Archive for ‘sichuan province’

07/10/2019

China to brace for heavy rains

BEIJING, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) — Parts of southern and western China will be swept by heavy rains, according to the National Meteorological Center (NMC).

Southern part of of south China will experience heavy rains or rainstorms Monday, with heavy downpours in some areas, said the NMC.

Parts of Chongqing Municipality and Sichuan Basin, as well as southern Shaanxi province will have heavy rains or rainstorms from Monday to Tuesday.

China’s western areas will be gripped by continuous rainfalls until Saturday, with the cumulative precipitation in parts of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei provinces and Chongqing Municipality topping 180 mm.

The NMC warned against potential geological hazards that may be caused by lingering rains.

Source: Xinhua

03/10/2019

China’s scenic sites limit ‘golden week’ visitor numbers to cut crowds

  • Managers of the Leshan Giant Buddha and Jiuzhaigou National Park restrict ticket sales as millions head off for the holiday break
Park authorities in charge of the Leshan Giant Buddha in Sichuan have restricted visitor numbers in golden week. Photo: Xinhua
Park authorities in charge of the Leshan Giant Buddha in Sichuan have restricted visitor numbers in golden week. Photo: Xinhua
Several major tourist attractions in China have capped visitor numbers during this year’s National Day “golden week” holiday as millions take the chance to travel.
October 1 marked the start of a week-long break on the mainland, with an estimated 800 million people expected to go on trips in China or overseas, about 10 per cent more than last year, according to the China Tourism Academy.
The academy estimated that 726 million people would take domestic trips in this peak holiday period – a 9.4 per cent increase from last year, but that is the lowest level of growth since 2007 as pressure from China’s slowing economy and the trade war with the United States take their toll.
Managers at the scenic area surrounding the Leshan Giant Buddha – a 71-metre (233 feet) tall ancient statue carved into a cliff in southwestern Sichuan province – said last week that daily tickets would be capped at 22,400 during the holiday, which runs until Monday.
West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, drew 300,400 visitors as golden week started. Photo: Xinhua
West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, drew 300,400 visitors as golden week started. Photo: Xinhua

The park said it would update visitors on daily ticket sales through social media.

“Today’s tickets for the Giant Buddha have reached the limit and sales have stopped,” the park management committee said on its Weibo account on Tuesday. “To all tourists, please rearrange your itinerary. You can visit the areas surrounding the Giant Buddha scenic spot,” it said, adding that tickets could be booked online for any day for the rest of golden week.

“I expected it to be chock-full of people, but actually today it’s still relatively calm. I had lots of fun,” a visitor to the Giant Buddha told Pear Video on Tuesday.

Hong Kong protests leave ‘golden week’ tourist boom in tatters
Jiuzhaigou National Park in Sichuan said last week that it would be limiting visitors to 5,000 per day during golden week and said on Monday that tickets had sold out.

The network of valleys known for its natural scenery was devastated by an earthquake in August 2017, and reopened with limited access in March 2018.

However, there were no restrictions at other attractions. In eastern Zhejiang province, 340,400 visitors went through the gates at Hangzhou’s West Lake on Tuesday, the Global Times’ Chinese edition reported.

“There’s too many people. I have never seen so many of them in my life,” one tourist was quoted as saying.

A guide also said that instances of “uncivilised behaviour”, such as trampling on the gardens, were down compared to last year.

Next stop: Croatia. Chinese travellers skip Hong Kong for niche destinations over National Day break
“During the major holidays, many tourist attractions are so crowded that tourists can barely move an inch,” Hangzhou Daily said in an editorial on Monday.
“Not only is the tourist experience bad, but there are also safety hazards such as being trampled on, and this puts a lot of pressure on nearby public transport and food establishments.”
Travel booking platform Ctrip said that tourists heading overseas were increasingly seeking out new destinations, with bookings to places such as the Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia, Malta and Cambodia up by 45 per cent this year.
However, bookings for Hong Kong had fallen substantially after nearly four months of anti-government protests, Ctrip said.
Source: SCMP
29/09/2019

Are China’s grandparents reaching their limits on free childcare?

  • Millions of Chinese children are raised by their grandparents but some seniors are demanding compensation
For generations in China grandparents have provided childcare, but some are no longer willing to do so for free. Photo: Shutterstock
For generations in China grandparents have provided childcare, but some are no longer willing to do so for free. Photo: Shutterstock

The traditional role of grandparents in caring for China’s children has been called into question with two recent lawsuits sparking debate about whether seniors should be paid for their efforts.

Two grandmothers took their demands for compensation to court in separate cases which have highlighted the reliance of Chinese workers on their parents to provide childcare while they pursue professional advancement.

