Post #116 11 February 2017

Gentlefolk

I’m finally getting back to my blog, after an absence of 7 months.

It’s been busy.  On 9 July 2016 we flew from Qingdao to Frankfurt and then on to Budapest. We had 3 weeks in Hungary, followed by a month in Germany; ten days in Hong Kong, then flew to Brisbane; a week with Jen & Tom and the boys, then drove to Canberra, arriving on 23 September.

Settling down to life in Canberra took longer and was more traumatic than expected.  Reverse culture shock and all that. But now we’ve adjusted and things are more settled.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.  I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

This post contains the News Summary for June 2016.  

While I was based in China, I compiled a monthly summary of news items, with a focus on news on China.  

Previously I split the Monthly New Summary into two parts: Domestic (about China) and International.  But I didn’t have time to keep detailed records in June because we were getting ready to leave China so this time I will just have one consolidated list.

These news items were sourced from the China Daily newspaper 1 – 25 June 2016.  The events/items included are not necessarily the headlines, but rather things which caught my eye, events like Gordie Howe's passing (he was a legend of professional ice hockey) and the Brexit vote.

Actual events sometimes occurred a day or two before they appeared in the China Daily newspaper. 

Currency shown is US$, and the exchange rate used this month is US$1 = Yuan 6.6.

Remember: the China Daily is a government newspaper whose main purpose in life is to make the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese Government look good.  But if one strips away the propaganda, there is still quite a lot of interesting stuff in the paper. 

Events which made the news in China in June 2016

June 1	Celebrations to mark the 35th anniversary of the founding of the China Daily. CD now has 5million followers on Facebook (ironic, because FB is blocked in China, but that doesn’t stop them from utilising it as a communication tool outside China).
	The Chinese Govt released an Action Plan to combat soil pollution (estimates that about 20% of agricultural land is contaminated).
	Hainan National Airlines (HNA) bought 13% of Virgin Australia for $114m.
2	The Yuan continues to ease, now US$1 = yuan 6.6.
3	UN Peacekeepers were attacked in Mali; one Chinese soldier died.
	A 36 year old single-mother in Nanjing was caught stealing a chicken drumstick for her sick daughter.  The case went viral; public donations quickly exceeded Y400,000.
	Lenovo announced a net loss of $128m in the 12 months to March.
	China Minmetals merged with China Metallurgical Corporation; combined workforce of 240,000 and combined annual sales of $65 billion.
	The 57 km Gothard Base Tunnel opened in Switzerland.
4	Alibaba’s turnover passed Wal Mart’s to become the world’s leading retailer.
	Sales of Passenger Motor Vehicles in China in 2015 totalled 24.6 million units.
	China’s first High Speed Rail Line (Beijing to Tianjin) opened in 2008.  Now the network covers more than 16,000 km (20,000 km projected for 2020).
6	The annual US-China Dialogue started in Beijing. 400 Americans participated.
	Today is the end of Ramadan, the end of the Muslim fasting month.
	American boxer, Mohamed Ali (Cassius Clay), died aged 74.
7	Chinese company Suning paid $306 million for 70% of Inter-Milan football team.
	9.4 million students sat the National College Entrance Exam (Gao Kao) 7&8 June.
	Merger of COSCO and China Shipping.
	Novak Djokovic won the French Mens Singles and Maguruza won the Womens Singles. Djokovic’s earning from tennis competitions passed $100 million.
9	Dragon Boat Festival (Duan Wu) today.
	Hillary Clinton won the California Democratic Primary and was confirmed as the candidate of the Democratic Party in November’s Presidential election.
11	Famous ice hockey player, Gordie Howe, died aged 88.  He played 32 seasons in the NHL (finally retired when he was 52 years old).
13	American Omar Mateen, 29, shot and killed 49 in a gay club in Orlando, Florida.
15	663,000 foreigners live in China; have permits to stay for at least 6 months.
16	Official opening of Shanghai Disney; 50 million visitors expected annually.
	China’s coal output was down 8% in the first 5months of 2016 (compared to same period in 2015).
20	New govt regulation means that TV channels can show a maximum of 2 foreign-adapted shows during prime time (7.30 – 10.30pm).
21	The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors in game 7 to win the NBA championships.  It was the first time a team had come back from 1-3 down. LeBron James was named MVP of the Finals.
24	Britons voted 52-48% to leave the EU (Brexit).  Voter turn-out was 72%. Turmoil.
	The Solar Impulse plane flew from New York to Seville, Spain; 6,700 km in 71 hours.
25	Heavy rain, floods, tornado, devastate parts of China.

This is the last monthly News Summary based on the China Daily. While I occasionally look at the CD website, I certainly don’t follow it as carefully as I did in Qingdao. Pity, because there’s not much detailed coverage of China in the local media.

Will I do monthly News Summaries in the future?  I don’t know.  Let’s see how things work out in the next few weeks.  For the moment, there is lots to catch up on.

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Now that I’ve taken the first step to reactivate the blog, I hope to catch up over the next few weeks.  We are going up to Brisbane shortly to see the Roberts family, and then later up to Hong Kong to see the new baby.  So lot’s still happening, but let’s see how many posts I can do to come up-to-date.

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Best wishes to you all, keep well and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah

Canberra, Australia

11 February 2017