CCTV is Connected

CCTV is connected - view from our apartment 2007-12-31

In first week of December the CCTV headquarters had been connected. For weeks the building's two towers had been edging closer, as if locked in some sort of glacial, surrealist architectural mating dance. The tension was killing us. Now the tension is keeping the towers locked together. What makes the "twisted donut" different now, was that the hole, not the building, has become visible. Is there any other building in the world so defined by its negative space?

The complete connection is scheduled for February. And a proper ceremony to celebrate the tying of the knot was scheduled for just after Christmas (the building will open in 2009). Now that the towers have consummated their loopy relationship, how long will it be until they start spawning baby CCTVs all over the city?

This building is the most expensive building every built in the world 800.000 miljons USD!

The arms, 162 meters above Beijing's Central Business District, reached out 75.165 meters and 67.165 meters, respectively, and were joined first week of December.
They will accommodate 14 stories of offices by using 18,000 tons of steel.
The two towers, 234 meters and 194 meters high, respectively, lean six degrees and formed the main building for the new complex that has a floor space of 495,900 square meters.
International media eyed the CCTV building as a symbol of China's growing strength and modernization. Domestic critics, however, said a huge amount of steel was wasted because of its strange shape.

CCTV Towers - when finished...

The building, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, was listed as one of the wonders of Chinese architecture by U.S.-based Business Week magazine and viewed as the most radical structure in the country. The huge project, for which the foundation was laid in September 2004, finally won the central government's approval 18 months after it had been halted due to worries about over-heated property investment as well as traffic congestion fears around it.

For more background on the project, take a look at this clip from a Discovery Channel documentary about Olympic-related construction in Beijing (YouTube):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIDrKjvc9bk

It is magic...

Accross the same street - today! Compare with same picture yesterday!

Last night the weather changed and someone started the big "fan" and it was quite windy during the evening and night.

And suddenly - all smog just was gone and when we wake up today it is a sunny, beautiful morning. Today the API is suddenly down to 156!
We can now hope to look forward to a nice weekend and New Year vaction.

Thank You - who ever it is keeping a hand over us....

At the maximum level - again....

The past week have not been so nice in Beijing due to rather heavy air pollution and yesterday and today the level reached the maximum that can be measured - Air Pollution Index 500!

Accross the street......

Since Thuesday the API have been over 250 and the the discription and the effect it have on people, according to API Index is:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

251-300 Moderate-heavy polluted
The symptoms of the cardiac and lung disease patients aggravate remarkably, and the exercise endurance drop lower. The healthy crowds popularly appear some symptoms.
The aged, cardiac and lung disease patients should stay indoors and reduce physical activities!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For yesterday (API 421) and today (500>) the index says:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>300 Heavy polluted

The exercise endurance of the healthy people drops down, some appears strong symptoms remarkably. Some diseases appear earlier.
The aged and patients should stay indoors and avoid strength draining; the ordinary should avoid outdoor activities.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Days like this You do not want to get out of bed and You really long back to Sweden and the clean air and the clean water. We are just hoping that the Chinese Government will do something about all the pollution in Beijing (and other places in China) but during more than one year I have stayed here we still see no improvements. Olympics is getting closer and closer av China have promised to.....

Merry Christmas

Christmas is not celebrated here as in other parts of the world as there are very few Christian in China.
But since Beijing is a very international city You can see X-Mas trees alsmost everywhere and the shops are ful with presents and shop assistants in Santa Claus dress.
Here, Christmas is a commersial "holiday" but it is normal working days compared to Europe.

We had a nice "Swedish" Christmas dinner in our apartment together with the family. Christmas ham, smoked salmon, meat balls, small sausages, potatoes au gratin, red cabbage, liver sausage and nudles. (The herring was sold out in Ikea...)
Off cause we also had snaps, glögg and gingerbread biscuit - almost as a Swedish Christmas.

But, sure, I miss the Christmas in Sweden and my children and relatives at times like this. A nice thing here is that You do not give X-Mas presents so You do not have to run around in the shops buying a lot of things. In China You give each other presents during the Chinese NewYear.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The end of the world

End of the world - where sky meet sea

We have been at the end of the world......
Have spent a week on vacation in Hainan, the southernmost part of China and here we visited "the end of the world" (Tianya-Haijiao). This is the most southern part of China and here the sky goes into the sea and Chinese before believed that here the world ends! Today it is a big attraction with a huge tourist organisation built around it (as in all other Chinese attractions). There is a lot of restaurants and shops but also a beautiful park built up around it.

