Results tagged “sichuan”

Okay, we know we''ve talked about pandas already today, but it's only because we can't get enough of them, and we think that's true for most people in China. But apparently, if you're a panda, you could use some time off, especially if people are constantly expecting you to mate. Researchers at the Wolong Panda Reserve in Sichuan are going to try and separate Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan for a month to see if absence really does make the heart grow fonder. At the very least, they'll live up to their names when they're reunited, as tuanyuan (团圆） means “to reunite.” Maybe that's where they got the idea to separate them from?

You know what's a damper on any big day? A Divorce. And so at least one municipality has decided it's not going to let couples unwed during the 60th anniversary. Seven out of ten Chongqing districts have said that they will not process divorces during the eight-day holiday, even as they're getting extra staff to help with the weddings. Supposedly, they can't cope with the "high demand" for weddings and also issue divorces at the same time. Luckily for them, nobody's tried to process a divorce yet anyhow, though we wonder what kind of urgent circumstances would make couples want to split during a specific week and whether it then might be a good idea for Chongqing to ban knives as well, just in case.

We always thought farming was a pretty exciting lifestyle- all that cyclical plowing, sowing, cultivating, picking and selling sounds like a blast! If you're actually farming, though, the charm wears off after a while, and you feel the need to move on to something more adventurous. Building walking, talking robots is old news, so why not up the ante and build a submarine, an airplane or a tank?

Ex-Shanghaiist writer Thalia Kwok recently wrote a travel piece that made it into the semi-finals of the NYCGo Writing Contest. Her piece is about one of her favorite places when she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Chongqing - the 18 Staircases Teahouse.

Uh oh. It seems that an Indonesian communications satellite launched yesterday from the Xichang launch site in Sichuan province didn't quite make it to its predestined orbit. While the launch made it into space, it failed to ignite in its third stage, and is now floating somewhere where it shouldn't be - a pretty bad deal for a communications satellite. China has been trying to build up its space program, but keeps suffering from setbacks: another satellite, launched in 2007, failed earlier this year after just 18 months in orbit. It would probably be good for the country to learn how to properly launch things - If we know anything about deadlines in China, then their plan to have a moon landing in 2012 means a moon landing in 2012, by hook or crook. We can't help but chew our nails nervously, and be grateful that we're not Chinese astronauts.

• 'China's YouTube' Pries Path Through Profit Puzzle [PC World] Youku.com, China's leading video sharing Web site, faces a challenge shared by YouTube and other rivals worldwide. The Web site has worked to expand its revenue from video ads, mobile downloads and elsewhere, and it claims a massive audience of 25 million visitors each day. But despite all that, Youku — like YouTube and similar sites worldwide — has yet to become profitable.
• Winning Designs in China: Standing Out to Fit In [Tom Doctoroff] "The Chinese consumer is becoming increasingly modern and internationalized. However, while "egos" and ambitions are huge, the "new generation" is not becoming "individualistic" in the Western sense - i.e., the peoples never define themselves independent of society. The middle class, those who can afford non-essential items, is torn between two impulses. The first is projection of status which leads to a desire to be noticed (in public contexts), aggressive self-expression and experimentation with new modes of style and design. The second, in vivid contrast to the projection, is protection, a fear of sticking out too obviously or challenging existing hierarchies and social restrictions."
• And then there were two: Obama meets the Chinese; transcript of president's speech [Los Angeles Times] "Well, today there was the first meeting of what you might call the G-2, between Beijing and Washington, arguably the two most important capitals in the world. Another one is scheduled in November, when Obama makes his first trip to China. … Obama did not mention directly the recent deadly ethnic unrest between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese in Xinjiang Province. But he noted that Americans "strongly believe that the religion and culture of all peoples must be respected and protected, and that all people should be free to speak their minds. That includes ethnic and religious minorities in China."

Well, that's not being ruled out as a possibility. Witnesses being interviewed have said that they smelled gasoline just prior to the bus going up in flames. They said that someone had probably spilled something flammable. It also seems that the only thing that was flammable on the buses would have been the seats, but the burning pattern seems to suggest that it wasn't the seats that first caught on fire. Chinese commentary has suggested that the bus driver was at fault for 1. cramming too many people on the bus (he and every other bus driver in China) and 2. not stopping the bus when people saw flames coming out the back. It's going to be awhile before we know what happened—if we ever know. In the meantime, the blame game is on.

