people's lungs, reached 200 to 300 micrograms per cubic meter, indicating heavy pollution, he said.
The weather forecasting bureau has issued yellow alerts for both fog and smog, the third highest level.
Visibility in south Beijing will fall below 500 meters on Wednesday, and most of the city will see visibility drop to less than 3,000 meters.
According to the weather forecast, strong winds with speeds of 20 to 30 km per hour will sweep the city on Wednesday evening and are expected to disperse the smog.
Beijingers suffered from heavy smog from Jan. 10 to 16, before the putrid air was dispersed by a cold front bringing strong winds. Air quality indices were off the charts during the seven days, exceeding the "maximum" level of 500 in the city, as well as many other cities in central and north China. - Beijing chokes on lingering smog
The air quality in Beijing Municipality on Wednesday hit serious levels again, as smog blanketed the city.
At 9am, air quality indices in most monitoring stations in the city proper exceeded 300, or Level VI, a serious level, according to statistics from the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center.
A high concentration of fine particle pollutants was spotted moving from southeast Beijing from 3pm Tuesday before shrouding the entire city, said an official with the center.
The PM2.5 data, a gauge monitoring airborne particles of 2.5 microns or less in diameter which can embed deep in people's lungs, reached 200 to 300 micrograms per cubic meter, indicating heavy pollution, he said.
The weather forecasting bureau has issued yellow alerts for both fog and smog, the third highest level.
Visibility in south Beijing will fall below 500 meters on Wednesday, and most of the city will see visibility drop to less than 3,000 meters.
According to the weather forecast, strong winds with speeds of 20 to 30 km per hour will sweep the city on Wednesday evening and are expected to disperse the smog.
Beijingers suffered from heavy smog from Jan. 10 to 16, before the putrid air was dispersed by a cold front bringing strong winds. Air quality indices were off the charts during the seven days, exceeding the "maximum" level of 500 in the city, as well as many other cities in central and north China. - Death toll hits 12 in mine accident
THE death toll has risen to 12 in a coal mine blast that occurred Friday in southwest China's Guizhou Province, rescuers said today.
As of 6am, two more bodies had been retrieved, bringing the death toll to 12. Another miner remains missing, said a spokesman with the rescue headquarters.
Rescue work is continuing.
More than 1,000 cubic meters of coal has been cleared from shaft, as rescuers search for the trapped miners, said the spokesman.
The blast trapped 13 people underground Friday afternoon at the Jinjia Coal Mine in Panxian County, Liupanshui City.
An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.
With annual production capacity of 1.8 million tons, Jinjia is a state-owned coal mine operated by the Guizhou Panjiang Clean Coal Co Ltd.
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______________________________ - Censored 'Skyfall' angers Bond fans
Chinese film fans are up in arms over cuts made to "Skyfall," complaining that censors have ruined the latest film in the James Bond franchise.
An edited version hit Chinese screens on Monday, prompting industry insiders to call for reform of the country's movie review system.
Shi Chuan, a professor from Shanghai University's school of film & TV arts and technology, proposed the enaction of relevant laws and the establishment of norms for movie censors to follow.
Changes to the latest Bond movie include the removal of a scene in Shanghai in which a Chinese security guard is shot by a French hitman, as well as changes to Bond's lines inquiring about a woman being forced into prostitution.
"Movie regulators should respect the producers' original ideas, rather than chopping scenes arbitrarily," Shi said.
However, he said he believed the censorship system was necessary for China's film industry. The content of imported movies must conform with local laws, as well as respect local culture and tradition, he said.
On the Chinese mainland, all imported movies are subject to reviews by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
Usually, censors cut violent or steamy scenes before movies hit cinemas.
However, moviegoers sometimes complain about the alterations. Such cases include Ang Lee's 2007 movie "Lust, Caution," which was reportedly culled by 30 minutes.
Some movie experts have also complained about restrictions on sensitive topics.
During an annual session of China's political advisory body in March last year, Yin Li, vice chairman of the China Film Association, said Chinese filmmaking faces too many restrictions regarding sensitive topics such as public security, diplomacy, ethnic minorities and religion.
"I hope China can offer more freedom to filmmakers so that a more favorable environment can be created for the country's movie industry."
- Japanese envoy arrives for talks on isles dispute
CHINA has welcomed a Japanese envoy for talks as both sides took steps to cool tensions over an island dispute that has raised fears of an armed confrontation.
Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of a junior party in the ruling coalition of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, arrived in Beijing yesterday.