A woman in Mianyang, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, was awarded more than 68,000 yuan (US$9,500) by a local court after she sued her son and daughter-in-law for the costs of raising her nine-year-old grandchild, according to Red Star News.

The woman, identified only by her surname Wang, had been the child’s full-time carer for eight years after his parents left home to seek better-paid jobs elsewhere. Wang said she had taken care of most of her grandson’s living expenses and had decided to seek compensation when his parents said they were considering a divorce.

They should respect our contribution. Grandmother Wang, Sichuan province

“I only want to let them know through this lawsuit that it’s their obligation to raise their children,” she was reported as saying. “The young ones should not take it for granted that old people ought to look after their grandchildren. They should respect our contribution.”

Despite winning the case, she has not received a penny and the boy still lives with her.

In another case, three months ago, a Beijing court supported a woman’s demand for compensation for helping to raise her granddaughter since her birth in 2002.

The stories of the two women generated a public reflection on the Chinese way of childcare which, for generations, has involved leaving most – if not all – of the burden on grandparents.

One of 60 million: life as a ‘left-behind’ child in China

From a cultural perspective, it has been a matter of course in a country with a long history of several generations living under one roof, for grandparents to participate in child rearing, according to Xu Anqi, a researcher specialising in family studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

“Today, as people face fierce competition and great pressure from work, it’s still common to rely on their old parents to look after their children,” she said.

While rapid urbanisation in recent decades has broken up multi-generational households, Chinese elderly still take an active role in child rearing, with many relocating to their children’s cities to take on the job.

Millions more families do it the other way round – with parents leaving children in their hometown with the grandparents while they seek better paying jobs in the cities. In August last year, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, China had nearly 7 million “left behind kids”, as they are known.

My little granddaughter is adorable, and generally I enjoy doing all this.Li Xiujuan, grandmother

“Many grandmothers like me would joke that we are ‘unpaid nannies’, but at the same time we feel it’s our responsibility to help them out – they would be in financial stress if one of them quit or they hired a nanny,” said Li Xiujuan, who relocated from her hometown in the central province of Henan to Shanghai two years ago to help look after her granddaughter.
“I’m a 24-hour nanny for my grandkid. I prepare food for her, wash her clothes, attend early childhood classes with her, take her for a walk in the park twice a day, sleep beside her at noon and night …” she said.
“I never cared for my daughter when she was little like I do her daughter now. You know, it was also her grandmother who mainly took care of her daily life when she was young,” Li said, laughing.
“My little granddaughter is adorable, and generally I enjoy doing all this. The hard part is that I miss my friends and relatives back home. We don’t have friends here. I have plenty of things to do at home, but here, nothing but babysitting. People are polite, but it’s difficult to make new friends,” she said.
‘Left behind’ sisters cry when parents leave home to go to work
In a 2017 study of about 3,600 households in six major cities including Beijing and Guangzhou, the Chinese Society of Education found almost 80 per cent of surveyed households had at least one grandparent as carer before children began primary school.
The study also showed that 60 per cent of parents still relied on help from grandparents after children were old enough for primary school at the age of six.
Whether grandparents should be compensated for their efforts split a poll of 49,000 users conducted by social media platform Weibo in late June, with half believing that the older generation should be paid for raising their grandchildren. Only 2.3 per cent said babysitting grandchildren was “an unalterable principle” for the elderly.
“This arrangement could be well managed and improve blood ties if children reward the elderly in their own ways, such as sending gifts on holidays and taking them on trips,” Shanghai researcher Xu said.

I think what they need more is words of appreciation, which many of us have neglected. David Dai, Beijing parent

Grandmother Li agreed: “I think regular payment is a little awkward, but I do expect some kind of reward, like cash gifts on festivals and daily necessities as presents.”
David Dai, a 30-year-old white collar worker in Beijing, said how to reward grandparents for their contribution depended on the financial situation of each household.
“My parents are farmers – they are in good shape and not so old – in their late 50s, and if they didn’t come all the way from my hometown in Anhui to Beijing to look after my son, they would still be taking some odd jobs,” he said.
“Therefore, besides covering their living costs at my place, I give them cash gifts on their birthdays, the Spring Festival and other important occasions, because babysitting their grandchild means they lose the opportunity to work,” he added.
“In some families, the grandparents might have retired and have a good pension. They don’t lack money and enjoy spending time with their grandkids. I don’t think they need to be paid. I think what they need more is words of appreciation, which many of us have neglected,” Dai said.
China boosts childcare and maternal health services in bid to lift birth rate
But for those who never show any gratitude, their parents have every reason not to offer child rearing help or to demand payment, Xu said.
Zhang Tao, a lawyer at the Hiways Law Firm in Shanghai, noted that as long as at least one parent of a child was living, the grandparents had no obligation to help with childcare.
“The grandparents should be compensated for the money they have paid for the child’s education, medical fees, and accommodation from the beneficiary,” he said.
But whether they should be paid has become the latest controversy as more grandparents find it a burden.
Source: SCMP
26/09/2019

