Yunnan Province | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

01/05/2020

Xinhua Headlines: China welcomes tourism, consumption rebound under regular epidemic prevention, control

-China will embrace an opportunity for tourism and consumption in the upcoming International Labor Day holiday under regular epidemic prevention and control.

-Among comprehensive prevention and control measures during the holiday, tours to all of Shanghai’s top tourist attractions should be reserved to avoid gatherings of people.

-Internet technologies have also empowered tourism with online booking, live-streaming sessions and “cloud tourism.”

By Xinhua writers Chen Aiping, Sun Wenji

SHANGHAI, April 30 (Xinhua) — The upcoming five-day International Labor Day holiday will be an opportunity for tourism and consumption since China entered the phase of regular epidemic prevention and control.

The number of domestic trips to be made in the holiday is estimated to be over twice the number of that made in the three-day Tomb-sweeping Day holiday in April, said major online travel agencies in China.

How will the country guarantee healthy and safe travels while boosting tourism and consumption in the holiday?

Tourists visit the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, April 29, 2020. Wuhan’s landmark Yellow Crane Tower partly reopened to the public on Wednesday. For the time being, there is still a visitor number limit and online booking is needed. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)

BOOMING RESERVATIONS

Among comprehensive prevention and control measures during the holiday, tours to all of Shanghai’s top tourist attractions should be reserved to avoid gatherings of people.

“Safety comes first,” said Yu Xiufen, head of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism.

The city, with 84 major tourist attractions and over 5,200 hotels reopened, will be the largest tourist destination as well as the largest tourist source for the holiday, according to booking data from Trip.com Group.

However, reopened tourist sites should receive no more than 30 percent of their daily or real-time visitor capacity, according to a circular jointly released by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Health Commission on April 13.

People enjoy themselves at the Shanghai Happy Valley in east China’s Shanghai Municipality April 5, 2020. (Shanghai Happy Valley/Handout via Xinhua)

“Better travel planning is needed if you don’t want to gather inside the attractions or outside waiting for entry,” said Zheng Bing, a 33-year-old visitor who has booked trips to Zhujiajiao Old Town and Shanghai Happy Valley for her family.

“I can book through the attractions’ official online channels or call them with the required information for a limited number of family members, and check the real-time passenger flow on the WeChat accounts of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism,” she said, adding that nearly 200 attractions, museums, art galleries and public cultural centers have launched booking access through Visit Shanghai, an online platform with Shanghai’s cultural and tourism resources.

“In April, the number of tourists who made online bookings increased by 300 percent from March,” said Yu Xiaojiang with Trip.com Group, noting that over 4,000 tourist attractions in China have launched online booking access.

“Nearly 2,000 visitors have booked for May 1, marking the largest daily volume during the holiday. We will take more precise epidemic prevention measures,” said Zhao Shuai, marketing director of Shanghai Happy Valley.

PREPARED DESTINATIONS

China has urged the safe and orderly opening of tourist sites across the country, noting that efforts should be made to control passenger flows, prevent the gatherings of crowds, implement reservation systems and raise public awareness of epidemic prevention and control.

China’s resort island Hainan Province recently announced 20 specific epidemic-control measures in tourism, transportation, dining and shopping sectors while launching holiday promotions to boost consumption.

A customer tries out a pair of sunglasses at a duty-free experience shop in a resort in Sanya, south China’s Hainan Province, April 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)

“Tourists are required to wear masks, show their health codes and have their temperature checked. All the sales staff are required to wear masks and gloves,” said Zhang Ke, an employee with a duty-free shop in downtown Haikou, capital of Hainan.

One-meter bars were set at the shop’s sales counters and sanitizers were provided, while staff will keep customer flows at a safe distance and disinfect public areas regularly every day, Zhang said.

Over 85 percent of hotels across China have resumed operations, according to Tongcheng-eLong, another online travel agency giant. Over 110,000 hotel suppliers have joined the Safety Hotel Initiative of Tongcheng-eLong in adopting more safety measures, including disinfecting public areas and popularizing coronavirus control knowledge.

In popular destinations such as Shanghai, Yunnan and Hainan, restaurants are encouraged to serve separate dishes. In Shanghai, some 30 percent of restaurants now offer separate dishes for diners.

Tourists will also shoulder more responsibilities with better travel plans and behavior, said He Jianmin, an expert with Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

INTERNET　EMPOWERMENT

“Epidemic-control measures including online booking are also important for ensuring the tourism sector’s high-quality long-term development,” said Zhao Shuai, adding that China will eye booming smart tourist attractions empowered by Internet technologies.

5G infrared thermal imaging temperature measurement has been implemented in public areas including metro stations, commercial centers, airports and train stations in Shanghai and many other cities to monitor people’s body temperature.

A visitor receives body temperature check at the entrance of Shanghai Museum in east China’s Shanghai Municipality, March 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Ren Long)

The Old Town of Lijiang in southwest China’s Yunnan Province implemented a big data system to monitor passenger flows and prevent the gathering of crowds.

Although group tours across provinces were still suspended, online consumption for tourism boosted.

Shanghai has taken measures to promote the recovery of epidemic-hit culture and tourism, and exhibitions, cooking competitions and tours have been held online. Trip.com Group said its sales of travel products had reached 200 million yuan (28.33 million U.S. dollars) in seven recent livestreaming sessions as of Wednesday.