Hainan is a very beautiful island (Chinas Hawai) with great opportunities for swimming, diving, fishing and relaxing in general. We stayed in the southern part of the island, in Sanya. Here are many hotels (with many Russians..) and quite a good beach. The best beach however is Yalong Bay - 30 mins away by local bus.

Sanya beach

During the week we also visited some of the attraction in Hainan. One of them was Nanwan "Monkey Islet". This is a 10,2 sq km big nature reserve for wild monkeys (macaques) and here are more than 1500 living in the forest and shrubbery covering the islet.

A macaque monkey in Monkey Islet

We also visited the beautiful with a lot of trees and tropical flowers from China and the rest of the world. Here they also had local production of Hainan coffee and a lot of coconut products to taste and buy. Also in a park like this the commercial interest is very big.

Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden

Another place we visited during the week was Nanshan, a place with a Buddhist Park and a lot of temples and Buddha statues. Many Chinese go here to pray to Buddha - businessmen pray for a greater profit for next year...
It is a big and nice park with a lot to see and You can go by an electric train from site to site (20 RMB). "Temple of the Future Buddha", "Gold and Jade statue of Guanyin" and the "Guanyin Statue" are places of interest.

Buddhas

The 108 meter high Guanyin Statue on South Sea.

The airtemperature was around 28-34 the whole week and also the water temperature was quite nice for staying in and at the beach for a some time. But I quick learned that even a short time as two hours is long enough to get burned if You forget to use sunprotection oil - as I did.

Now a look like a "cooked shrimp..".

Snowing in Beijing

This morning when we woke up it was very foggy (smoggy)
and their was snow on the roofs and it is still snowing.
Could it not choose a better day? I am going to Sweden for
business trip this week and I know what snow and smog can do
to Beijing airport....
So it is just to keep the fingers crossed and maybe put Stieg Larsson
"Män som hatar kvinnor" in my bag. It can be a long day in the airport.
Now I am happy to still have my Euro Bonus Gold card so I can use the
lounge.

Greater than the Great Wall....

You've climbed the Great Wall of China, now Beijing wants you to "fly" the Great Wheel of China.
Higher than both the London Eye and the Singapore Flyer, which open in March, the Beijing Great Wheel will tower 208 metres (682 ft) when finished in 2009, which would make it the highest and largest in the world. The giant ferris wheel will have 48 air conditioned observation capsules, each of which can carry up to 40 passengers, and on a good day even the Great Wall is expected to be visible in the mountains to Beijing's north.

The wheel will stand in eastern Beijing's Chaoyang Park, (just across the street from our apartment) where beach volleyball events will take place at next year's Olympics, and have far greater capacity than the London Eye. Costing a total of around 200 million euros (139 million pounds), tickets will go for about 100 yuan. The real attraction is the view and only secondarily the ride. It will be a unique experience to get a 360˚ view of the city. Located on the north-eastern side of Chaoyang Park, the 208-meter high wheel will take visitors for a smooth loop in about 30 minutes, promising an impressive view of the city on the chance it's a clear day. Each of the wheel's capsules, equipped with multi-lingual information screens, will be able to hold up to 40 people. A bevy of food, beverage and shopping options will surround the bottom of the wheel.

Weekend in Xian

Night in Xian

Last weekend we went to Xian - one of the places in China that I have wanted to visit for a long time.
Xian is located south of the Qinling Mountains in the central Wei River valley on the western shore of the Yellow River. Having the mountains in the back and a river in the front means luck and maybe this is the reason that so many emperors lived and rest around Xian.

The most famous is the Yellow Emperor, Qinshihuang. He is the father of the Chinese nation and rests in a tomb in Lingtong close to the Lishan Mountain. This mausoleum is better known as the "Terracotta Warriors". He started to build the tomb over himself as soon as he became a king, at the age of thirteen, 221 BC. For a time as many as 700 000 craftmen and convicts worked with the project and still it took almost forty years to complete the tomb.


















