Cleaning up the city

With the Olympics getting closer and closer "cleaning up" Beijing is done in many different ways, just not by fixing the street, planting flowers or painting bridges.
There are also many actions going on against "crime"of different sources. This week in TV and newspapers we have seen actions against the illegal taxis (heiche) and on Thursday the government office in charge of monitoring illegal taxis destroyed 313 vehicles (in front of a big media crowd) as part of a major campaign to crack down on illegal taxi drivers. The campaign has seen more than 1,000 vehicles destroyed in recent weeks. Authorities have also announced that if heiche drivers are caught a second time (the first time they simply get off with a warning), they risk serious consequences including fines and being detained by the police.

But it's not just the city's heiche drivers who are being subject to closer scrutiny, in an effort to clean up the city before August's Olympic Games, city authorities have also announced measures to clear the city of those small ads (xiao guanggao) that advertise everything from fake documents to various sex products, flight tickets, massage and are pasted on every surface throughout the city, from bus stops to footbridges. Authorities are offering a reward for 1 yao for every xiao guanggao that pepople scrape off and also rewards of up to 2,000 RMB for informing on people engaged in distributing the ads.
Police have also been cracking down on scalpers (seeling tickets of different kind with high profit) with plain clothes cops being deployed in force, not only at Good Luck Beijing sporting events, but also at the Jay Chou concert that took place at Gongti on May 1 - 130 police officers detained 30 scalpers at the concert.

So, in August we will have a cleaner Beijing - in many ways...

Business trip to Zhuhai

This week I have been on a business trip to Zhuhai in southern China together with one of our customers and two of my colleagues.

Located at the southern tip of the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong Province, Zhuhai is one of the five special economic zones in China. It faces Hong Kong in the east across the sea and joins Macau in the south.

In 1980, a special economic zone was established in Zhuhai. Today, the city has under its jurisdiction three districts, namely, Xiangzhou, Doumen (where are factory is situated), and Jinwan.
In recent years, Zhuhai has made progress in economic development owning to its advantageous geographical location near Hong Kong and Macao. Many foreign investments, advanced technologies and management methods stimulated the economic boom of Zhuhai.

It is quite a nice city with many parks and green areas, the climate this year is nice (just below +30) but the humidity in this area of China is a little bit too high for me.

Photo session

When you get married in China there should normally be a lot of wedding pictures takes for the "family album". Since we did just have a "quick" wedding in Hohot last May we did not do this but when now one of our sisters in law got married and made the album the thing was brought up again.

I was not that happy about the idea but finally agreed and yesterday it was time. Not overwhelmed - getting up six in the morning, driving 1,5 hour to the south part of Beijing. Finally arriving to the studio, next to "China World Park" (here are copies of all famous buildings from all over the world) it was a long time of waiting.
Shi Zhiting should get dressed and have make up but after more than one hour we went in to the park together with a photographer and his assistant.
After the first two shootings it actually started to be fun..... Our photographer, Yang Xing Jun, was very good at his work and also very funny.

Yang Xing Jun
Look at his stile....

We were shooting in many different placed in the park for several hours and after that changing clothes for inside pictures in the studio. A lot of make up and waiting again between every shooting (totally almost 200 pictures). Finished and back home 20:30 - both very tired.
We had a great day and hope to share some of the pictures here when vi collect the DVD in two weeks.

Smoking law - up in smoke?

It was recently announced that from May 1 smoking will be completely banned in medical facilities, nurseries, kindergartens, educational institutions, cinemas, concert venues, museums, libraries, children’s play areas, buses, taxis, trains, train stations, tourist attractions, sports venues and, according to the official press release, all public areas across the city.















So, now there is a big discussion about what is "public areas". The law do not give any definition so it is up to the smokers to decide if it is a "public area" or not?Same thing with smoking in parks and Internet cates that will be "partly banned" - what parts?
Restaurateurs and bar owners, meanwhile, are allowed to implement the ban at their own discretion. However, it's unlikely that many venues will choose to do so.
Originally, the government had wanted Beijing restaurants and bars to dedicate over 70 percent of floor space to non-smokers.This never came to pass due to complaints that the law would lead to a decline in custom. It's well known that many Chinese enjoy a cigarette at mealtimes – little surprise considering China is home to around 25% percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion smokers - smoking more than 30% of all cigarettes in the world.

YES - It's raining

Last night it started to rain - a rain we have been waiting for quite a time. Now we will get rid of the fluff and it will be more easy to breathe again. So today all the shopping centers was full with people since nobody wanted to stay out in the rain.

We took the chance to go to the hairdresser - it is getting quite hot in Beijing now so a shorter hair is to recommend.

Bao Bao is getting a haircut