Tour guide Zeng Hongjuan (R) introduces an exhibit via livestreaming on a cellphone platform at the Beijing Auto Museum in Beijing, capital of China, April 30, 2020. Livestreaming shows for this auto museum will be staged from April 30 to May 3 for the upcoming International Labor Day holidays. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

Scenic spots in Yunnan have cooperated with video platforms to livestream their natural beauty to attract more tourists.

“Go-Yunnan,” an online travel platform, has launched more than 1,400 live feeds allowing people to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Yunnan from home.

“Online tourism, or ‘cloud tourism,’ as a new mode of tourism, helps scenic spots attract more tourists and aids the recovery of Yunnan’s tourism industry,” said Yang Wenwen, head of the platform’s content operation. “I expect ‘cloud tourism’ to drive the future upgrading of China’s tourism industry.”

The number of netizens in China had reached 904 million as of March 2020 and 897 million of them access the Internet through mobile phones, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in "cloud tourism.", April, avoid, beautiful scenery, Beijing, Beijing Auto Museum, capital, China, China Internet Network Information Center, China welcomes, comprehensive, consumption, control, embrace, epidemic prevention, gatherings, Hainan, Hainan Province, Holiday, International Labor Day, International Labor Day holidays, Internet technologies, Lijiang, live-streaming sessions, March, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, National Health Commission, Old Town, online booking, opportunity, passenger flows, People, prevention and control [measures], rebound, regular, reserved, resort island, Safety Hotel Initiative, scenic spots, Shanghai, Shanghai Happy Valley, Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, Shanghai Municipality, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai's, Southwest China's, Tongcheng-eLong, Tourism, tourism industry, tourist attractions, tours, Trip.com Group, Uncategorized, upcoming, WeChat, Xinhua Headlines, Yunnan, Yunnan Province, Zhujiajiao Old Town | Leave a Comment »

25/04/2020

Southwest China city to offer e-vouchers to boost consumption

KUNMING, April 25 (Xinhua) — Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province announced Friday it will issue e-vouchers worth 100 million yuan (about 14.12 million U.S. dollars) to promote consumption.

According to the Kunming Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the e-vouchers can be used for consumption in tourism, catering, and sports. The city will also issue special e-vouchers to groups of needy people.

The e-vouchers will be issued through an app online from April 28 to 30. Citizens can use the e-vouchers from May 1 to 31.

Industries in the city including tourism, catering and sports were seriously affected by the COVID-19 epidemic in the last few months.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in 100, according, affected, announced, APP, April, “special”, capital, catering, Citizens, City, consumption, COVID-19 epidemic, e-vouchers, Friday, groups, industries, issue, Kunming, Kunming Municipal Bureau of Commerce, last few, May, million, months, needy people, online, seriously, Southwest China's, sports, Tourism, U.S. dollars, Uncategorized, used, worth, yuan, Yunnan Province | Leave a Comment »

06/04/2020

China Focus: Government offers bailout, voucher programs to stimulate restaurant industry

SHENYANG, April 5 (Xinhua) — Huo Chunlei, who runs a hotpot restaurant in Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province, said he did not lay off any of his staff, although the restaurant is having difficulties for reopening after two months of closure in China’s nationwide measures of coronavirus control.

A few weeks after Chinese provincial-regions with low risk of the novel coronavirus gradually resumed work and production, shops and eateries have reopened, and roads become bustling again, as hundreds of millions of people confined at home for weeks in compliance with epidemic prevention rules get back to a normal life.

Huo’s restaurant has been in operation for a week. Only half of the tables are filled at dinnertime. The revenue is barely enough to cover the expenses of the house rent and employee wages, he said.

However, he said his business is able to survive because of the government’s bailout policies. For example, the approval of deferred payment of social insurance premiums for his employees alone can save him 80,000 yuan (about 11,250 U.S. dollars) a month.

“The staff are willing to stay, as we are all confident in tiding over the difficulties together,” he said.

The local governments at all levels have rolled out a slew of measures to shore up the catering business, including cutting taxes, reducing house rent as well as water and electricity fees.

The governments in Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces have issued coupons with a value ranging from 10 million yuan to 100 million yuan to encourage people to spend on dining out.

Before the production resumption, there were some consumer councils’ surveys showing that consumers had suppressed consumption desire for dining out and shopping as well as going to movie theaters, gymnasiums and tourist spots after the epidemic crisis ends.

“The so-called retaliatory consumption has not yet appeared in the catering industry, as people are still wary about the infection risk, but there will be a gradual recovery growth,” said Chen Heng, executive director of Hainan Hotel and Catering Industry Association in the southernmost Chinese province of Hainan.

“Before reopening, we increased the distances between tables, but with reduced tables, there are still many empty tables at dinner time. My restaurant used to have all seats full and even queues,” said Huo.

Like Huo, Lin Lunheng, founder of the Fuzhou Super Dinner Co. Ltd. in southeast China’s Fujian Province, is also worried about business.

“Although the chain stores have reopened, revenues have decreased by 70 percent compared with that before the epidemic. This is a big blow to restaurants,” said Lin.

The Italian style chain restaurant has offered e-coupons to draw customers.