Totally in the 3 pits there are over 7 000 pottery figures unearthed, including soldiers, chariots ans horses. The total area for the mausoleum is more than 56 square kilometers.





















Every day when the visitors have left the museum the archologists start their "nightwork" trying to solve the great puzzle getting all the peaces together. If they during one workshift can find one peace fitting on one of the warriors they are happy! This must be the he biggest puzzle in the world and nobody knows where it ends - new warriors are find all the time.


















Here the puzzle beginns. When the tombs are opened the warriors are all found
broken like this and is restored peace by peace.

In one of the tombs this sword was found. The surface contains chromium, with a thickness of 10 to 15 micron, which protected the coating against corrosion. The chrome-plating technology was invented by Germans and Americans in 1937 and 1950, but it had emerged in China 2.200 years before. How amazing is this!

Around Xian it is not just the Terracotta Warriors You should look at - there are many other culture sites of interest and a weekend it not enough to explore it all:

Big Wild Goose Pagoda where Buddhist scriptures are stored, brought back from India by the traveling monk Xuan Zang.

Happy Buddas.....

Hot springs in Huaqing whesre the emperors spent their summers. Here also a critical part of Chinese history took part in December 1936 when Chiang Kai Shek (leader for Kuomintang) and in civil war with Mao Zedong (leader for CCP). Chiang was captured and forced to give up.
From this office in Huaqing he ruled over China for a while before Koumintang had to retreat to Taiwan.

The underground museum in Hanyangling. Here are the warriors in "toy-format" but the muesum is amazing down underground.














Islamic street and Great Muslim Mosque in Xian

The Bell tower and part of the Great City Wall

ShiZhiting with our guide Sun Yin and our driver Chang WeiFeng

Thank's for a great weekend! We will be back!

Ticket sales break down

On Tuesday it was time for the second sales of tickets for the Olympics 2008. But this was more than anybody could have expect!
The BOCOG Ticketing Center had to stop the domestic ticket sales because of a communications jam. When the web site was opened for ticket sales on Tuesday morning eight million viewed the website in the first hour of sales, far exceeded the original system capacity to handle one million PVs per hour.
The ticket applications submitted reached 200,000 -- also overrunning the system capacity to process 150,000 per hour.
At the same time, there were more than 3.8 million phone calls to the ticketing hotline (+8610 952008) at the call center.
So, now BOCOG will try to improve the systems and reopen on November 5th.
There is a great interest for the Olympics also inside China. I will do a new attempt to get tickets for Carolina Klyfts final day - I already have for the other.....

My new friend

I have got a new friend in Beijing - a bike!

Since we moved to Park Avenue we got longer distance to our grocery store Jinkelon and to Jeni Lou where You buy "western food" and drinks.
It was a bit to long to walk (15-20 mins) carrying bags with milk, food and beer so we got lazy and used taxi almost every time.
A few weeks ago I bought a new bike at Decathlon (399 RMB - tree gears) so now I can go to Jeni Lou in 7 minutes. With a big basket in front on the bike and a parcel cariier in the end there is plenty of room for both the grocery and the beer...















Bicycling in Beijing is quite exciting (and sometimes dangerous). There is plenty of bicycle lanes but these are used also by motorcycles and cars. Also it is not one way - all direction on both sides. So, in the beginning it was a little scary but I have learned and now Shi Zhiting tells me that I am driving worse than most of the chinese.... It is also a good way to exercise and I enjoy some time with "my friend" almost every day.

A beautiful day - autumn in Beijing

After the terrible Friday with heavy fog we had rain almost the whole Saturday and after that the air felt much better. When we got up Sunday morning it was sunny, a little cold but an extreme clear sky. I do not remember ever seen such a blue sky and you could see all the way to the mountains west of Beijing.
We decided to go with BaoBao and his mother to watch the "red trees" at Fragant Hills, a forest area north west of the city. When it is getting autumn the trees in this area get very red and this park is very popular to visit.
Taking bus 302 from Chaoyang for 1 hour we arrived to the outskirts of Beijing changing to bus 634 we soon found out that we were not the only ones going to the park. Many overcrowded busses passed before we finally managed to embark a bus and just get inside the doors before they closed. I guess that there was about 150 people on this bus so You could say it was crowded... No problem when the driver suddenly had to brake in the heavy traffic - it was impossible to fall.
After more than 1 hour we arrived to the park - together with a houndred thousand other people. It was funny to watch all this different people going for a walk in the forest. Some dressed for outdoor life, some looking like they were going to the office and some young women dressed in short skirt, nylon stockings and high heels...