Sichuan earthquake survivor ready to join his airborne heroes at China’s 70th anniversary parade

  • Cheng Qiang was just 12 when a magnitude 8 tremor destroyed his village, but he never forgot the heroism of the soldiers sent to help and swore one day to join their ranks
  • Now a squad leader, on October 1 he will also be part of the National Day celebrations in Tiananmen Square
Cheng Qiang was just 12 when his home in Sichuan was hit by a massive earthquake and airborne troops were sent to help. Photo: People.cn
Cheng Qiang was just 12 when his home in Sichuan was hit by a massive earthquake and airborne troops were sent to help. Photo: People.cn
A young man who survived the devastating Sichuan earthquake and vowed to one day join the ranks of the soldiers who spent months rescuing people from the rubble will on Tuesday lead his very own squad of airborne troops in Tiananmen Square as part of the celebrations for the country’s 70th anniversary.
Now 23, Cheng Qiang was just 12 when on May 12, 2008 he and a group of friends played truant from school to go swimming in a local river, Xinhua reported on Thursday.
When the boys had finished their fun they returned to their village in the township of Luoshui to find their school and many other buildings had been razed to the ground. The death toll from the magnitude 8 quake would eventually rise to 87,000, with 370,000 people injured.
Cheng says he is ready to “continue the glory of the airborne troops” at Tuesday’s parade. Photo: Thepaper.cn
Cheng says he is ready to “continue the glory of the airborne troops” at Tuesday’s parade. Photo: Thepaper.cn
In the days and weeks that followed the devastation, tens of thousands of people from around China and the world descended on towns and villages across Sichuan to help with the rescue effort.
But the ones who impressed Cheng the most were the soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with the word “Airborne” printed on the helmets.

“Sometimes they had to remove the debris with their bare hands which were already covered in blood,” he said.

“But they just carried on and eventually pulled dozens of people out of the rubble. I knew then that I wanted to be one of them.”

Chnag said that after the quake having the troops in his village made him feel safe. Photo: People.cn
Cheng said that after the quake having the troops in his village made him feel safe. Photo: People.cn

Having the troops in his village made Cheng feel safe, he said, and he spent his days following them around and doing what he could to help.

Three months later, when the soldiers had completed their work and were preparing to pull out, Cheng said he was determined to show his new heroes just how grateful he was to them.

As the villagers gathered at the roadside to bid farewell to the men who had become their saviours, the young boy held up a handwritten sign. It said simply: “I want to be an airborne soldier when I grow up.”

The moment was captured on camera by a press photographer, and the image soon became a symbol of the gratitude felt by the people who had seen their lives and communities shattered but knew they had not been forsaken.

Cheng said he felt dizzy when he first jumped out of a plane. Photo: People.cn
Cheng said he felt dizzy when he first jumped out of a plane. Photo: People.cn

Five years after the troops rolled out, Cheng was preparing to go to college when he heard the PLA was recruiting and that there were places available with the airborne division.

The teenager did not need a second invitation, and after securing a place on a training course and successfully completing it he joined the ranks of his heroes in 2013.

Not that everything was plain sailing, however.

“When I first jumped out of a plane I felt very dizzy and didn’t really know what was going on,” he said.

Thankfully Cheng managed to overcome his vertigo and went on to become a squad leader.

Tens of thousands of troops will take part in China’s National Day parade on October 1. Photo: Thepaper.cn
Tens of thousands of troops will take part in China’s National Day parade on October 1. Photo: Thepaper.cn

When the preparations were being made for next week’s anniversary celebrations in Beijing, Cheng said he and his squad were chosen to take part.

He said that during the rehearsals for the grand parade, he was repeatedly reprimanded by his trainer for not keeping his knees close enough together, for lifting his feet too high and for letting his gun slip off shoulder.

But he was determined to get it right, and after weeks of hard work and 11 years on from the tragedy that devastated his world, he said he was now ready to put his best foot forward.

“The nightmare of earthquake has long gone,” he said. “I am here to continue the glory of the airborne troops. I am ready for inspection.”