As the spring weather is getting more and more pleasant, consumers’ desire for dining out and travel is growing. According to a survey report jointly released by the China Travel Academy and Trip.com Group on March 19, Chinese are longing for tours across the country, with Yunnan, Hainan and Shanghai among the top destinations.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in bailout, Business, bustling, catering business, China Travel Academy, compliance, coronavirus control, coupons, crisis, cutting taxes, dining out, dinnertime, eateries, electricity fees, employee, epidemic, expenses, Fujian Province, Fuzhou Super Dinner Co. Ltd., Government, gymnasiums, Hainan Hotel and Catering Industry Association, Hainan Province, house rent, industry, Italian style chain restaurant, jiangsu province, Liaoning province, local governments, movie theaters, nationwide, novel coronavirus, offers, prevention rule, production, reducing, reopened, Restaurant, resumed work, Revenue, roads, shandong province, Shanghai, Shenyang, shopping, shops, social insurance premiums, staff, stimulate, suppressed consumption, survive, top destinations, tourist spots, Uncategorized, voucher programs, wages, water, Yunnan Province, Zhejiang | Leave a Comment »

30/03/2020

Chinese medical team arrives in Laos to help fight COVID-19

LAOS-VIENTIANE-COVID-19-CHINESE MEDICAL TEAM-ARRIVAL

Airport staff unload medical materials donated by China to Laos from a chartered plane at the Wattay International Airport in Vientiane, Laos, March 29, 2020. A team of Chinese medical experts, along with medical materials, arrived in Lao capital Vientiane by a chartered plane Sunday morning to assist Laos to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)

VIENTIANE, March 29 (Xinhua) — A team of Chinese medical experts, along with medical materials, arrived in Lao capital Vientiane by a chartered plane Sunday morning to assist Laos to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Somdy Douangdy, Lao deputy prime minister and chair of the Task Force Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, and Chinese Ambassador to Laos Jiang Zaidong received the Chinese medical experts at the Wattay International Airport in Vientiane.

The Chinese medical team includes experts in various fields such as infection prevention and control, intensive care, epidemics, and laboratory testing. They also brought along with medical supplies.

The team came to Laos less than five days after the Lao side announced its first two confirmed COVID-19 cases and asked for assistance from China.

Laos has detected eight confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Saturday afternoon.

When welcoming the Chinese experts, Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somdy said that the Lao side is heartfully grateful for the Chinese medical expert team’s coming only in five days after Laos confirmed COVID-19 cases. China’s gesture reflects the profound friendship from the Chinese side to the Lao people, he said.

The medical team, made up of top experts in China’s southwestern Yunnan Province, brought Chinese experiences and solutions to Laos’ epidemic prevention and control, said the Lao deputy prime minister, adding that the Lao government will coordinate and ensure all possible conveniences for the Chinese medical expert team.

Somdy said the Lao side will make full use of the intellectual support and material assistance brought by the Chinese side, and will try its best to prevent COVID-19 from spreading.

“A friend in need is a friend indeed,” Jiang Zaidong said, adding that China will not forget in the early days of the outbreak, Laos donated money and multiple batches of anti-epidemic materials to China, and tried its best to successfully organize the China-ASEAN Special Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Coronavirus Disease in Vientiane.

The Chinese people are always ready to return the kindness, sand Jiang. Currently, the number of confirmed cases in Laos is increasing, and the pressure on prevention and control is rising. As a community with a shared future, China will go through the difficulties with the Lao people, jointly strengthen epidemic prevention and control, and steadily push forward bilateral cooperation, the ambassador said.

Huang Xingli, the head of the Chinese medical expert team, said to Xinhua on arrival that the main tasks of the expert team are to share experiences and exchange with Lao local hospitals and experts, to introduce China’s anti-epidemic experience, to provide consultation to the Lao side on epidemic prevention and control, diagnosis and treatment and laboratory work, and to provide training and guidance for the Lao medical staff and community staff.

Along with the team also came medical treatment, protective supplies and a batch of Chinese and Western medicines donated by China’s Yunnan Province.

Laos announced it had detected the first two confirmed COVID-19 cases on March 24. The total number has risen to eight till Saturday.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in "A friend in need is a friend indeed,", anti-epidemic experience, arrives, bilateral cooperation, capital, chartered plane, China-ASEAN Special Foreign Ministers' Meeting, Chinese, Chinese Ambassador to Laos, COVID-19, epidemics, help fight, infection prevention and control, intensive care, laboratory testing, Lao Deputy Prime Minister, Laos, medical materials, Medical team, outbreak, Task Force Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, Uncategorized, Vientiane, Wattay International Airport, Yunnan Province | Leave a Comment »

22/03/2020

Medical workers leave Hubei after finishing their tasks

CHINA-YUNNAN-MEDICAL STAFF-RETURN HOME-ARRIVAL (CN)

A plane carrying returning medical staffers arrives at Kunming Changshui International Airport in Kunming, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, March 22, 2020. About 700 medical workers of Yunnan Province left Wuhan on Sunday after finishing their tasks in Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Source: Xinhua

Posted in finishing, Hubei, Kunming, Kunming Changshui International Airport, medical workers, plane, tasks, Uncategorized, Wuhan, Yunnan Province | Leave a Comment »

08/03/2020

‘Kingdoms of women’: how modernity threatens Asia’s female-centric societies

Matriarchal and matrilineal communities centred around women have existed for centuries in China, India and Indonesia
But a recent influx of tourism, technology and mainstream patriarchal ideas is rapidly changing their way of life

Khasi women leave their village of Nongtraw in India’s northeastern Meghalaya state to collect herbs from the fields. Photo: AFP

While women’s rights may have become a major topic of discussion around the world in recent years, there are female-centric communities that for centuries have distinguished themselves by carving out their own feminist traditions in places such as China, India
and Indonesia.