-The pagoda and view over Beijing

- A walk in the forest..

We had a very nice day pushing around in the "forest", having picnic and studying people before we by the same overcrowded bus 634 returned to Beijing.

Taking bus 634

It's a foggy day.....

Today Beijing is showing a really bad face - the fog (due to the smog). When we woke up this morning it was impossible to see across the street or the house next door. During part of the day the express ways around Beijing have been closed and since early this morning Beijing Capital Airport have been almost closed.I have many friends and colleagues that were flying back to Copenhagen this afternoon but the plane from Scandinavia was forced to land in Tjanjin, 100 km east of Beijing. So now the passengers is in one place and the plane in another.....
Let us hope that the fog disappears during the afternoon so things get back to normal.

The life of a Panda

One of the biggest attraction in Beijing Zoo (an awful place) is the male panda Gu Gu.
He is known for having a little bad temper and yesterday a young boy, Li Xitao, got to experience that. This boy have jumped over the barrier into the pandas to give Gu Gu a hug but instead for returning the hug the panda bite him and gnawed both his legs to the bone. He spent the night at hospital for surgery..

This was not the first time Gu Gu tasted human flesh. Last summer Gu Gu took a bite of a drunk man who bit him first..

Pandas are known to have a wild streak and are capable of attacking humans, especially if they feel threatened.But authorities laid the blame for the latest mauling on the boy rather than the panda. The boy was an itinerant worker with a mental illness who not only illegally jumped into the panda's enclosure, but also climbed over the zoo wall to avoid buying an entry ticket.

Fuwa

You see them everywhere these qute little "Fuwas" - the official mascots for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Five Fuwas in the same colors as the Olympics rings. There names is Beibei, Jingjing, Haunhuan, Yingying and Nini .
Whe You put there names together - Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni - the say "Beijing Welcomes You", offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.

Let me introduce them to You:

Beibei - the fish
In China's traditional culture and art, the fish and water designs are symbols of prosperity and harvest. And so Beibei carries the blessing of prosperity. A fish is also a symbol of surplus in Chinese culture, another measure of a good year and a good life.
Among Fuwa, Beibei is known to be gentle and pure. Strong in water sports, she reflects the blue Olympic ring.

Jingjing - the panda - makes children smile -- and that's why he brings the blessing of happiness wherever he goes. You can see his joy in the charming naivety of his dancing pose and the lovely wave of his black and white fur. As a national treasure and a protected species, pandas are adored by people everywhere.
Jingjing was chosen to represent our desire to protect nature's gifts -- and to preserve the beauty of nature for all generations. Jingjing is charmingly naïve and optimistic.
He is an athlete noted for strength who represents the black Olympic ring.

Huanhuan - the flame- is the big brother. He is a child of fire, symbolizing the Olympic Flame and the passion of sport -- and passion is the blessing he bestows. Huanhuan stands in the center of Fuwa as the core embodiment of the Olympic spirit. And while he inspires all with the passion to run faster, jump higher and be stronger, he is also open and inviting.
Huanhuan is outgoing and enthusiastic. He excels at all the ball games and represents the red Olympic ring.

Like all antelopes, Yingying - the Tibetan antelope - is fast and agile and can swiftly cover great stretches of land as he races across the earth. A symbol of the vastness of China's landscape, the antelope carries the blessing of health, the strength of body that comes from harmony with nature.

Yingying's flying pose captures the essence of a species unique to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the first animals put under protection in China.

The selection of the Tibetan Antelope reflects Beijing commitment to a Green Olympics.
Strong in track and field events, Yingying is a quick-witted and agile boy who represents the yellow Olympic ring.

Nini - the swallow - is drawn from this grand tradition of flying kites. Her golden wings symbolize the infinite sky and spread good-luck as a blessing wherever she flies. Swallow is also pronounced "yan" in Chinese, and Yanjing is what Beijing was called as an ancient capital city.
Among Fuwa, Nini is as innocent and joyful as a swallow. She is strong in gymnastics and represents the green Olympic ring.