Source: SCMP

20/09/2019

Chinese woman fined US$28 for tossing coins from plane to ‘cure baby’s diarrhoea’

  • Superstitious medical student, 23, said it was customary in her hometown to throw money for good luck
  • Cousin’s child had fallen ill on flight from Jiangxi to Sichuan, she said
A woman was fined for tossing coins onto the apron at an airport in Sichuan province. Photo: Weibo
A woman was fined for tossing coins onto the apron at an airport in Sichuan province. Photo: Weibo
A woman who threw coins onto the parking apron at an airport in southwest China in the superstitious belief it might cure her cousin’s baby’s diarrhoea was instead fined 200 yuan (US$28), local media reported.
The incident happened on September 5, as the woman, surnamed Wang, and a group of her relatives arrived in Xichang, Sichuan province, after flying from Nanchang, Jiangxi province, to attend a family wedding, the Chengdu Business News reported on Friday.
Wang, 23, dropped the coins through the gap between the aircraft and the jet bridge as she and her family were disembarking.
Police said the medical student was shocked when she realised the trouble she had caused. Photo: Weibo
Police said the medical student was shocked when she realised the trouble she had caused. Photo: Weibo
Although no one spotted what she had done at the time, airport workers later found three coins on the ground while conducting a security check and reported the matter to the police.
Officers reviewed footage from the airport’s surveillance cameras and identified Wang as the guilty party and went to see her at her hotel the following morning, the report said.

Wang said that during the flight her cousin’s baby had suffered from diarrhoea and that it was customary in her hometown to toss coins in the hope it would bring the child good luck.

“She said she didn’t realise her action could have had a very serious outcome,” a police officer was quoted as saying, adding that Wang appeared shocked when she realised the trouble she had caused.

However, as her actions had not resulted in any delays to flights or created any other problems, she was charged only with a minor offence.

Many Chinese think tossing coins before a flight will bring them good luck. Photo: EPA
Many Chinese think tossing coins before a flight will bring them good luck. Photo: EPA

Wang, who recently completed a bachelor’s degree in medicine and was preparing to sit a graduate school entrance examination, was worried the incident might have an impact on her future education and job prospects, the officer said.

More than 5,000 people commented on the story on news portal 163.com, with one asking: “You are so superstitious, how can you treat patients?”

In recent years there have been numerous reports of Chinese travellers causing delays and being punished for tossing coins onto airport runways and even into aircraft engines.

In April, a woman was detained for throwing six coins as she was about to board a plane in southern China in the hope it would guarantee her a safe trip.

Source: SCMP

18/09/2019

Chinese head teacher sacked over canteen washing up scandal

  • Video of staff washing tableware with laundry detergent goes viral
A primary school principal has been sacked after it emerged laundry detergent was used in the canteen to wash tableware. Photo: Thepaper.cn
A primary school principal has been sacked after it emerged laundry detergent was used in the canteen to wash tableware. Photo: Thepaper.cn

The head of a primary school in northeastern China has been sacked and a government investigation is underway into the use of laundry washing powder to clean tableware in the school canteen.

The scandal came to light when a video of canteen staff washing up at Dongfeng Primary School in Zuanghe, Liaoning province, went viral on Chinese social media.

The video shows staff, wearing white uniforms and aprons, cleaning plates and bowls in basins containing water tainted with laundry detergent. It is unclear when the incident happened.

In a statement on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, on Tuesday, the municipal government said the head of the school had been dismissed and representatives had been assigned by the authorities to take charge of the school’s daily operation. Due diligence investigations of the relevant department would begin “immediately”, the statement said.
Chinese school heads told to eat with pupils after string of scandals
The local administration for market regulation had also been ordered to speed up an examination of the food samples, tableware and washing products at the school, and the results would be made public in a timely manner, the authorities said.

Until the investigation is concluded, meals at the school, which has about 400 pupils, will be the responsibility of the municipal education department.

As an added precaution, food safety inspections would be carried out at all elementary and middle schools in the region.

The prompt action by the authorities reflects the wide public attention in China to any food safety scandal which involves children.

The principal of an international school in Shanghai was dismissed in October after parents of students found mouldy tomatoes and onions in a kitchen where food was prepared for pupils. In May, video footage showing mouldy food in the canteen of a middle school in Chengdu, Sichuan province, triggered angry parents to stage protests outside the school and the local government building.

Source: SCMP

11/09/2019

Chinese school sparks sexism row after urging boys to grow ‘heroically’ and girls to be ‘tranquil’

  • Chengdu school teaches boys to build model rockets while girls learn about knitting
  • Handicrafts show at school prompts question, ‘Why can’t boys knit and girls build rockets?’
Pupils and staff at Chengdu Caotang Elementary School in Sichuan show off knitting from their Boys and Girls are Vastly Different class. Photo: Weibo
Pupils and staff at Chengdu Caotang Elementary School in Sichuan show off knitting from their Boys and Girls are Vastly Different class. Photo: Weibo

A school in southwest China that teaches boys to grow “heroically” and wants “tranquil feminine examples” for its girls has generated a heated debate about sexism.