But many of these matriarchal and matrilineal societies are now struggling to survive, amid threats posed by the modern world such as mass tourism, technology and the infiltration of ideas from mainstream patriarchal society.

In China, for instance, there is a small Mosuo tribe known as the “kingdom of women”.

“Key to the Mosuo culture is their matrilineal family structure, with a basic building block of only members sharing the same female bloodline making up the family … Any male bloodline is not taken into account,” says Choo Waihong, a former Singaporean corporate lawyer who has researched the community for the past decade.

Lugu Lake in China’s Yunnan province is home to the Mosuo tribe. Photo: hemis.fr

At the top of the hierarchy is the grandmother, who is the head of the household. “Her daughters run the home and look after all the children of the female siblings … The sons and grandsons are expected in their supporting role to shoulder the manual tasks required to maintain the farmstead,” Choo says.

Researchers say that there are about 30,000 to 40,000 Mosuo people – most of whom live in the far eastern foothills of the Himalayas in Yunnan, southwest China. This unique community has come together in a series of villages dotted around a mountain and Lugu Lake, while growing numbers have moved out to work in larger towns and cities elsewhere in the country.

According to Choo, author of the book The Kingdom of Women: Life, Love and Death in China’s Hidden Mountains, the most distinctive facet of this community that sets it apart from mainstream society is the absence of formal marriage arrangements between men and women. Instead, they have “walking marriages”, where the man goes to the woman’s home, spends the night with her and then leaves the following morning.

The Kingdom of Women: China’s ‘lost tribe’ of matriarchs, the Mosuo

15 Mar 2017

The couple can choose to have a temporary or even a permanent arrangement as partners, but they are not bound by marriage ties. If they have children, the baby belongs to the woman’s household. “In fact, the man is not considered part of the matrilineal family and his ties to the baby do not determine the social place of the baby,” the researcher says.

Such a society, where women are not subjected to men and sexual freedom is an intrinsic part of their culture, is so radically different from mainstream patriarchal family structures that the Mosuo tribe has been examined and studied over time. More recently, its unique features have also become an eye-catching selling point for the local tourism industry.

TOURISM INDUSTRY

The Mosuo tribe used to live off the land by farming, herding and hunting. But many families now rely on tourism after the tribe’s culture and Lugu Lake became more popular and widely known.

“Tour buses on fancy freeways and planes arriving at a new airport bring more and more tourists daily to turn the whole area into a busy travel playground,” Choo says. “Every household around the lake is involved one way or another with the hotel, restaurant and tour guide industries.”

While the tourism industry has brought money and better food for most families as well more access to educational opportunities for their children, it is also posing a serious threat to their culture and traditional ways of life.

“The greatest challenge for the tribe is their rapid transition from living a rudimentary subsistence farming way of life right into a burgeoning modern middle-class existence within a short span of 20 or so years,” Choo says.

Mosuo people pictured at a wedding ceremony with an all-meat feast in 2013. Photo: Shutterstock

The Mosuo are now being bombarded not only by mainstream traditional Chinese values, but also by new economic values connected to money and the digital economy. “That is a lot to take in for people who had no writing to support their oral language … and only had primary schools for their children not so long ago,” she says.

Older Mosuo are now being pushed to learn Mandarin in order to keep up with the younger generations.

At the same time, the researcher says, “their long-held cultural beliefs and principles are evolving as the young generation gets exposed to the outside world and start to question the old ways of doing things.”

How life is changing for Thailand’s Karen tribe

17 Mar 2017

Walking marriages are not as common, with more youngsters getting married and forming nuclear families. “Large matrilineal families which were the norm are now breaking up into smaller nuclear families. All this dilutes the traditional matrilineal Mosuo family structure,” Choo says.

“The central place of the female in old Mosuo society is slowly being affected, as the male Mosuo are beginning to entertain some patriarchal outlook in the face of outside cultural influences.”

China may have radically reinvented itself in recent decades, but the changes to the Mosuo tribe have been nearly as dramatic. “The world of the Mosuo when I first ventured into their midst 12 years ago is a distant past as I look [today in 2020] at how they have changed,” Choo says.

PATRIARCHY IN DISGUISE

There are dozens of female-centric communities scattered around the world. The Garo and Khasi tribes, which are also traditionally matrilineal societies, can be found mostly in India.

In a Khasi family, the youngest daughter inherits the ancestral property, while in the Garo community, women also inherit property, but don’t necessarily have to be the youngest daughter of the family.

Caroline Marak, former head of the Garo Department at the North Eastern Hill University in India, says that the Garo are female-oriented, but not female-dominated. Women “have no part in the field of administration decision-making”, she wrote in an academic paper.

In recent years, the husbands of Garo women who are property owners have had a greater say over land deals, such as with government. “We are now trying to reclaim our rights from the males,” says Sume Sangma, secretary of the Garo Mothers Union NGO. “Women in the community are self-reliant and we are fighting for their real power.”

