» China News

New Chinese smoking ban: just more smoke?

Due-East — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:55:49 +0000

I just came across this BBC article about how China is enacting a new law on May 1st that will officially ban smoking “in places like bars, restaurants, and buses, but not workplaces.” Please, oh please, let this work. There are about a zillion “no smoking” signs around this country, but as the picture above clearly illustrates, people here just don’t respect signs. So those “no smoking” signs are often barely visible through a very thick haze. As someone from the West, where people generally respect posted signs, I find that kind of utter disregard for clearly marked rules to be extremely irritating. Unfortunately, China is not the West. And smoking is so common here that men meet each other for the first time, they often offer each other a cigarette as a sort of greeting.

But if smoking is being outlawed in public places, people may end up thinking twice before lighting up, right? No. Why? Because while the law has officially been passed (whatever that process entails in China), it apparently neither includes any penalties for breaking the law nor defines how the law is to be enforced. In other words, it’s completely ineffectual. I get the feeling it has more to do with the concept of face than with affecting any actual change. Why do I say that? Because a whole lot of tax dollars (yuan) come from cigarette sales. And as long as people are smoking, those tax dollars (or yuan) keep rolling in.

Of course, I realize that’s a rather cynical view. The fact that the law has been passed a tall is a step in the right direction, at least. And according to the BBC article, this law just may have a chance of actually being enforced somewhere down the line:

Chinese health officials say unless more is done to cut the number of smokers, then, in less than 20 years time, one in every four people here who dies will be a victim of a smoking-related disease.

The costs to the country’s healthcare system – and its economy – could dwarf the amount of tax it gets from tobacco sales today.

Exactly when the ban will lead to any actual changes in the air quality in public places remains to be seen. I’m not holding my breath…except to avoid breathing all this stupid smoke.

Good news for socially-inept guys in China!

Due-East — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:15:52 +0000

Dorks of China, rejoice! According to a survey sponsored by China Matchmaker and the Chinese Academy of Marriage and Family, as long as you don’t mind marrying a woman over the ripe old age of 30, you’ve got a pretty good field to choose from. Stats from the article:

Of the men surveyed, about 65 percent said that they wanted to marry a woman between the ages of 25 and 28
Only about 25 percent of men surveyed said they’d even reluctantly marry a 30-year-old woman
And when a woman reaches 35 years old, only 12.5 percent of the guys surveyed would accept her as a wife

On the other hand…

One third of the women surveyed said they’d be willing to marry a man as old as 35 years old
And about 15 percent of the women surveyed said they’d marry a guy in his forties.

So there you have it, my socially-awkward Chinese friends. No matter what your age is, you’ve got a pretty good chance of being able to find a woman to marry you once all the rich, good-looking, socially-aware guys have had their pick. Unfortunately for you, Chinese men still largely outnumber Chinese women. So you’d better quit playing WoW and get busy wooing some woman before the dork down the street gets her first.

Link to article

The state of 科幻 (SciFi) in China

Due-East — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:50:03 +0000

I’m a big fan of SciFi. And I’m a big fan of Chinese. So logically, I’ve always wondered about Chinese SciFi, how much of it existed, what it was like, etc…but I’ve never really taken the time to look anything up about it for whatever reason. Thanks to this post on RedKemp.com, I don’t have to. It’s pretty well laid out for me.

According to RedKemp, SciFi all but went away when the Communist Party took over, but it’s had a revival as of late, and some people are even saying China’s in the midst of a “golden age” of SciFi. That’s pretty exciting news to me. It’s always interesting to see other cultures’ takes on popular SciFi themes in general, so anything combining SciFi and the culture that I find the most fascinating is a winner to me. RedKemp does a pretty good job of rounding up info on SciFi in China, so I won’t comment any further. I’ll just link to some of the same things they link to for the lazy readers, including myself.

Twelve Hours Later – A blog about “Literature from the other side of the globe – Chinese SF, fantasy, and mainstream fiction”
http://www.sfw-cd.com – The official site of China’s Science Fiction World magazine, which is apparently a really popular magazine in China. If only I could read more Chinese…
Some guy’s research project on Chinese SciFi
Lavie Tidhar‘s article on “Science Fiction, Globalization, and the People’s Republic of China”.

China predicting a mini baby boom in ’08

Due-East — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:36:23 +0000

A Chinese woman walks down the road with her 0.92nd child on her back.

China’s about to have a miniature baby boom next year according to a China Daily article. In 1973 the Chinese government introduced its family planning policy, which allowed only one child per household, and dealt heavy fines on families that dared to break the rule. But most of the children born before that year are now of an age where if they’re not already married, they will be soon. And that means they’ll want to have a child. On top of that, in 1984 the Chinese government loosened the ban on multiple children a bit, allowing rural couples to have a second child if their first was a girl. Those kids are around marrying age, too. And a recent survey showed that 80% of couples that plan to have a baby would like to have both a boy and a girl, and 41 percent of couples living in urban areas whose first child is a girl want to have another one and hope it’s a boy. So, yeah, there’s potential for a lot of kids to be born next year.

