Interesting news from China

[TaiShang]

Poor Kids Tend to Choose Science Majors

2015-07-21

It is believed that once financial concerns have been covered by their parents, children have more freedom to study less pragmatic things in universities. And a recent American research seems to prove that theory to be true, indicating that kids from lower-income families tend to pick more "useful" majors, while rich kids flock to majors like history, English and performing arts.

Students gather to consult the various academic departments at the University of Science and Technology of China on Aug 18, 2012. [Photo: Xinhua]

 

[ahojunk]

 

[TaiShang]

Bad design leaves overpass unused
CRI, July 25, 2015

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An overview of an overpass at a crossroad at Dazhou city in Sichuan Province, on July 25, 2015 [Photo: NEWSSC.org]
An overpass in Dazhou city, Sichuan Province costing 9 million yuan has been rarely used by locals since it was opened. People would rather jaywalk through heavy traffic than take the overpass.

Locals have said the overpass' stairs are too steep and are not user-friendly. Instead, residents have suggested that the government install roadblocks on the street and make the overpass wheelchair accessible.

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The empty overpass at a crossroad in Dazhou city, Sichuan Province, on July 25, 2015 [Photo: NEWSSC.org]

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Two people walk up the steep stairs of the overpass at a crossroad in Dazhou city in Sichuan Province, on July 25, 2015 [Photo: NEWSSC.org]

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Several people jaywalk through the crossroad under the overpass in Dazhou city in Sichuan Province, on July 25, 2015 [Photo: NEWSSC.org]

 

[ahojunk]

No kidding, seeing is believing! I wonder what's next...

A building complex that looks like a luxury cruise ship is seen near the Qiantang River in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province. The 10-storey building houses the offices of a company.

 

[TaiShang]

Sewer drains full of corrupt officials

Art students in Liaocheng, Shandong Province have come up with the creative idea of decorating the city’s sewer drains with #‎caricature‬. Finished on Saturday, the local drains all feature the theme of China’s anti-corruption movements. As witnessed by their art, a political campaign can also be fun and creative.

These paintings depict how corrupted officials' money ended up in the sewer drains, which serves as a metaphor to their insatiable desires.





A Chinese character "犇" （pronounced "Ben" in Chinese), which means "running and powerful" appears in the vegetation covering a mountain in Qionglai City, Sichuan Province in this photo taken on July 17, 2015. It is still unclear whether it was formed naturally or planted by humans. (Source: china.org.cn)

 

[TaiShang]

The one-month Crawfish Festival closes in Changsha on July 25, 2015. A 2.5 meter high excavator fried 800 crawfish for 14 netizens and 10 other diners, which attracted many onlookers.

Odd news: 3.04-diameter pizza breaks world record - People's Daily Online

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Odd news: 3.04-diameter pizza breaks world record - People's Daily Online

Largest pizza | Guinness World Records
"The largest pizza ever baked weighed 12.19 tonnes (26,883 lb) and was made at Norwood Hypermarket, Norwood, South Africa on 8 December 1990. The pizza measured 37.4m (122ft 8in)in diameter. A full list of ingredients is attached."

 

[TaiShang]

Panda diplomacy


Giant panda Ding Ding enjoys specially made birthday food at a zoo in Jinan city, capital of East China’s Shandong province, July 27, 2015. The zoo organized a party to celebrate Ding Ding's 5th birthday, which is the equivalent of 18 to 19 in human years. (Photo: China News Service/Zhang Yong)



Giant panda Ding Ding enjoys specially made birthday food at a zoo in Jinan city, capital of East China’s Shandong province, July 27, 2015. The zoo organized a party to celebrate Ding Ding's 5th birthday, which is the equivalent of 18 to 19 in human years. (Photo: China News Service/Zhang Yong)

Students receive military training in strict way



Photo taken on July 27 shows a strict military training in a college in Sichuan province. (Photo Source: Chinanews.com)


Photo taken on July 27 shows a strict military training in a college in Sichuan province. (Photo Source: Chinanews.com)


