Could it be possible that the efforts put forth in making the Smiling Nanjing Program a success have exceeded all of our hopes?
The 2010 Shanghai World Expo has just opened (May 1) and it is expected that an estimated 2 million visitors to the Expo will go on to travel to other parts of China, not excluding the historically significant city of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province. In preparation for this influx of tourists, there has been recruitment for the ‘Smiling Volunteers Program’. Thirteen students have been recruited from the flood of people trying to register via phone and from Jinling University of Technology Department of Gardening to join the ‘Smiling’ team.
Last August, Key reported about a home-made aircraft case where a Chinese photographer spent 100,000 yuan to turned his airplane drawing into real thing and made it to 400 meter high in the sky for 25 minutes before it landed safely. This May, a 45 years old peasant also tried to fly his home-made aircraft up. Shu Mansheng, a peasant from Wuhan Hubei Province, used to sat under a tree looking up into the sky and fantasized himself flying like a free bird when he’s little, he’s determined to make himself an aircraft one day. He finally gets to taste his dream, though it’s only for a few seconds. Guess how much he spent? 100,000 yuan.
“Dear dad and mom, I am going to school. Hope it is not parting forever, I want to go home alive. Dear teacher and principal, I am coming to school. You cannot let bad people touch me, I want to go home alive. Dear uncle and auntie, I am at school. If you have grievances please go petition to higher authorities, I want to go home alive!” Blogger Zheng Yuanjie (郑渊洁) wrote in his blog after the April 30 Taixing, Jiangsu kindergarten killing incident. After this incident and the following public outrage, China actually took measures supposedly beefed up school security, but…
On May 12, another kindergarten killing incident happened in Nanzheng county, Shaanxi province. May 12, 8 am in the morning, 48-year-old man named Wu Huanming holding a kitchen knife burst into a private kindergarten killing 7 children and 2 adults. 11 students were injured and 2 of which are in critical condition. The 7 deceased children are 5 boys and 2 girls, and the 2 adults are kindergarten teacher Wu Hongying and her mother. After the attack, suspect returned home and committed suicide.
May 6, another Foxconn worker leaped to his death, and this is jump number 7 since January, another suicide, again jumping off a building, again at Foxconn. People call it the “7 consecutive jumps”. I also recall writing about an incident last July, a Chinese worker at Foxconn committed suicide after iPhone prototype went missing. Everyone wants to know why so many Foxconn workers are jumping to their death, 7 of them just this year? What was behind the incidents? Is it coincidence or inevitable? In response to people’s concerns, recently CCTV “News 1+1” reporter conducted an investigation on this.
Lu Xin, 24 years old, joined Foxconn in August 2009. In the company newcomers’ talent contest, the new college grad won 2nd place. But on May 6 morning, this young man who loved music, once was even a contestant on the “Super Boy” show chose to leap off the building and ended his young life.
Zeng Hongling (Lu Xin’s college classmate) recalled, “He said he was going to look at the scenery and right after he finished his sentence, he quickly slide open the window and jumped onto the balcony, then jumped off from the balcony. He never hesitated. I tried to grab him, but only pulled his clothes on his left arm, he threw my hand off.”
(Picture from People’s Daily: “Resurrected” “victim” Zhao Zhenshang)
Zhao Zuohai, a 57-year-old resident of Zhaolu village in Henan Province, was recently declared innocent by the Henan Provincial Higher People’s Court on Sunday, May 9. He had been in prison since 2002.
In October 1997, Zhao Zuohai and his neighbor Zhao Zhenshang had gotten into an argument, after which Zhao Zhenshang went missing. It wasn’t until four months later that a member of Zhao Zhenshang’s family reported that he went missing.
A headless body was found in the village in May 1999, after which Zhao Zuohai was arrested. He was convicted for the murder of Zhao Zhenshang in 2002.
On April 30, the alleged victim, whose identity was confirmed by the Henan Higher People’s Court, returned to the village. Zhao Zhenshang, now 58, is paralyzed and, having no money for treatment, was forced to go back to his village for welfare money.
American multinational corporation Apple is going to launch iPhone 4G, Apple fans around the world eagerly await. But behind the fanaticism, some people paid for it with their health. In Jiangsu Province, China, during the manufacture of the iPhone touch-screen, at least 62 Chinese workers were poisoned and hospitalized due to use of toxic chemical n-Hexane for cleaning of the screens. Many of them have to be hospitalized for months.
A female worker who remained in hospital said she worked for a Taiwan-invested factory Wintek. Her health suddenly deteriorated last spring, hand numbness, having trouble balancing while walking, she was hospitalized in the summer. Other workers in the same dorm room also had the similar symptoms, headache, dizziness, pain in hands and feet etc.