Yamaguchi, whose schedule has not been announced, is not a member of the government so his meetings in Beijing represent a kind of quiet diplomacy that could allow for a franker exchange of views than official talks might.
The visit is part of China's "normal relations and contact with friendly Japanese political parties and organizations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters. "The dealings can help solve problems and move forward healthy relations."
Yamaguchi made no comments on his arrival but told reporters in Tokyo he hoped his four-day trip would help ease months of friction over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
"It is important for us to have consultations to normalize our relationship," Yamaguchi said.
Chinese media said Yamaguchi would deliver a letter from Abe addressed to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
- Cough joins duck and opera ...
FOR lawmakers and political advisers at the ongoing annual sessions in China's capital, the city's new association with the "Beijing cough" is far less welcome than its fame for roast duck and opera.
Some of them say the label, used to mock Beijing's poor air quality, is insulting, but most acknowledge that the term depicts reality and is prompting efforts to fight pollution.
With the first session of the 14th Beijing People's Congress opening yesterday and the first session of the city political advisory body having opened on Monday, the "Beijing cough" has become a hot topic.
"Teachers and students from our academy need to take deep and quick breaths while practicing traditional operas, which makes them inhale much more pollutants than ordinary people," said Zhou Long, deputy head of the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, and also a political advisor of the capital.
The term "Beijing cough" has been in use since as early as the 1990s among foreigners, many of whom experienced chronic respiratory problems when they arrived in Beijing due to the city's dry and polluted air. But it did not become well-known until recently, when more health problems directly attributable to the current air pollution were reported.
As an increasing number of residents are suffering from coughing, sneezing or tight chests amid the city's heavy recent smog, netizens have started labeling the phenomenon the "Beijing cough."
With the debate raging, the Beijing municipal government has vowed to strengthen efforts to curb air pollution.
Measures include taking 180,000 old vehicles off the road, promoting clean-energy cars and closing some 450 heavily polluting plants, according to the work report by acting mayor Wang Anshun at yesterday's opening session.
Deputies to the congress will further discuss air pollution control during the session, which lasts until next Monday and will elect a new mayor.
Beijing has witnessed persistent smog since early this month. Ai! r quality indexes were off the charts for seven days. The smog was dispersed by a cold front with wind last week, but soon returned.
Andrew McCormick, an American computer game designer who has worked in Beijing for three years, has made plans to leave the city.
McCormick, a 35-year-old newly-wed who is planning to have a baby, said:
"I don't want my children to grow up in the polluted environment." He said he did not expect the government to change the situation soon, as battling air pollution was a long-term task.
Internet users have mocked the smog as "the dirtiest air in history" in Beijing as well as other cities shrouded by haze.
The Beijing Emergency Medical Center received 535 patients with respiratory diseases from January 7 to 14 - 54 percent more than the same period last year.
- 10 dead, 3 missing at colliery
Rescuers take a break at the Jinjia colliery in Panxian County, Guizhou Province, where authorities yesterday confirmed that the bodies of 10 miners had been discovered four days after a sudden surge of gas and coal. The search for another three missing workers is continuing.
- 'Flies, tigers' targeted in Xi's corruption battle
Party chief Xi Jinping yesterday took his campaign against corruption to the petty bureaucracy and minor infractions of lowly officials who are the bane of many Chinese people's everyday lives.
Xi said it was just as important to go after the lowly "flies" as it was to tackle the top official "tigers" in the battle against graft.
"We must uphold the fighting of tigers and flies at the same time, resolutely investigating law-breaking cases of leading officials and also earnestly resolving the unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems which happen all around people," he told a meeting of the Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
"No exception will be made when it comes to Party discipline and the law," Xi said. "Cases will be investigated completely and no leniency will be meted out no matter who is involved."
Officials must not be allowed to get away with skirting rules and orders from above or choosing selectively which policies to follow, Xi said.
"The style in which you work is no small matter, and if we don't redress unhealthy tendencies and allow them to develop, it will be like putting up a wall between our Party and the people, and we will lose our roots, our lifeblood and our strength," Xi said.
He called for "a disciplinary, prevention and guarantee mechanism" to be set up to prevent corruption.
Since his election as general secretary of the Communist Party in November, Xi has vowed to root out corruption, warning that the Party's survival was at risk.
The Party chief also called for determined efforts to oppose ostentation and reject hedonism and extravagance, banning officials from making long, boring speeches or being given red carpet welcomes, and ordering local governments to stop holding alcohol-fueled banquets.
