Gentlefolk
This post contains the News Summary for April 2016.
I compile
a monthly summary of news items, with a focus on news on China.
There is
so much competition for space in Western media outlets that usually only the
unusual, sensational, or bizarre gets a mention. Hopefully this summary will give
you a better idea of some of the things happening in China.
The
events/items included are not necessarily the headlines, but rather things
which caught my eye.
The
second list shows international events reported in China. There are so many things happening around the
world (information overload!), that I find it useful to have such a list to
look back at.
These
news items were all sourced from the China Daily newspaper 1 – 30 April 2016.
Actual
events usually 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 6.5.
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 you strip
away the propaganda, there is still quite a lot of interesting stuff in the
paper.
Events
which made the news in China in April 2016
(a) Domestic (in China) events and news
5 April
|
Govt announced that ‘foreign & exotic’ names for
places, buildings, complexes must be changed to Chinese names by 1 June 2017;
to preserve Chinese culture.
|
Many thousands (including visitors from Taiwan) paid
tribute to the Emperor Huangdi (aka The Yellow Emperor)
who is credited with founding China.
Main ceremonies were held at his birthplace Xinzheng near Zhengzhou, Henan
and his mausoleum at Qian Shan 200km north of Xian, Shaanxi.
|
|
China embraced South Korean soap drama (16 episodes)
“Descendents of the Sun”, watched more than 2 billion times on video
streaming site iQiYi.
|
|
7
|
Chinese-built lighthouse on the contested Zhubi Reef in
South China Sea started operating; 55m high, beam is visible for 22 nautical
miles.
|
A 27 year old tourist from Hangzhou, Wan Wan (not her real
name), was assaulted in a 4-star hotel corridor in Beijing on Sunday night. Police
and hotel showed little interest until she put details of the assault, and security
video, on Weibo where it went viral. The video showed several passers-by who
did not intervene. It transpired that the man was a pimp who thought she was
from a rival gang.
|
|
China now has 19,000 km of high-speed Gao Tie train tracks
(250+ k/h).
|
|
VAT tax has been trialled since 2012 and will be extended
to other areas from 1 May 2016. It replaces existing business tax. Revenue
will be shared with local govt.
|
|
A survey of Chinese who studied overseas found that 50%
thought the experience worthwhile, 20% said not worthwhile, 22% were
undecided, and 7% no comment.
|
|
8
|
New Kung Fu movie Ip Man 3 (about Bruce Lee’s teacher)
featuring Donnie Yen and Mike Tyson was accused of box office fraud. In the opening week many tickets were
bought by the producers to generate hype.
|
In 2015 137,198 people were sentenced for drug-related
offences; possession of Ketamine (K Powder) was the most common; 15 years
jail for 500 grams or more.
|
|
Pork represents 60% of meat consumed in China; 2015 China
produced 55 million tonnes of pork; consternation that price has risen 32%
this year to $4 per kg; one reason could be the closing down of
highly-polluting farms with an estimated 20 million hogs.
|
|
In 2015 China had 2,900 colleges and universities with
enrolment of about 37 million students (20% of world total). In 1949 China had
117,000 college students or 0.3% of 18 to 22 year olds; 1978 the figure was
1.6%; and 2015 40%.
In 2015 females represented 52% of Masters students and 37%
of PhDs.
In mid-2016 7.65 million college students will
graduate. 70% are seeking jobs in the
private sector; 21% will do further study in China; 5% will study overseas;
3% hope to work in the public service; and 1% will start own business.
|
|
According to the WHO an estimated 110 million Chinese have
diabetes.
|
|
Shanghai has introduced regulations to force children to
regularly visit elderly parents. Offenders will be put on a “credit blacklist”
with various penalties.
|
|
9
|
$50 million will be spent on restoration / upgrading of
the Confucius Temple and Mansion in Qu Fu, Shandong.
|
11
|
A gang has been arrested in Shanghai for producing and
selling fake baby formula under famous brands; 20,000 empty cans and 65,000
false labels seized.
|
12
|
The Govt announced long-term plans to enhance China’s
soccer – stated aim is to become Asian Champions by 2030 and challenge for
World leadership by 2050.
|
Shanghai will restrict the use of cars with external
license plates within the city. Only
8,000 new plates are issued per month (4% of bids); recent auction prices exceed
$13,000 so many residents have bought plates from other Provinces.
|
|
In 2015 sales of Passenger Motor Vehicles (PMV) totalled
24.6 million units (up 4.7% over 2014).