Photo taken on July 27 shows a strict military training in a college in Sichuan province. (Photo Source: Chinanews.com)


Photo taken on July 27 shows a strict military training in a college in Sichuan province. (Photo Source: Chinanews.com)


Photo taken on July 27 shows a strict military training in a college in Sichuan province. (Photo Source: Chinanews.com)

 

[TaiShang]

Feather-shaped Cloud in China's Taiwan Amazed Netizens

A photo of a feather-shaped cloud in Taiwan appeared online on July 28. Netizens gasped in admiration, saying that it is like an angel’s feather falling from the sky.

Director of Taiwan Weather Forecast Center Zheng Mingdian, who posted the photo, says this cirrus cloud was captured in Chiayi City in Southwestern Taiwan. The cloud most likely came from a jet trail.

Look up at the sky occasionally, and you might find plesant surprise!

 

[TaiShang]

HK giant panda Jia Jia breaks two world records

CNTV, July 29, 2015

Hong Kong's giant panda, Jia Jia, celebrated her 37th birthday in style on Tuesday, as she was awarded two Guinness World Record titles.

HK giant panda Jia Jia breaks two world records

Born in 1978, Jia Jia is now the equivalent to 110 in human years. The female panda arrived at Hong Kong Ocean Park in 1999 together with male panda An An and went on to become one of the most popular attractions. She currently weighs 78 kilograms and is in stable health, though she suffers from high blood pressure and arthritic pain. The Guinness adjudicator said Jia Jia's longevity was a mark of her own natural gifts and her keeper's care.

"So I was here today to recognize two Guinness World Records titles for Jia Jia. The first being the oldest panda living in captivity and then the second title for the oldest panda ever in captivity. The previous record holder for the oldest ever in captivity was actually in 1999. So you can see the kind of difficulties in getting a panda to live even longer, it's really quite difficult to take another 15 years to beat that record," said Blythe Ryan Fitzwilliam from Guinness world records.

 

[LowPost]

Cultivating trust in China’s organic food

“Seven yuan (1.13 U.S. dollars) for two cucumbers? Do they sing and dance? ”

An elderly woman stared at the price tag with wide eyes, sarcastically questioning Yu Chongzheng when his first orgnaic vegetable shop opened in Beijing a decade ago.

Even today, at 7 yuan, the cucumbers are still more than twice as expensive as those in supermarkets in the city. The high price has scared away price-sensitive Chinese customers who are accustomed to bargaining.

But Yu firmly believes the vegetables he sells are worth it, because his vegetables – though smaller than average and sometimes home to worms – are free of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

They are organic.

However, the greengrocer is selling to a cynical market. For 10 years, the world’s second largest economy has been rocked by frequent food safety scandals, including tainted infant powder, water-injected pork and contaminated chicken feet.

“I have been consistent in one thing: establishing trust in my produce,” says Yu.

The 40-year-old Taiwanese stands out from typical scruffy Beijing vegetable sellers. He has a neat mustache, and always wears jeans and a white shirt. He looks more like a CEO of an Internet company.

Yu came to the mainland in 2000 to sell computers and took over an organic farm of 20,000 hectares in the Beijing suburbs five years later. His produce was popular among family and friends. Realizing its vast potential, Yu quit his job and devoted himself to organic food.

Other organic vendors have come and gone while Yu has persevered, but he admits it has been tough.

“Not one day in the past decade was good,” says Yu with a wry smile.

“Organic” was a new concept in China when Yu started his business. According to China’s Commerce Department, organic food had less than 0.02 percent of the market in 2004, compared with the world’s average of 2 percent.

Most of Yu’s customers were expatriates in Beijing.

At that time, the government also announced a plan to raise organic food production by five to 10 times within five to 10 years, giving Yu encouragement.

As people earn more and become more aware of healthy eating, they have been more willing to try Yu’s expensive but chemical-free vegetables.

Yu’s business has expanded, as awareness of organic produce grows. The International Organic Food Exhibition estimated in January that the market share of organic food would reach 2 percent this year.