What’s causing these wing-like appendages is still a mystery, but theories have been aplenty since the first incidence of winged cats appeared in Sichuan. Cat owners there reasoned that the province's hot summer spell and a stressful love life for their felines were causing wings to appear. Scientists were not convinced.

Thought the swine flu fears were ebbing? Think again! Beijing reported the mainland's first suspected case of H1N1 (if you don't count the Hong Kong patient that was transferred over from Shanghai) after a 30-year-old male Sichuan student developed flu-like symptoms. The patient, surnamed Bao, had traveled from St. Louis to Tokyo, and then boarded Northwestern Airlines flight NW029 to Beijing. Then, on the transferring flight to Chengdu, he began exhibiting hints of the swine flu. He has tested mildly positive for H1N1 and is now quarantined in a Chengdu contagious disease control hospital. Those in direct contact with him during the diagnosis have also been placed under observation. Source: SCMP. (Photo by benchau)

The next Shanghaiist Happy Hour at Cotton's on Xinhua Lu falls on the one-year anniversary of the devastating Sichuan earthquake, so we have decided to team with Hands On Chengdu, an organization committed to supporting the long term redevelopment of the areas affected by the earthquake for this Tuesday's gathering. Entry to the Happy Hour is free, but we'll be holding a lucky draw with some great donated prizes — all proceeds will go to Hands On Chengdu. Hands On Chengdu will have an informational booth at the happy hour and will be accepting donations and signing up volunteers on site.

If you're in China, you probably won't be able to watch the HBO documentary "China's Unnatural Disaster" which chronicles the aftermath of the Sichuan Quake from the perspective of the grieving parents.

Next week marks the first anniversary of the Great Sichuan Earthquake, which flattened entire towns in the province on May 12th last year. To try to ensure that next week passes harmoniously, local police in Chengdu have already started rounding up foreign reporters who might want to interview parents who lost their children in the quake.

It's May, which means that we're about to see a slew of Sichuan Earthquake-related tributes to commemorate the one year anniversary of the terrible disaster. Right now, one of the most popular videos on Youku is of a sand artist drawing images related to Wenchuan.

Yesterday marked the worldwide premier of what's poised to be this year's feel good flick: Disney-produced panda movie 熊猫回家路 (Xiongmao huijia lu).

• Mandarin Chinese profanity [Wikipedia] "While many offensive words and expletives involve insulting someone's mother, it is also common to show contempt by scorning another person's ancestors. Other Mandarin insults accuse people of not being human. Unlike English, Mandarin words for excrement or feces are less commonly used in slang and insults. Also, there are few parallels to English's blasphemous phrases, such as 'God damn it'."
• NKorea premier ends China visit [AFP] North Korean Premier Kim Yong-Il Saturday wrapped up his first visit to China, which came two weeks before Pyongyang's planned launch of a satellite, the Xinhua news agency reported. Kim's visit, which began Tuesday, was his first since taking office in 2007 and was officially to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
• Earthquake Pandas Go Home (with video!) [BBC] "Eight young pandas have returned to their native Sichuan province, after being relocated to Beijing, following last year's earthquake. Large crowds turned out to visit the pandas on their last weekend in Beijing before they are flown back to Sichuan province. The pandas will have a new home in Sichuan province with indoor air conditioning and outdoor swimming pools."

A Chinese mother is producing so much breast milk that she bathes her baby in the excess every day. The mother said she usually ends up producing two liters more milk than her six-week-old daughter needs to drink, so the family has been finding clever ways to get rid of it. At first, she, her husband and her mother-in-law took turns drinking the extra milk. But when there was still plenty left over, they began giving the baby milk baths, which have made the baby's skin very smooth and white. Source: Ananova

Usually when we find ourselves nodding off, we grab a coffee or an energy drink to get an extra jittery boost. It never occurred to us to light our mouths on fire. But police in Sichuan had that exact idea, and are serving free chili peppers to drivers at highway service stations as a way to keep them alert on some of the world's most dangerous stretches of road.