Got tickets!!!!!

I have got som tickets for the Beijing Olympics 2008!.
Was one of the lucky in the "first lottery" for the tickets. Applied in June and during the summer the Beijing Olympics sent out mail to all that was lucky. I did not get any mail.... (mailbox crashed)

But, when checking my VISA account I found that money was drawn from my account for tickets to the Olympics and after some mail conversation I now know that I got tickets for:

08-17 Athletics 19-22:10
Womens 100m hurdles rd 1, mens hammer throw final, womens 100m semi, womens 400m hurdles rd 1, mens high jump qualifying, womens 400m semi, women triple jump final, womens 3000m steeple chase final, mens 1500m semi, womens 100m final, mens 10000m final

08-18 Athletics 19-22:10
Womens discus final, mens long jump final, womens paule vault final, womens 100 hurdles semi, mens 200m rd 2, women 400 m hurdles, mens 3000m steeplechase final, women 800m final and mens 400m hurdles final

08-19 Athletics 19-22:10
Womens 200m rd 2, Mens high jump final, womens 5000m rd 1, mens 200m semi, mens 110m hurdles rd 2, mens discus throw final, mens 400m semi, womens 400m final, womens 100m hurdles final, men 1500m final.

08-19 Handball
Mens Bronze Medal match
Mens Gold Medal match


So, I was quite lucky in the first draw. No it is time to apply for the second draw and see if it is possible to get some more tickets for Athletics finals or for the football...

China National Day

Bao Bao celebrating the National Day in Chaoyang Park

Yesterday China was celebrating the National Day. I and P.R.C was born in the same year -1949.
There was a lot of events all over Beijing. Bao Bao and ShiZhiting was in Chaoyang Park (acroos the street from our apartment) most of the day together with many thousand other Beijingers. This week most of chinese people have holiday and is visiting their families and home towns.

The People's Republic of China is a unified, multi-national country, comprising 56 nationalities. The Han people make up 91.02 percent of the total population, leaving 8.98 percent for the other 55 ethnic minorities. They are Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, Uygur, Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Bouyei, Korean, Manchu, Dong, Yao, Bai, Tujia, Hani, Kazak, Dai, Li, Lisu, Va, She, Gaoshan, Lahu, Shui, Dongxiang, Naxi, Jingpo, Kirgiz, Tu, Daur, Mulam, Qiang, Blang, Salar, Maonan, Gelo, Xibe, Achang, Pumi, Tajik, Nu, Ozbek, Russian, Ewenki, Benglong, Bonan, Yugur, Jing, Tatar, Drung, Oroqen, Hezhen, Moinba, Lhoba and Gelo. All nationalities in China are equal according to the law. The State protects their lawful rights and interests and promotes equality, unity and mutual help among them.

Beijing is now a "quite" city and is really enjoyable since it is much easier to travek around with car and taxi. The airport express way and the ringroads now just have half the traffic and it is almost as going by car in the mornings between Malmö and Lund...
But during the holidays it is estimated that 1,7 million (chinese) tourists will visit Beijing.

There is perhaps no better time to savor the charm of Tian'anmen Square than during the week-long National Day holiday. Stretching in front of the Forbidden City, it is ablaze with the color of 400,000 pots of flowers in full bloom.

This year's major events can be seen at the city's center. Looking east are scale models of the Acropolis in Athens, the Great Wall, and a 9.8-meter Olympic torch, which represents the torch relay from Greece to China. To the south can be seen models of the Temple of Heaven and major scenes marking key events in the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to welcome the 17th National Congress of the CPC which starts on October 15.
A big fountain sprouts water as high as 60 meters in the middle of the square surrounded by a bed of flowers.

Work on the decorations and flower displays started about 25 days ago, and was carried out at night to avoid disrupting tourists and traffic. This year's decorations include 130 kinds of flowers, of which more than 20 will also be on display during the next year's Olympic Games. If weather permits, the flowers will be shown until the end of the month.

The national flag raising ceremony will also be a major attraction. At dawn Monday, an estimated 200,000 people will gather at Tian'anmen Square to watch the event.