But food safety scandals and fabrication of organic certificates keep many shoppers skeptical. “People keep asking, ‘Is your organic veg real or not?’” says Yu.

“Scandals have destroyed people’s trust in vegetable dealers. The ones who will be hurt the most are not the liars, but the honest ones,” Yu says, striking the table with his fingers.

He believes the organic market is doomed to develop very slowly in China. “With the best will in the world, you can’t win trust – it’s disheartening,” Yu said in a post on China’s Weibo social network.

Yet he is reluctant to give up. Someone recently tried to persuade him to treat his vegetables with pesticides, but he shook his head. “I didn’t do it a decade ago. Why would I wait until now?”

His refusal to keep his produce fresh through artifical means has drawn ridicule from competitors.

“I definitely believe that determined people can turn a winding path into a wide and straight one,” he says.

In 2013, Lian Zhan, honorary chairman of the Kuomintang Party visited the China's mainland and presented Communist Party Chief Xi Jinping with organic oats and fruit. Yu was so excited at the news that he posted the photos online, saying, “Since Chairman Lian and Xi are so interested in organic food, I hope spring for the organic sector will come soon.”

While he is waiting for people’s trust, his business adapts. His 40-plus stores in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu are now just two, and most of the business is online.

Chinese people used to handpick vegetables at markets, “but now, more people like to buy food online and have it delivered to their homes,” Yu says.

He started sales on online shopping platforms and advertised through social media. Once, to boost the sales, he changed a millet package to the shape of a hot-selling Xiaomi smartphone. Xiaomi also means millet in Chinese, and the company has grown into the world’s third largest samrtphone producer.

Online business requires greater efforts to maintain quality and reputation, but Yu is determined to stand his ground.

His best-selling online product is hawthorn candy. Though it tastes sour, is relatively expensive and has a very short shelf life, the sales volume looks set to soar “because it contains no additives.”

When Yu and his colleagues gave their hawthorns to factories for processing, they were shocked: “The factory workers asked, ‘How much preservative do you need? Which brand of pigments do you want? How about saccharin?’”

“I replied, ‘None of them’,” he says.

“You can imagine their expressions – as if they were talking with an idiot,” he says with a laugh.

Yu had wavered over adding preservatives in his candy. “But I thought of my two kids. When they want the candies, I can’t say to them, ‘Don’t eat the candies Dad brings home.’ What I want is just to give my children safe and healthy food.”

Yu named his business Lohao’s, an acronym of “Lifestyle of Health and Organic”. To him, Lohao’s embodies a simple and happy life. “Health is what everybody aspires to. Going organic is one way to achieve that,” Yu says.

“I will continue down this rough path, and I believe it is the right path.”

Cultivating trust in China’s organic food_Profile_Icrosschina

 

[ahojunk]

Collector shares 20,000 images about Japanese aggressors during WWII
Collector Luo Yong shows off historical pictures featuring the Japanese invasion of China during World War II. Luo has made more than 20,000 images open to the public as China commemorates the 70th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945). Many of the images have rarely been seen in the past. (Photo: China News Service/Yang Zhenghua)

 

[TaiShang]

Controversial green hats for impatient pedestrians

On August 4, Shenzhen police introduced a new punishment in order to discourage jaywalkers.

Jaywalkers are required to wear green hats and jackets and serve as an instructor to promoting safety awareness among other pedestrians.

Hats are designed in green color to match with the instructors' green jackets, said a police officer.

http://en.people.cn/n/2015/0805/c98649-8931569.html

 

[ahojunk]

A man with green hat.....

Ha ha.

This phase "a man wearing a green hat" in Chinese Cantonese has a meaning of its own....

 

[AndrewJin]

Ha ha.
This phase "a man wearing a green hat" in Chinese Cantonese has a meaning of its own....

Not just Cantonese, it is insulting to all men in China.
In Wuhan Metro, Line4 is coloured green, so all stuff wear green uniform, OMG!!!