Xi asked for efforts to strengthen national anti-corruption legislation and relevant intra-Party regulations to ensure national organs exercise their power within the boundaries of the law.
"The m! ainstream of our cadres and Party members is good," he said. "But we should soberly recognize that corruption is still prone to occur or happen quite frequently in certain areas."
He said the fight against corruption would be long-term, complicated and arduous.
Efforts should be made to prevent and overcome selfish localism and departmentalism, and nobody or no department should be allowed to disregard policies introduced by the Central Committee, he said.
"We must not relax the use of penalties if we want to rule Party members strictly," he said.
Anyone who exercises power should serve the people, be accountable to the people and accept supervision by the people, Xi said. A fight against privilege should be waged in combating corruption and building a clean government, he said.
A total of 4,698 county-level officials or higher-level cadres were punished by disciplinary watchdogs in 2012 and 961 officials at county-level or above were transferred to judicial bodies.
Among them were Liu Zhijun, former railways minister, Huang Sheng, former vice governor of east China's Shandong Province, and Tian Xueren, former vice governor of northeast China's Jilin Province. Their cases have been transferred to judicial bodies.
Two other provincial-level officials are under investigation. Zhou Zhenhong, a former member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong provincial committee, was sacked for suspected "serious discipline violations" in January last year, and Li Chuncheng was sacked as deputy Party chief of Sichuan Province for suspected "serious discipline violations" in December.
Nearly 73,000 people were punished for corruption or dereliction of duty in 2012.
- 'Flies, tigers' targeted in Xi's corruption battle
Party chief Xi Jinping yesterday took his campaign against corruption to the petty bureaucracy and minor infractions of lowly officials who are the bane of many Chinese people's everyday lives.
Xi said it was just as important to go after the lowly "flies" as it was to tackle the top official "tigers" in the battle against graft.
"We must uphold the fighting of tigers and flies at the same time, resolutely investigating law-breaking cases of leading officials and also earnestly resolving the unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems which happen all around people," he told a meeting of the Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
"No exception will be made when it comes to Party discipline and the law," Xi said. "Cases will be investigated completely and no leniency will be meted out no matter who is involved."
Officials must not be allowed to get away with skirting rules and orders from above or choosing selectively which policies to follow, Xi said.
"The style in which you work is no small matter, and if we don't redress unhealthy tendencies and allow them to develop, it will be like putting up a wall between our Party and the people, and we will lose our roots, our lifeblood and our strength," Xi said.
He called for "a disciplinary, prevention and guarantee mechanism" to be set up to prevent corruption.
Since his election as general secretary of the Communist Party in November, Xi has vowed to root out corruption, warning that the Party's survival was at risk.
The Party chief also called for determined efforts to oppose ostentation and reject hedonism and extravagance, banning officials from making long, boring speeches or being given red carpet welcomes, and ordering local governments to stop holding alcohol-fueled banquets.
Xi asked for efforts to strengthen national anti-corruption legislation and relevant intra-Party regulations to ensure national organs exercise their power within the boundaries of the law.
"The m! ainstream of our cadres and Party members is good," he said. "But we should soberly recognize that corruption is still prone to occur or happen quite frequently in certain areas."
He said the fight against corruption would be long-term, complicated and arduous.
Efforts should be made to prevent and overcome selfish localism and departmentalism, and nobody or no department should be allowed to disregard policies introduced by the Central Committee, he said.
"We must not relax the use of penalties if we want to rule Party members strictly," he said.
Anyone who exercises power should serve the people, be accountable to the people and accept supervision by the people, Xi said. A fight against privilege should be waged in combating corruption and building a clean government, he said.
A total of 4,698 county-level officials or higher-level cadres were punished by disciplinary watchdogs in 2012 and 961 officials at county-level or above were transferred to judicial bodies.
Among them were Liu Zhijun, former railways minister, Huang Sheng, former vice governor of east China's Shandong Province, and Tian Xueren, former vice governor of northeast China's Jilin Province. Their cases have been transferred to judicial bodies.
Two other provincial-level officials are under investigation. Zhou Zhenhong, a former member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong provincial committee, was sacked for suspected "serious discipline violations" in January last year, and Li Chuncheng was sacked as deputy Party chief of Sichuan Province for suspected "serious discipline violations" in December.
Nearly 73,000 people were punished for corruption or dereliction of duty in 2012.
- 'Flies, tigers' targeted in Xi's corruption battle
Party chief Xi Jinping yesterday took his campaign against corruption to the petty bureaucracy and minor infractions of lowly officials who are the bane of many Chinese people's everyday lives.