A site where cosplay enthusiasts can act out the online game Counterstrike, has been set up close to the ruins left by the Sichuan earthquake. According to the site's manager Dai Jun, the area's collapsed buildings make a good setting for the game. People in the area have protested against the park, but Dai Jun, quoted in Xinhua news says that the bereaved will find consolation in the reconstruction of tourist attractions, rather than in prayers alone. "How to restore the local tourist market and benefit the local villagers should be at the top of the agenda".

Didn't think the Chinese celebrated Valentine's Day? Chengdu apparently does, constructing this love-themed traffic crossing close to the city's Hejiang Pavilion, a popular dating venue for young couples. The local traffic bureau wanted to give the crossing a romantic atmosphere - and what's more romantic than gleefully stepping on hearts and the words "I love you"? Source: Ananova

Several scientists in China and the U.S. are claiming that the Sichuan Earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed at least 70,000 people, could have been caused by a 511ft-high dam just 550 yards from the fault line.

Over 16,000 people were stranded in Sichuan and Xinjiang last night after a giant fog enveloped Western China, just in time to screw up traffic for Spring Festival season. Visibility was less than 10 meters, not even close to the 500 meters required for take off. Expressways linking Chengdu to several nearby cities also had to be closed. But no need to get misty-eyed about a bleary situation for our West China friends, by 5am flights had started up again and traffic began its slow crawl by 11am. Spokespeople for Chengdu airport said they should clear the backlog by late tonight. Source: Xinhua

A 16 year old Sichuan schoolgirl has been invited to attend the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama on January 20. The girl, Li Zizi (李紫子) was actually born and raised in Japan but returned to her family home in Sichuan to attend the Chengdu Experimental Foreign Language School, close to some of the areas hit hardest by the great Sichuan earthquake in May.

"The Rixin neighbourhood committee in the city's north-east has begun a campaign to discourage residents' longstanding habit of wearing pyjamas out of their bedrooms and on the streets...'We're telling people not to wear pyjamas in the street because it looks very uncivilised,' community official Guo Xilin was quoted as saying."

About 2,000 inmates who are too old or sick to care for themselves will be released from Sichuan prisons during next year. According to Shanghai Daily this is due to humanitarian reasons, as well as to reduce expenses. Prisoners whose families are unable to care for them will be sent to homes for the aged.

Photo from rdx913

Tony Cheng of Al-Jazeera continues on his journey in Sichuan province, talking and spending time with quake victims who are still struggling with putting back the broken pieces of their lives. For some, getting back to work has proven easy enough, but the spiritual and emotional anguish they continue to experience on a daily basis remains deep six months on.

Tony Cheng of Al-Jazeera follows up on the Sichuan earthquake refugees and finds many of them running out of patience because the aid that was promised to them never arrived due to suspected corruption. Many of these refugees are still living in temporary shelters in massive camps (which to the credit of the Chinese government was an incredible feat), but with no job, no land to till, and no place to really call their own, they don't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

For Wu Liping, mother of an 18 year old Chinese student raped and murdered in Sydney, 2008 has been a year of unfathomable tragedy. Wu flew to Sydney earlier this week to identify the body of her only child who was raped three times before falling off the balcony in a Sydney apartment. The alleged rapist Brendan David Dennison is currently under arrest facing 21 charges.

Sichuan has reopened 17 tourist destinations province-wide after the devastating May 12 earthquake — just in time for the National Day holiday season. Among the 17 destinations is Dujiangyan, one of the worst-hit cities in the province, and home to the collapsed Xinjian Primary School and Juyuan Middle School where many students and teachers were literally buried alive.

Of the more than 500 children who lost their parents in the May 12th earthquake, only two have been adopted, the Washington Post reports. According to China Daily, however, only one child has been adopted. As many as 88 children are in temporary care, while the rest have moved in with relatives. Despite the earlier outpouring of grief and adoption enquiries after the earthquake, many of the children are unable to find adoptive parents because they are over 10 years of age and handicapped.