According to the China Daily article, Chinese families currently have an average of 1.8 children per household. I thought was kind of strange, so I contacted an old friend of mine who lives in Beijing, Wang Da Tou, and got her opinion of the numbers. Below are her comments.

“Actually, I just gave birth to my 1.8th child back in July. At first, I was a bit uncomfortable because I’ve always enjoyed staring into my first child’s beautiful eyes, but since this child is a .8 child, I can’t do that. But I eventually became more comfortable with it and now look at it as a good thing. I’m just glad that he’ll never need glasses, he’ll never have allergies, and he’ll never need hearing aids, because he has no body above his shoulders. Feeding him is problematic since he has no mouth, so I’m a bit jealous of my neighbor, who has 1.92 children. But I’m thankful for what I do have…”

There you have it, the indomitable Chinese spirit!

Link to article

Beauty Queens or, things I’m not really impressed by

Due-East — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 21:22:24 +0000

I’ve been living under a rock lately when it comes to Asian news, so I missed the fact that Miss China was named “Miss World” on December 1st. Cool. Good for her!

But what bugs me is how just because someone is attractive and is a “sweet innocent beauty” that has “the demure look”, people act like she’s a goddess or the savior of the world or something. Case in point, check out this excerpt from the article:

Xuan Wucheng, Zhang’s former college classmate, says he received dozens of messages from friends and acquaintances the day after Zhang’s triumph, which typically read: “Do you know the news? Your classmate was crowned Miss World. You are so lucky to have once shared the same classroom with her.”

C’mon, people, she’s a regular person who happens to be attractive enough and have a good enough personality to charm some judges into crowning her with an honorary title. How does that make anybody “lucky to have once shared the same classroom with her”? Let me know when she solves all the world’s problems. Then I’ll be impressed and consider myself lucky to have seen her picture even. Until then, I’ll be over here making fun of something in the news…and wishing she were my girlfriend. [insert ironic smile here]

Link to article

Captain, check your sticks!

Due-East — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:56:53 +0000

Just think, you could be eating your Chinese food with these very same chopsticks!

Today’s unsafe export of Chinese goods comes from Beijing, where a factory has been recycling people’s used chopsticks and then reselling them without disinfecting them at all. Yummy. Beijing News says that officials there have seized about 500,000 pairs of the germy disposable bamboo chopsticks and a machine used to package them. The article says that the factory has been selling about up to 100,000 pairs a day. But the owner of the factory said he had sold the chopsticks for a dirt cheap 0.04 yuan a day and made around 1,000 yuan (that’s $130 US) on any given day when business was good. Not being one to shy away from 5th-grade math, I did a little calculating to check the things, and if my calculations are correct (I didn’t say I’m good at 5th-grade math), he actually sold about 25,000 pairs of dirty chopsticks a day, nowhere near 100,000. Nice math, Reuters! 1000/0.04 = 25,000, not 100,000. Now, it’s not to say that there weren’t days that he did sell 100,000 pairs of chopsticksk, but the way the article is worded, it’s clear they were going for sensationalism and panic. But still, let’s say he’d been doing this for 2 months (60 days) and selling 25,000 pairs a day before he got caught; that’d mean he sold 1.5 million pairs of nasty, already-been-in-someone-else’s-mouth chopsticks. Nasty. Oh, and he had no license to sell the chopsticks in the first place, so who knows how long it had been going on before he got caught. You could’ve used his unsafe chopsticks last month or just last week and not even realized it. You could have some weird oriental disease ravaging your body right now, as you read this, all because you decided to “go native” and use chopsticks at a restaurant. How’s that for a possible panic-inducing statement? Man, I should totally work for Reuters.

But it’s gonna get better, right? Probably not soon. According to the article, China “lacks the manpower to enforce food and drug safety regulations at home or for export.” But, hey! They check their imports carefully! That’s good to know. Thanks, China!

The article also pointed to one possible cause of the problem, saying, “A lack of business ethics and a spiritual vacuum after China embraced economic reforms in the late 1970s have been blamed for unscrupulous business practices and corruption.” Ya think? A large number of the people in China don’t believe in any higher power, but they do believe in money, so of course they’re going to be morally devoid and corrupt in their business practices. It’s to be expected that a largely godless society would react to total freedom and a lack of safeguards in such a way. It’s imperfect human nature.

I feel bad for the Chinese as a whole, though. I’m sure there are plenty of scrupulous business owners in a society of 1.4 billion people, but as the old saying goes, “one bad apple takes two to tango”…or something like that. I wonder when and what the next product recall/outing of corrupt Chinese businessman will be. Whatever it is, I’m not using disposable chopsticks for a while, that’s for sure.

Link to article

China’s rural motivational geniuses!