Khasi women wash leaves for cooking in the village of Nongtraw in India’s north-eastern Meghalaya state. Photo: AFP

Tiplut Nongbri, from the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research at the Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, also says women don’t have much authority in Garo and Khasi societies. “Patriarchy is in disguise in both the communities. The societies are matrilineal only as far as descent, residence and inheritance of property are concerned,” she says. “Women are not allowed to take part in politics.”

RG Lyngdoh, former home minister of Meghalaya – the hilly state in north-eastern India where both communities are based – says inward migration and the presence of Christian missionaries in the state have affected traditional lifestyles. “The old practices of equity between males and females have eroded,” Lyngdoh says.

“This has led to a perception of inadequacy among the males, [creating] discord within the family, which found expression in many negative ways, such as domestic violence and abandonment of wives, which never existed within the Khasi community.”

Gertrude Lamare, a member of the Khasi-Jaintia community now pursuing her PhD in anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science, argues that “with families becoming more nuclear, women do have a huge role in the decision-making process”.

A Khasi woman walks in the rain with children past a paddy field along the Assam-Meghalaya state border in India. Photo: AP

Researchers have estimated that there are 1 million Garo in India and

Bangladesh

, and 1.7 million Khasi in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills.

Some of them have become increasingly wary of outsiders preying on their natural resources, which are dwindling, thanks to deforestation and climate change.

Another challenge these communities are facing has to do with the growing trend of mixed marriages. “In recent years, children of a Khasi or Garo mother and non-tribal father [have] not [been] welcomed. The males in the family want their women to marry within the tribal community,” researcher Nongbri says, noting that younger generations are going through an identity crisis.

STILL PROUD

The world’s largest known matrilineal society today is believed to be in Indonesia: the Minangkabau, also known as Minang. Their community of about 8 million is scattered around the world, but most are in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province. While traditionally animist, they were later influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism, and most have since embraced Islam.

But much like the others, their community is also changing.

Nursyirwan Effendi, dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Science at Andalas University, says that many of those who remain in villages and rural areas still hold tight to the tribe’s values.

“Women are central in the distribution of assets, such as rice fields, gardens and [houses], from their ancestors,” he says.

Dancers pose during the 2018 Minangkabau art and culture festival in Batusangkar, West Sumatra. Photo: AFP

Traditionally, Minangkabau women play an essential role in their children’s education and hold inheritance rights, while men are expected to take jobs elsewhere and occupy political and religious positions. When they do get married, the man moves to the woman’s house.

But Nursyirwan, who is of Minangkabau descent, notes that many have left for bigger cities, where they do not closely follow the community’s traditions.

An example of this is Afrianto Sikumbang, a 53-year-old businessman who was born to Minangkabau parents in West Sumatra province but now lives in the capital, Jakarta. Although he married a Minangkabau woman, he says they “don’t really apply” the tribe’s values in their daily life.

Sonya Anggraini, 35, who also works in the capital, has got used to city life, but remains proud of her ancestral roots and hopes that Minangkabau culture will persist for years to come.

“I am a member of my mother’s family, not of my father’s,” she says. ■

Source: SCMP

Posted in Andalas University, ‘Kingdoms of women’, “walking marriages”, Buddhism, capital, Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, centuries, China, Christian missionaries, Culture, culture and traditional ways of life, DISGUISE, distribution of assets, educational opportunities, Faculty of Social and Political Science, families, farming, female-centric, Food, freeways, gardens, Garo, Garo Mothers Union NGO, grandmother, herding, hierarchy, Himalayas, Hinduism, Household, houses, hunting, India, Indonesia, islam, Jamia Millia Islamia, Karen tribe, Khasi, London School of Economics and Political Science, Lugu Lake, mainstream, Matriarchal, matrilineal communities, Minang, Minangkabau, modernity, money, Mosuo tribe, new airport, New Delhi, North Eastern Hill University, patriarchal, planes, rice fields, serious threat, sexual freedom, societies, Technology, Thailand’s, The Kingdom of Women: Life, Love and Death in China’s Hidden Mountains, threatens, Tourism, tourists, travel playground,, Uncategorized, West Sumatra, Yunnan Province | Leave a Comment »

01/03/2020

Coronavirus: how China’s face mask shortage inspired people to learn to make their own

Materials can bought cheaply online and combined to filter out germs, while people exchange tips in online chat groups
Urgent demand has forced individuals and hospitals alike to get to work to meet the shortfall

A worker in northern China makes a face mask as companies strive to match demand – but some people are buying similar materials to assemble at home. Photo: Xinhua

Living in the scenic Puer city in southwestern China’s Yunnan province, 30-year-old Zhang Jianing had thought the coronavirus outbreak in Hubei was far away and irrelevant, until cases were confirmed in her province and then her city at the end of January.

Heeding the warnings to protect herself, Zhang rushed out to buy masks, only to find them all snapped up. When she plucked up the courage to go out to buy groceries, she realised she needed to have a mask on to be allowed to enter shops.

After doing some research online, Zhang made a mask herself: two layers of cotton on the outside, with a sheet of plastic food wrap inside.

“The mask fit my face well and protected me from droplets,” Zhang said. “There was just one thing: it was too difficult to breathe through.”

