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.
…
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.
…
Best wishes to you all, keep well and keep smiling.
Alex & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
11 February 2017