Xi said it was just as important to go after the lowly "flies" as it was to tackle the top official "tigers" in the battle against graft.
"We must uphold the fighting of tigers and flies at the same time, resolutely investigating law-breaking cases of leading officials and also earnestly resolving the unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems which happen all around people," he told a meeting of the Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
"No exception will be made when it comes to Party discipline and the law," Xi said. "Cases will be investigated completely and no leniency will be meted out no matter who is involved."
Officials must not be allowed to get away with skirting rules and orders from above or choosing selectively which policies to follow, Xi said.
"The style in which you work is no small matter, and if we don't redress unhealthy tendencies and allow them to develop, it will be like putting up a wall between our Party and the people, and we will lose our roots, our lifeblood and our strength," Xi said.
He called for "a disciplinary, prevention and guarantee mechanism" to be set up to prevent corruption.
Since his election as general secretary of the Communist Party in November, Xi has vowed to root out corruption, warning that the Party's survival was at risk.
The Party chief also called for determined efforts to oppose ostentation and reject hedonism and extravagance, banning officials from making long, boring speeches or being given red carpet welcomes, and ordering local governments to stop holding alcohol-fueled banquets.
Xi asked for efforts to strengthen national anti-corruption legislation and relevant intra-Party regulations to ensure national organs exercise their power within the boundaries of the law.
"The m! ainstream of our cadres and Party members is good," he said. "But we should soberly recognize that corruption is still prone to occur or happen quite frequently in certain areas."
He said the fight against corruption would be long-term, complicated and arduous.
Efforts should be made to prevent and overcome selfish localism and departmentalism, and nobody or no department should be allowed to disregard policies introduced by the Central Committee, he said.
"We must not relax the use of penalties if we want to rule Party members strictly," he said.
Anyone who exercises power should serve the people, be accountable to the people and accept supervision by the people, Xi said. A fight against privilege should be waged in combating corruption and building a clean government, he said.
A total of 4,698 county-level officials or higher-level cadres were punished by disciplinary watchdogs in 2012 and 961 officials at county-level or above were transferred to judicial bodies.
Among them were Liu Zhijun, former railways minister, Huang Sheng, former vice governor of east China's Shandong Province, and Tian Xueren, former vice governor of northeast China's Jilin Province. Their cases have been transferred to judicial bodies.
Two other provincial-level officials are under investigation. Zhou Zhenhong, a former member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong provincial committee, was sacked for suspected "serious discipline violations" in January last year, and Li Chuncheng was sacked as deputy Party chief of Sichuan Province for suspected "serious discipline violations" in December.
Nearly 73,000 people were punished for corruption or dereliction of duty in 2012.
- Gangnam dance sparks action on wages
EVERY year, with the approach of Spring Festival, there seem to be battles between migrant workers and their bosses concerning unpaid wages.
They often seem to involve outraged workers storming office buildings and triggering brawls but, this year, a group of construction workers in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, chose a more peaceful way - they danced Gangnam Style.
Headed by their team leader surnamed Lu, the group were seen dancing in front of a music club in the city's Dongxihu District, attracting a crowd of passers-by, yesterday's Wuhan Evening News reported.
"As the Spring Festival is coming, the workers all want to go back home. They ask for money from me every day," Lu said.
To lessen their anger and frustration, Lu paid the workers more than 10,000 yuan out of his own pocket, but the boss was refusing to answer his phone or repay him the money, he said.
He said he decided to lead the workers in the popular dance to attract media attention.
The company owed 40 workers a total of 233,000 yuan (US$37,423), the paper reported.
A 61-year-old worker surnamed Zeng said he was owed 20,000 yuan in wages. Another one surnamed Luo said he was still waiting for wages of up to 9,000 yuan to cover the education expenses of his three children.
"If I fail to get the money, I can't go back to my hometown to celebrate the Spring Festival, and my children will be unable to go to school," Luo said.
Their boss said the entertainment management company which contracted the building project hadn't paid as promised when the project was completed in November.
However, the company claimed the construction had quality problems and said the builder had refused to carry out repairs.
After the dance performance, a manager surnamed Xiao said: "I will call the quality supervision authority to check. If the building passes the check, I will pay all of the money."
- urban sadhu
- China - Guangzhou #20
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I have a lot of rolls that I have not posted but I am also having a hard time deciding which ones to show. So let me show you a bird's eye view of my home town, Guangzhou, first.
- Huangshan panorama
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