Chengdu Caotang Elementary School in Sichuan province developed a course that teaches boys to build model rockets and girls to knit alongside mainstream subjects such as maths, languages and art, in the hope of “increasing their gender knowledge”.

The course, called Boys and Girls are Vastly Different, started last semester because school managers believed that “boys and girls have been shaped in the same way recently”, principal Fu Jin told the Chengdu Economic Daily on Monday.

That “led to boys lacking enough space to grow heroically and girls lacking gentle and tranquil feminine examples to follow, so there’s some gender dislocation”, she said.

Chengdu Caotang Elementary School wants its boys to be “heroic” and its girls to be “tranquil”. Photo: Weibo
Chengdu Caotang Elementary School wants its boys to be “heroic” and its girls to be “tranquil”. Photo: Weibo

Last semester, pupils learned the differences between female and male bodies. This semester, boys are learning how to build model planes, rockets and cars, while the girls are being taught knitting by teachers and mothers who volunteer to help out in classes.

On Monday, a show of handicrafts and jumpers hosted by the school to promote the class led to a backlash on social media, with members of the public criticising the school for sexism and enforcing gender stereotypes.

“They are tying the hands of girls when young, and when these girls grow up, people would say there are only a few female scientists because girls are born unfit for that role,” a Weibo user said.

What Chinese summer camps taught teens about gender values

“It’s typical gender discrimination,” another said. “Why can’t boys knit and girls build rockets?”

Authorities cracked down on controversial classes for Chinese children after some extreme examples of gender education. In December, a Weibo account highlighted a lurid “virtue” class where a sobbing woman was seen on video confessing to teenagers at a summer camp in Wenzhou, eastern Zhejiang province that “promiscuous women got gangrene”.

“I dressed myself up in a fashionable and revealing way, and that’s an invitation for others to insult me and rape me,” she told her audience.

“Three drops of sperm are equal to poison, and they will hurt unclean women,” she said. “I’m afraid my body will rot, will stink and ache, and they’ll have to amputate my legs.”

The camp was condemned and shut down by the local government.

Source: SCMP

09/09/2019

Red tourism helps improve employment rate and incomes of local villagers in China’s Sichuan

CHINA-SICHUAN-YIHAI-TOURISM-POVERTY RELIEF (CN)

Local villagers of Yi ethnic group pose for a family photo in front of their yard in Yihai Village, Mianning County, Liangshan Prefecture, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Sept. 7, 2019. In recent years, the development of red tourism, which refers to visits to historical sites with a revolutionary legacy, has helped improve the employment rate and increase the incomes of local villagers in Yihai Village. With the establishment of the red tourism scenic area and the implementation of poverty relief policies, more than 110 poverty-stricken families in the village has got out of poverty. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

Source: Xinhua

08/09/2019

5.4-magnitude quake hits SW China: CENC

BEIJING, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) — A 5.4-magnitude earthquake jolted Weiyuan County of Neijiang City in southwest China’s Sichuan Province at 6:42 a.m. Sunday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

The epicenter, with a depth of 10 km, was monitored at 29.55 degrees north latitude and 104.79 degrees east longitude, the center said in a statement.

Source: Xinhua

26/08/2019

China’s water environment improving: report

BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) — The water quality of China’s major rivers, lakes and coastal waters is improving, while in general, the water ecology is not optimistic, an official report showed.

The report was made by an inspection team tasked with examining the enforcement of the water pollution prevention and control law, under the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature.

From April to June, the law enforcement inspection team was divided into four groups and went to eight provinces, including Sichuan, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hebei, Guangdong, Anhui, Yunnan and Guizhou, to carry out law enforcement inspections.

The inspection groups visited 31 cities and carried out on-site inspections of 201 organizations, villages and projects.

At the same time, 23 other provincial-level regions were entrusted to carry out similar investigations to achieve full coverage of law enforcement inspections.

According to the report, in 2018, 71 percent of the national surface water sections were of good quality and the water quality of major rivers, lakes and coastal waters was stable and good.

However, the report also points out that inadequate law implementation is still prominent, and the overall situation of China’s water environment is not optimistic.

Source: Xinhua

Law of Unintended Consequences

continuously updated blog about China & India

ChiaHou's Book Reviews

continuously updated blog about China & India

What's wrong with the world; and its economy

continuously updated blog about China & India