Experts devise do-it-yourself face masks to help people battle coronavirus

When a nation of 1.4 billion people was suddenly alerted and in many cases ordered to wear masks not only in public indoor places but also in the open air, the huge demand quickly exhausted supply.

Mask production capacity in China was 22 million a day – insufficient for the country’s population. There were hopes that the supply of masks would pick up after a Lunar New Year holiday that was extended to help prevent further spread of infection, but things did not look promising after factories reopened. By Monday, despite mask manufacturers making 10 per cent more than in early February, masks remained a rare commodity.

Making DIY masks became the top trending topic on Chinese online shopping site Taobao for several days. Materials became much sought-after, from nose bars to the non-woven fabric used in disposable surgical masks to filter out viral droplets. An online shop based in Fujian, southeast China, said it had sold more than 5,500 packages of DIY mask materials that can make 50 to 200 surgical masks apiece.

Surgical masks ‘protect more from germs on fingers than viruses in the air’

16 Feb 2020

Zhang spent 200 yuan (US$29) on materials online, from which she made 60 surgical masks when they arrived last week. She is a qipao designer and has a sewing machine at home. The outer layer was a blue waterproof non-woven fabric, over a layer of melt-blown fabric that can filter out most germs and droplets. The inner layer was made with a face flannel.

Hongkongers make reusable fabric masks as Covid-19 epidemic leads to shortages and sky-high prices

“I sent some to my parents and relatives,” Zhang said. “I am not sure how protective they are, but the good thing is our city hasn’t had any new cases for a long time.”

DIY mask production is being taken very seriously, spawning online chat groups to discuss reliability of materials and disinfection methods as people try to make theirs as safe and professional as possible.

Alex Zhang, an office worker in Shanghai, donated her N95 masks to Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, when hospitals in the city appealed to the public for protective gear amid an acute shortage – but soon found herself short of masks herself.

Shanghai companies begin production of first reusable face masks

25 Feb 2020

The Shanghai government allowed households to buy a certain number of surgical masks, but it was not enough for her family. Taking apart an N95 mask to see what it was made of, she felt assembling the layers of fabric required no special technique, and decided to do it herself.

Zhang spent 45 yuan on two square metres of melt-blown fabric to stop viruses, and sandwiched it with two layers of nonwoven fabric and an air pad. She sewed the layers together and put them in an electric oven at 70 degrees Celsius (158 Fahrenheit) for a minute, for disinfection. The finished mask is attached using a plastic band.

“Each mask cost about 3 yuan [43 US cents] and was almost like an N95 filter,” Zhang said. “I didn’t find it difficult. I am quite satisfied with my masks and feel very safe to wear them in crowded places.”

How to properly remove and discard face masks to reduce the risk of infection

She later bought nursing pads, which are already disinfected, to replace the layer closest to the face.

DIY masks have also been used where large amounts of protective gear are needed. Garment manufacturer Shenzhou International, in the coastal Zhejiang province, assigned 100 staff to make masks with melt-blown non-woven fabric to meet the needs of its factory workforce of nearly 15,000, who needed two masks each per day, according to a report by Ningbo Daily.

Hospitals short of masks have mobilised nurses to make their own using a non-woven fabric used to wrap disinfected medical products. At least three hospitals, in Xian in central China and in Jinhua, Zhejiang, have tried making masks for medical staff not serving on the front line, according to media reports.

DIY handmade face masks in Hong Kong

The World Health Organisation has said that wearing masks alone is not sufficient protection against the coronavirus, and should be combined with precautions including hand-washing with soap or an alcohol-based hand rub.

However, facing a shortage that will not end any time soon, health authorities have changed from saying people should discard masks every four hours to advising recycling them when possible.

A guideline issued by the National Health Commission said healthy people could wear masks repeatedly and for a longer time.

Chinese driver wears 12 face masks amid coronavirus outbreak

“Masks for repeat use can be hung in clean, dry and airy places or put in a clean paper bag,” its guidelines said. “The masks must be placed separately to avoid contact with other masks.”

Making masks with layers of cotton bandage is acceptable, because they can stay dry when breathed on, but plastic wrap is not recommended, because it blocks the ability to breathe entirely, according to Cai Haodong, an infectious diseases specialist at Beijing’s Ditan Hospital.

Coronavirus: Thais urged to make their own masks, sanitisers due to shortage

7 Feb 2020

Cai said her hospital did not have surgical masks, nor N95s, during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in 2003, and hospital staff made masks for use by front-line medics, disinfecting them with boiling water and drying them in the sun.

“The key is to keep the mask dry,” Cai said. “Self-made masks offer some degree of protection and it is better to wear them than nothing.”

Source: SCMP

Posted in alcohol-based hand rub, Beijing’s Ditan Hospital, China’s, coronavirus, coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19 epidemic, epicentre, face mask, Fujian, hand-washing, hubei province, inspired, Jinhua, Lunar New Year holiday, materials, National Health Commission, Ningbo Daily, People, qipao designer, sewing machine, Shanghai, shortage, soap, Thais, to learn, to make, Uncategorized, World Health Organisation, Wuhan, Xi'an, Yunnan Province, Zhejiang, zhejiang province | Leave a Comment »

22/01/2020

Xi Focus: Xi extends Chinese New Year greetings to all Chinese

CHINA-YUNNAN-XI JINPING-INSPECTION TOUR (CN)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, beats a wooden drum of the Wa ethnic group three times to bless the coming year in Sanjia Village in the city of Tengchong, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Jan. 19, 2020. Xi has extended Chinese New Year greetings to all Chinese people during a three-day inspection tour to Yunnan Province which concluded Tuesday. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

KUNMING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has extended Chinese New Year greetings to all Chinese people.