This was originally from a Japanese blog, then soon translated to Chinese and reposted on many Chinese websites. So friends who speak Japanese please let us know any discrepancy on this indirect translation of the original text.
On the first day of Shanghai World Expo, national flags were flying in front of many counties’ pavilions, but the Japanese Pavilion said goodbye to their flag. The responsible person gave the explanation, “We had precedent cases that we do not raise our national flag at other prior World Expos”, “However taking this measure this time is to give consideration to the Chinese anti-Japanese sentiment” The Japanese Pavilion staff also said, “We are purposely preventing the things we show here from getting dragged into politics.”
How to decide whether a country is a developed country or a developing one? Taiwanese essayist and cultural critic Lung Ying-tai proposed a simple way: when there is a rainstorm that last for 3 hours or so, take a walk, if you find the legs of your trousers are wet but not muddy, the traffic is slow but not jammed, the streets are slippery but not waterlogged, this is probably a developed country; on the other hand if you find that standing water is everywhere, that teapot and comb are floating out of shops to the middle of the street,that children are net fishing over the crossroad, you are probably looking at a developing country. Developing countries may have the money to build sky scrapers, but they care less to develop their drainage system; you can see sky scrapers but not the underground sewer, a good rain storm can lift the veil.
25,000 yuan, for which can only buy you 1 – 2 square meters of housing in Beijing, Yang Nian gave up 60% of his liver. 150,000 yuan, in order to pay for 60% of Yan Nian’s liver, the family of a terminal cancer patient Xie Yousheng (not his real name) was borrowing money from everywhere.
1.5 million patients in China are waiting for organ transplants each year which gave birth to this industry that should have never existed – buying and selling human organs. And the huge profit – from 25,000 to 150,000 also created the group that should never have existed – human organ brokers.
Chinese people have been notorious for eating cats and dogs or animals of any kind. As a Chinese I can’t say I like them, but I am totally cool with that. However, when I come to the following piece, it still gives me the creeps.
There are a few food stalls in Zhong Village of Panyu District, Guangzhou that run rat feasts. According to staffs, these stalls are doing very good everyday, receiving numerous diners that look to experience the special wild taste of rat dishes.
This is him playing drums to the song 美好特质, (Beautiful Quality) at Sunway Carnival Mall. I’m guessing that this mall is in Malaysia based on a Google search. I’m pretty sure the family is Chinese because they speak Chinese at home in the other home videos they have posted.
(If you cannot see YouTube videos in China, try use VPN software : Freedur, and use coupon code CHINAHUSH to get 10% off.)
Just made into the top 10 2010 Forbes China celebrity list, red hot actress Fan Bingbing has always been the talk of the nation. But recently her autograph was a hot topic of discussion, because supposedly her hand writing is too easily to be associated with something indecent for the imaginative mind. Let’s take a look, her surname Fan ”范”said to be overly simplified and looks like “尸” (a common header for a Chinese character), and the name Bingbing (冰冰), putting them together looks like “米”, so the entire name looks like“屎”（Shit）. If you separate the two character “冰冰” then they both look like “水” (water), so the entire name looks like “尿水”（means “pee water”）. No matter how you look, it looks indecent, netizens urge Fan Bingbing to change her way of signing her name.
“Super Boy” or ”Happy Boy”, inspired by UK show Pop idol, is a national singing contest in China for male contestants as a spin off the popular series “Super Girl” or “Happy Girl”. A 2010 Happy Boy southern division contestant Liu Zhu (刘著) are attracting more attentions recently because he went on the show looking just like a girl, wearing heavy makeup, pink stockings and high heels.
According to his Baidu wiki page, Liu Zhu was born in January 9, 1991, 1.68 meters tall from Nanchong, Sichuan province. He is currently a student of Sichuan Conservatory of Music.
Shanghai World Expo Chinese National Pavilion displays a series of Chinese classic items from the 70s, 80s and 90s. For China’s relatively older generations and those who have ever lived in China during these times, these items should be familiar, feeling nostalgic yet?
The 70s
Simple style wooden furniture, certificates and photos hanging on the wall, enamel mugs and nylon bags, the most valuable electrical appliance is the old style radio. Obsessed with Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Japanese TV series and used to like Barbara Yung (翁美玲), Momoe Yamaguchi (山口百慧), Huo Yuanjia (霍元甲) and Hui Man-Keung (许文强) (Character in once popular Hong Kong drama series ‘The Bund’). Very harsh childhood studying conditions, often used a bench as the desk. Using grain coupons to buy food, couldn’t tell which room is the bedroom and which is the living room at home. This is the 70s, a nostalgic era.
Why pay a Penney when you can drink your own piss??? » more