In Q1 2016 PMV sales totalled 5.6 million units, up 7% on
same period last year. Toyota showed biggest increase with 28%.
|
|
13
|
Govt report that 80% of China’s ground water is polluted.
|
14
|
A scandal relating to the sale of expired Category 2
vaccines netted 202 arrests; 357 govt officials were penalised. The Govt will
impose much stricter conditions on Category 2 vaccines in future.
|
Stephen Hawking opened an account on Sina Weibo which
attracted 2 million followers in 24 hours.
|
|
A judge in Changsha rejected the application to marry of
Sun Wen Lin (26) and his partner Hu Ming Liang (36) on the basis that
marriage must be between a man and a woman.
|
|
15
|
China commemorated its first “National Security Education
Day”; media stories warning Chinese to be wary of prying foreigners, and to protect State secrets.
|
The Forbidden City (aka The Palace Museum) in Beijing
attracted 15 million visitors in 2015.
It was home to 24 Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644 – 1911) emperors.
|
|
16
|
Actress Zhang Zi Yi and husband singer Wang Feng held a 100-days
celebration for their daughter Xing Xing; big hotel; cost estimated $125,000.
|
18
|
Govt announced that reality TV shows featuring stars and
their children will no longer be permitted; popular program “Dad, where are
we going?” cancelled.
|
19
|
The capsule of China’s first micro-gravity satellite
returned safely after 12 days in space.
|
20
|
The 6th of 24 Solar Periods of the Lunar
Calendar (Gu Yu) started yesterday. Signals the end of cold weather and a
rapid rise in temperatures.
|
As of December 2015 China had 688 million netizens (195m
in rural areas); 620 million mobile phone users; 4.23 million websites.
|
|
With global warming, merchant ships can now use the Arctic
Passage; 30% shorter from China’s East Coast to America’s East Coast than via
Panama Canal.
|
|
2015 spending by Central Govt on 3 areas (san gong = overseas
visits, car purchases, and receptions & entertainment) totalled $830
million, well below the budgeted figure of $1 billion.
|
|
2015 Chinese Patent Office: 2.8 million patent
applications filed (including 1.1 million for inventions); 2.9 million brand
name applications; 1.6 million copyright applications.
|
|
Shanghai announced much stricter controls over online food
providers. All vendors must be properly licensed; platforms must verify their
status.
|
|
The Changzhou Foreign Languages High School in Jiangsu opened
in September 2015. Since December 2015
many students reported health problems.
The school was built on the
former site of a number of chemical factories, and remedial treatment of the
land was not completed.
|
|
The Govt blocked the video sites of new cyberstar Papi Jiang, ordering her to delete “swear words and insulting language”. Her Weibo has 11
million followers and her videos have been watched 98 million times. She
complied, and was back online on Monday.
The first auction for advertising on her website got a top bid of $3.3 million from a Shanghai-based cosmetics company.
|
|
23
|
China’s wheat harvest is expected to be 130 million
tonnes, the first fall since 2004.
|
Beijing announced that tour groups will no longer be
permitted to visit the popular Nan Luo Gu Xiang ancient alleys because of
overcrowding. Weekends often see visitor
numbers over 50,000 per day.
|
|
26
|
Intellectual property disputes involving foreign companies
increased from 2,840 in 2013 to 5,675 in 2015.
|
27
|
Sina Weibo (China’s Twitter) opened its “Microblog University”
to facilitate interest-oriented learning.
|
28
|
The public got its first inside view of the Shanghai
Tower, at 632 meters the tallest building in China; 121 floors; cost $2.3
billion.
|
29
|
New law governing overseas NGOs operating in China; they
must register with the Public Security Bureau and strictly follow Chinese
laws and regulations.
|
The number of Migrant Workers (spend more than
half-the-year away from their village) rose from 253 million in 2011 to 276
million in 2015. Average age is 39 years; 34% are females; average monthly
income has increased from Y2,049 in 2011 to Y3,072 in 2015.
|
(b) International
events
1 April
|
President Xi Jin Ping attended the 4th Nuclear
Security Summit in Washington DC.