He wished Chinese people of all ethnic groups a better life and the country greater prosperity in the new year.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during a three-day inspection tour of southwest China’s Yunnan Province which concluded Tuesday.

During a visit to Sanjia Village in the city of Tengchong on Sunday afternoon, Xi learned about poverty alleviation efforts and called for efforts to speed up the development of ethnic minorities and areas with large ethnic minority populations.

After joining local villagers in making rice cakes, a traditional local festival food, Xi noted that shaking off poverty is the new starting point, calling for vigorously promoting rural vitalization after China completes the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

According to local custom, Xi beat a wooden drum of the Wa ethnic group three times to bless the coming year.

Later that day, Xi went to the old town of Heshun, a gateway on the ancient Southern Silk Road, where he visited a village-level library built over 90 years ago.

Visiting the memorial hall of Ai Siqi, a renowned philosopher, Xi said the country needs a large number of talented individuals who can explain the adaptation of Marxism to the Chinese context well and who can use easy-to-understand language to spread the Party’s new theories to more ordinary households.

Visiting an ecological wetland of Dianchi Lake in Kunming on Monday, Xi stressed resisting the old way of developing the economy at the cost of the environment.

Dianchi Lake, once among the most polluted lakes in China, has seen its ecology greatly improved after years of conservation efforts.

Inspecting market supply for Chinese New Year at the Kunming International Convention and Exhibition Center, Xi demanded a sufficient supply of safe and reliable goods during the festival.

There, Xi extended Chinese New Year greetings to local residents, the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese nationals.

Xi then went to the former site of the National Southwest Associated University in Kunming. He stressed the close link between education and the fate and future of the country and noted that the goal of China’s education system is to nurture a new generation of capable young people who are well-prepared to join the socialist cause.

After hearing the work reports of the CPC Yunnan Provincial Committee and the provincial government on Tuesday morning, Xi encouraged Yunnan to break new ground in promoting ethnic unity and progress, pushing forward ecological conservation, and pursuing greater cooperation with South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Xi urged efforts to promote high-quality development, accelerate building a modernized economy, consolidate the achievements in poverty alleviation, boost the healthy and sustainable development of tourism, while continuing to fight air, water and soil pollution.

He also required further opening-up to neighboring countries, speeding up the building of connectivity networks and strengthening cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

Xi demanded efforts to strengthen governance capacity in border areas and areas with large ethnic minority populations, implement the plans to boost the development of ethnic minority areas and ethnic groups with small populations, step up the fight against cross-border crime, gangs and their “protective umbrellas,” and maintain the stability of border areas.

On the anti-poverty fight, Xi ordered focusing on areas with extreme poverty, preventing people from falling back into poverty due to illness, injury or the lack of follow-up policies, and further aligning developmental poverty relief with protective poverty relief.

On Party building, Xi said the “staying true to the Party’s founding mission” campaign should be regarded as a lifelong task for strengthening Party building among all Party members and a source of inspiration in the new era.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in Ai Siqi, chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), chinese new year, Chinese President Xi Jinping, city of Tengchong, CPC Yunnan Provincial Committee, Dianchi Lake, ecological wetland, ethnic groups, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, greetings, Heshun, Hong Kong, inspection tour, Kunming, Kunming International Convention and Exhibition Center, Macao, National Southwest Associated University, Overseas Chinese, Sanjia Village, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Southern Silk Road, Taiwan, Uncategorized, Wa ethnic group, wooden drum, Yunnan Province | Leave a Comment »

20/01/2020

Xi visits Yunnan on inspection tour ahead of Chinese New Year

CHINA-YUNNAN-XI JINPING-INSPECTION (CN)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits a village of the Wa ethnic group to extend his Chinese New Year’s greetings to the villagers in Qingshui Township of the city of Tengchong, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Jan. 19, 2020. Xi visited Yunnan Province Sunday on an inspection tour ahead of Chinese New Year. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

KUNMING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) — Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visited southwest China’s Yunnan Province Sunday on an inspection tour ahead of Chinese New Year.

Xi went to a village of the Wa ethnic group in Qingshui Township of the city of Tengchong Sunday afternoon to learn about poverty alleviation efforts and extend his Chinese New Year’s greetings to the villagers.

He also visited the old town of Heshun, a gateway on the ancient Southern Silk Road that linked China’s Sichuan and Yunnan with Myanmar and India, to learn about exchanges, historical and cultural inheritance, as well as ecological and environmental protection along the trade route.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in chinese new year, city of Tengchong, Communist Party of China Central Committee, ecological and environmental protection, General Secretary, Heshun, historical and cultural inheritance, India, Myanmar, Qingshui Township, sichuan province, Southern Silk Road, trade route, Uncategorized, Wa ethnic group, Xi JinPing, Yunnan Province | Leave a Comment »

12/12/2019

Father of China’s ‘Ice Boy’ responds to critics after family is knocked back for poverty assistance scheme

Wang Fuman became an internet sensation after he was pictured with his head encrusted in ice after freezing trek to school
Life has improved since then, but his dad says they are still struggling to make ends meet

Nine-year-old Wang Fuman’s family has now moved from their mud hut to a two-storey home. Photo: AFP

The father of the “Ice Boy” – who became an internet sensation after he was pictured with his head covered in icicles following a freezing trek to school in southwest China – has spoken out about being rejected for a poverty alleviation scheme.