Due-East — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:47:17 +0000

“Honey, you’re just another tomb.”

Chinese culture is full of subtleties that take a lot of study to fully appreciate, but when it comes to motivating people, sometimes that kind of all goes out the window. Because of the surging population, China has set strict limits on how many children most couples can have. It’s not really easy to get people in general on board with a policy like that, but Beijing tries its best. Unfortunately, rural governments sometimes lack the communication skills to motivate people effectively. The National Population and Family Planning Commission has had to crack down rural governments’ use of “crude and insensitive slogans” to to try to persuade people to comply with their population control policies. But what’s so offensive about things like ‘Raise fewer babies but more piggies,’ and ‘One more baby means one more tomb.’? Those are perfectly acceptable [to complete morons].

I’d like a Sensitivity Combo with a side order of Couth, please.

Link to article

PSA: Turn on the AC or you could die.

Due-East — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:15:17 +0000

All this electrical stuff shouldn’t get wet or be touched.

I don’t think I’ll ever understand why the Chinese in general seem to like to let the temperature in their homes change with the seasons rather than keeping it one comfortable temperature year round. When I visit Chinese friends, it seems like their houses are always freezing in the winter and a furnace in the summer. I’ve never asked them about this specifically, but I think it’s a combination of their being generally frugal (some would say cheap) people and their philosophy on what’s healthy. At any rate, if you’re hot natured, don’t visit Chinese people in the summer, even if they live in a place with central air conditioning. And if you’re cold natured, bring extra socks and jackets if you visit Chinese people in the winter.

All cultural issues and frugality aside, there are some times when you should just suck it up and turn on the air conditioner. Otherwise, you could end up dead. Shanghai is having record high temperatures this summer, and when it’s really hot, most Westerners will crank up the air conditioner. But not so the Chinese. One Shanghai student was sweating his rear off in his room because he’d apparently rather dehydrate or have a heat stroke than turn the AC on. It got hot enough that he was afraid his CPU would overheat and be damaged, so he opened the computer’s case to let it cool off. The article doesn’t say exactly what happened, but it seems he touched the inside of the computer and electrocuted himself. I’m sorry, but I gotta give western wisdom the win here. If your body is sweating in order to cool itself, and it’s within your power to help that process along, just do it. It won’t cost you that much, and it won’t kill you either.

Link to article

Your life isn’t as bad as this guy’s, so quit your whining.

Due-East — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:56:42 +0000

The epitome of a strong will to live, Mr. Peng Shulin

From the I’m a loser for complaining that I have to walk across the room to turn the lights on when some people don’t even have legs desk comes this story from China. Mr. Peng Shulin was cut in half by a “lorry” (that’s vehicle exceeding 7.5 metric tons maximum laden weight, but the Brits can’t call it a “big truck”…no, they have to make a new word for everything – Yes, Amelia, I’m making fun of you Brits) back in 1995 and has been bed-ridden ever since. Well, until last year when the China Rehabilitation Research Center in Beijing heard about his situation and came up with a plan to get him up and walking around again. The doctors invented an egg-like cup device with bionic legs for him to sit in so that he would be able to move around. He’s said to be delighted with the new device which the article says is designed to mimic the way his real legs would have worked.

It’s pretty amazing, but even more amazing is the fact that he survived the accident at all. The article says it took more than twenty doctors and a lot of skin grafts taken from his head and transferred to his torso to save his life. He only has half of a body left. And the amazing thing is that he manages not only to have the will to live, but the ability to smile. Mr. Peng, my hat’s off to you…

Link to article

Another win for traditional Chinese medicine

Due-East — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:40:51 +0000

Look at all that natural goodness!

The West is a pill-popping, man-made-medicine-obsessed culture. We’ve got pills to treat everything from headaches to upset stomach to erectile dysfunction, and it seems like most of the Western world likes it that way. Often when I hear traditional Chinese medicine mentioned, it gets kind of brushed aside and scoffed at by Westerners. And I can’t with any honesty claim that I’m not susceptible to my native culture; I’m guilty, too, sometimes.

But when you think about it, natural cures for common health problems and disease make sense. We’re made up of the elements found on earth, so why wouldn’t natural things help us balance out our bodies and minds? That’s why I find traditional Chinese Medicine so fascinating; it just makes sense.

I came across this article on Chinese Medicine News a little while ago, and I thought it was interesting. The short of it is that a traditional Chinese medicine (加味逍遙散 , Jia Wei Xiao Yao San, or “wandering free” ) used as far back as the Song Dynasty to treat muscular pain, dizziness, uneasiness, hot flashes, extreme sweating, insomnia, decreasing appetite and abnormal menstrual symptoms has been found to be effective in treating depression and various types of anxiety as well. There’s a lot more to the article (mostly medical research mumbo-jumbo), so I’ll just let it go and post the link below. The point is that it’s cool to see another example of how natural cures can be just as effective as man-made ones, and probably without all the side effects, too.

Link to original article