|
2
|
Standard & Poors cut China’s credit rating from “stable”
to “negative”.
|
The West Indies beat England to win the Twenty20 World
Cup. They needed 19 off the last over;
Carlos Braithwaite hit four consecutive 6s to win.
|
|
5
|
First ‘migrants’ sent back from Greece to Turkey under the
new agreement between EU and Turkey.
|
Taiwan’s Foxconn (Terry Gou) took over Japanese company Sharp
(appliances, solar, etc) for $3.5 billion.
|
|
6
|
Yao Ming elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame,
together with Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson. Yao Ming joined the Houston Rockets in 2002
and played for them for 9 years; average 19ppg, 9.2 rebounds, 1.9 blocks.
|
7
|
China will release more water from the Jinghong Hydro Dam into
the Mekong River to help Vietnam through drought.
|
China will host the G20 meeting in September, in Hangzhou.
|
|
Huawei launched its new P9 smart phone in London.
Q4 2015 worldwide market shares: Samsung 21%; Apple 19%;
Huawei 8%
|
|
12
|
COSCO bought 67% of Piraeus Port for $420 million. It is one
of Europe’s Top 10 container ports.
|
Englishman Danny Willett won the US Golf Masters. Jordan
Spieth was leading by 5 strokes but he bogied 10 and 11 and then shot a seven
on the par-3 12th. Shades
of Greg Norman’s collapse in 1996 when Nick Faldo won.
In the first round of this Masters, Ernie Els 6-putted the
first hole for a 9!!!
|
|
13
|
Alibaba paid $1 billion for a controlling share of
Singapore-based online shopping platform Lazada.
|
15
|
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull led trade delegation of 1,000 companies to
visit China; “Aust Week” in 12 cities; he met with Chinese leaders.
The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement came into
operation in December 2015; 86% of Australian exports are now duty-free,
rising to 94% in 2019.
Malcolm’s son, Alex Turnbull (34), works in Singapore. He married
Yvonne Wang Yi Wen, originally from Shanghai. Their daughter Isla was born May
2015.
|
Fans celebrated Kobe Bryant’s final game with the Lakers;
beat Utah Jazz 101-96 to finish season 17-65; Kobe scored 60 points, the
highest NBA score in the 2015-6 regular season!
Kobe had 20 years with the Lakers; 5 NBA Championships; 18
All Stars; 2 Olympic Gold medals; 33,643 points in regular season (3rd
highest) .
The KB20 site on Weibo got 410 million hits yesterday; he has many fans in China!
San Francisco’s Golden State Warriors ended the regular NBA season with
73 wins and 9 losses, surpassing the Bull’s record of 72-10 set in 1995-6.
Stephen Curry smashed his own record with 402 3-pointers (previous record
286). He averaged an amazing 30ppg in the regular season.
|
|
China published annual report “The Human Rights record of
the USA in 2015”. The US publishes an annual report on China, so China
reciprocates.
|
|
South Korea’s ruling party, Saenuri, won only 122/300
seats in the Parliament.
|
|
18
|
In 2015 Americans adopted 2,354 Chinese children; average
cost $16,000; average time 249 days.
|
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) won the China F1 race in Shanghai;
Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) came second.
|
|
19
|
Brazilian House of Representatives voted to commence
impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.
|
21
|
UK celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 90th
birthday.
|
22
|
Famous singer Prince died in Minneapolis aged 57; suspected overdose of
prescription drugs.
|
Following a review, the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA)
suspended China’s Anti-doping Agency (CHINADA) until its processes have been
upgraded.
|
|
24
|
Celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of
William Shakespeare’s death.
|
25
|
Solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse flew from Hawaii to
California; 62 hours non-stop; 17,000 solar cells on wings. Part of
round-the-world flight.
|
Pyongyang announced the successful firing of a ballistic
missile from a submarine.
|
|
27
|
30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear
disaster in Ukraine; 31 died, more later.
|
28
|
2014 Imports / Exports as % of GDP: China 19% / 23%;
Australia 21%/21%; Canada 33%/32%; Germany 39%/46%; UK 30%/28%; USA 17%/13%.
|
…
Best wishes to you all, keep well and keep smiling.
Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum,
Qingdao
Saturday 7 May 2016