Wang Gangkui’s son, Wang Fuman, was eight when a photo of him taken by a teacher went viral on social media in January last year. It showed the little boy with his hair and eyebrows covered in ice and his cheeks ruddy from the cold after he had walked for over an hour from his home in thin clothing and no hat along treacherous mountain paths.

The plight of the impoverished primary school pupil from Ludian county, a poor area in Zhaotong, Yunnan province, touched hearts across China, with many people expressing sympathy online for the hardships the boy, and other children like him, endured to get to school. Donations of money, warm clothes and heating flooded in.

The photo of Wang Fuman arriving at school with his hair and eyebrows covered in ice went viral last year. Photo: news.163.com

But according to his 30-year-old father, the family is still struggling to make ends meet. He said his application for the assistance scheme had been turned down for the past five years without a satisfactory explanation.

“It’s unfair and unjust that my application wasn’t approved,” Wang Gangkui said on Thursday. “There are allegations in media reports that I have various assets, and they’re just not true. And neither am I trying to take advantage of my son’s fame,” he said.

Families approved for the means-tested scheme, a nationwide programme that is administered at the local level, are given benefits ranging from subsidies to vocational training and job opportunities.

Geng Tao, the party secretary of Zhuanshanbao village, told China News Service on Monday that the Wang family did not meet the eligibility criteria for the programme, citing their two-storey house with a total area of 160 sq metres.

Wang was responding to criticism from internet users after he posted his complaint on social media app Jinri Toutiao on Sunday, a post he later deleted. Some accused him of taking advantage of his son’s fame to get access to government aid, claiming the family was being “greedy” as they were already doing better than others in the region because of the donations they received last year.

State media also weighed in, with Beijing News saying in an editorial on Tuesday that “the authorities should not be influenced by public sentiment towards the Ice Boy and should look at the family’s real situation when assessing if they are in need or not”.

Wang acknowledged that the media attention and subsequent donations from the public had eased the family’s situation, but said they only received a small share.

“There were a lot of donations, but most of them went to the school and were shared among all the pupils and their families here,” he said. “Our family only received a small amount of money.”

After Fuman’s photo went viral, the Ludian county education authorities said there were many “Ice Boys” in the area, and all donations received had been distributed to local families in need, according to China News Service.

A local charity organisation received more than 300,000 yuan (US$42,500) in donations from the public, and said the money was shared among pupils at the Zhuanshanbao primary school, with Fuman receiving just 500 yuan.

Life has improved for Fuman and his family since the photo was taken. He was a

“left-behind child”

– a term used to describe youngsters from poor families whose parents work in cities away from home, leaving them in the care of relatives. His parents have now returned to their hometown and his father works nearby at a construction site in Zhaotong, earning 3,000 yuan a month – a relatively high salary for the area. But he is the breadwinner for the family of five – his wife, Lu Dafeng, and their two children, Fuman and their 11-year-old daughter Wang Fumei, as well as his mother.

They moved out of their mud hut into the two-storey home, and with the donated funds, Fuman’s primary school was renovated and now has a dormitory equipped with heating. Fuman stays at the school during the week and returns to his home – a 20-minute walk away – on the weekend.

Wang Gangkui said his wife and mother could not apply for jobs designated as “public welfare” positions – such as a street cleaner post offering 500 yuan a month – because they were not recognised as a family in need under the scheme.

He also dismissed media reports that he had two cars, saying he had a second-hand van worth no more than 3,000 yuan. He said reports that his family also had cattle were not true.

Instead, he said he was paying off a loan of tens of thousands of yuan that he took out to build the family’s new house.

There were an estimated 16.6 million people living in poverty in rural China at the end of 2018, about 14 million fewer than a year earlier, according to official data. The ruling Communist Party set the ambitious target of eliminating extreme poverty in China by the end of 2020, and claims that more than 700 million people have already been lifted out of poverty over the past four decades.

Source: SCMP

Posted in ‘Ice Boy’, China News Service, China’s, Critics, donations, encrusted in ice, Family, father, flooded, freezing tre, head, heating, money, mud hut, poverty assistance scheme, responds, school, The Beijing News, two-storey home, Uncategorized, warm clothes, Yunnan Province | Leave a Comment »

CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon

Categories

Blogs I Follow

Archive for ‘Yunnan Province’

Xinhua Headlines: China welcomes tourism, consumption rebound under regular epidemic prevention, control

Southwest China city to offer e-vouchers to boost consumption

Chinese medical team arrives in Laos to help fight COVID-19

Medical workers leave Hubei after finishing their tasks

Coronavirus: how China’s face mask shortage inspired people to learn to make their own

Xi Focus: Xi extends Chinese New Year greetings to all Chinese

Xi visits Yunnan on inspection tour ahead of Chinese New Year

Father of China’s ‘Ice Boy’ responds to critics after family is knocked back for poverty assistance scheme

Tags

Creative Commons

Archives

Meta

Blog Stats