Current Events

[Randy W]

Sun Moon Lake was once a popular tourist spot in Taiwan. But now the cracked, parched lake bed has become Instagram-famous for a grim reason: one of the worst droughts in decades.

Officials call the drought Taiwan’s worst in more than half a century, and it is putting pressure on the island’s semiconductor industry. More than 90 percent of the world’s manufacturing capacity for the most advanced chips is in Taiwan.

Cracked Lake Bed Is a Stark Symbol of Taiwan’s Drought. Influencers Take Notice.
The parched bottom of Sun Moon Lake, once a popular tourist spot, has become popular on Instagram as residents pray for rain.

from the NY Times on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/5281959998/posts/10152678319459999/

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The parched lake bed — cracks snaking across the ground as far as the eye can see — has drawn the attention of influencers, who have trekked to the site to take visually arresting photos of the terrain and post them online.
But the situation is dire. Residents have prayed to the god Matsu for rain after a monthslong drought dried up the island’s reservoirs. Some parts of the lake have begun to grow grass, and jetties that normally float are sitting on dry mud. Tour boats sit idle.
“Our business is 90 percent less than last year,” said Wang Ying-shen, chairman of a group for businesspeople who rent boats to visitors.

Rainfall in the seven months through February was less than half the historical average after no typhoons hit Taiwan in 2020 for the first time in 56 years, according to the government.
Officials call the drought Taiwan’s worst in more than half a century, and it is putting pressure on the island’s semiconductor industry. More than 90 percent of the world’s manufacturing capacity for the most advanced chips is in Taiwan.

Households in areas under top-level restrictions go without running water two days a week. They include Taiwan’s second-biggest city, Taichung, with 2.8 million people; Hsinchu, one of the biggest global enters for semiconductor manufacturing; and Tainan and Kaohsiung in the south. The economics minister, Wang Mei-hua, has warned that restrictions might be tightened.

 

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Two foreigners who posed for photos behind and atop a section of the Great Wall with a bilingual “no crossing” sign have been blacklisted by the tourist site’s management.

“These two individuals’ bad behavior has had a negative influence, and we took appropriate measures immediately.”

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/1570821646570023/posts/2946435409008633/

Some pictures from our own visit there in 2008. We didn't cross the barrier, but someone hiked up from behind it while we were there

The sign says "Danger no admittance" in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean

[Randy W]

 

Why Chinese-Pop Fans Are Spending Millions on Milk (It’s Not for Drinking)
In China’s most popular idol competitions, fans have an unusual way to vote for their favorite contestants.

TONS OF MILK PRODUCTS WERE BOUGHT IN A FRENZY, SOME REPORTEDLY POURED DOWN THE DRAIN. PHOTO: IQIYI

from VICE

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What they were after were the QR codes that come with the packaging of flavored milk and yogurt, which they scanned in order to vote for their favorite contestants in the talent show. The program was sponsored—you guessed it—by a dairy company.

Much of the millions of bottles and boxes of milk products were resold and donated. But in extreme cases, they were reportedly poured down the drain. The excesses have prompted criticism by Chinese state media as the government has campaigned to ban food waste.

 . . .

The alleged milk dumping has prompted criticism from the government. In a Tuesday commentary, state-run news agency Xinhua slammed the idol programs for encouraging the young generation to waste food. 

“This is seeking profits and attention through waste and squander, a lack of respect for labor, and a contempt and breach of the law,” the article said, citing an anti-food waste campaign endorsed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. “The consequence is to mislead youths and erode their pursuit and values.” 

 

 

[Randy W]

“Strong Pig” was one of the few survivors in an area leveled by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, managing to keep himself alive for 36 days despite being surrounded by rubble. Thirteen years later, the hardy hog is nearing the end of his life.

Learn more: http://ow.ly/oJ9i50EMCLm

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/1570821646570023/posts/2948345058817668/

Out of the Rubble, Into Hog Heaven: Wenchuan’s Hero Pig, Remembered
“Strong Pig” became a celebrity by surviving the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Thirteen years later, the hardy hog is nearing the end of his life.

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On May 12, 2008, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck China’s southwestern Sichuan province, leaving more than 80,000 people dead or missing. Nearly 1 million residents lost their homes.

But after weeks of sorrow and grieving, a hero emerged from the debris.

Zhu Jianqiang, or “Strong Pig,” was one of the few survivors in an area leveled by the quake, managing to keep himself alive for 36 days despite being surrounded by rubble. As word of the hale hog spread, Zhu Jianqiang became a celebrity and was adopted by the Jianchuan Museum Cluster — a privately run museum complex commemorating the deadly Wenchuan earthquake — as a living symbol of China’s resilience in the face of tragedy.

However, Zhu Jianqiang’s time is nearing an end, as the museum’s official Weibo microblog account indicated in a post Monday. To honor this emblematic animal, we present a photo gallery encompassing Zhu Jianqiang’s 13 years since the quake.

June 2008
Buried in debris, the 1-year-old pig survives on water and charcoal. He is rescued after 36 days, having shrunk from 150 kilograms to just 50 kilograms.

 

 

[Randy W]

Twelve people have been killed, with over 300 injured after tornadoes struck two Chinese cities in the country’s eastern and central regions Friday evening.

As of Saturday, a tornado had killed eight people in Wuhan, capital of the central Hubei province, and injured 230, according to the city’s emergency management bureau.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/2948494742136033/

12 Killed, Over 300 Injured in Tornadoes
The cyclones struck two Chinese cities in the country’s eastern and central regions on Friday.

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As of Saturday, a tornado had killed eight people in Wuhan, capital of the central Hubei province, and injured 230, according to the city’s emergency management bureau. The cyclone struck at 8:39 p.m. Friday, with a wind speed of 23.9 meters per second. 

According to the bureau, in addition to destroying a large number of trees, the tornado also flattened 27 houses, with 130 others damaged. It also ruined two tower cranes and 8,000 square meters of workers’ temporary living quarters. 

 

 

[Randy W]

Can the Internet Cure China’s Addiction to Overprescription?
The country is moving to open the prescription drug market to e-commerce platforms, but hospitals and doctors aren’t quite ready to give up a key source of income.from the Sixth Tone
 

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This month, the State Council — China’s Cabinet — took another step toward greenlighting the sale of prescription drugs online. For e-commerce platforms, the announcement could mean huge profits; for public hospitals, it’s a warning shot for a medical system that has long overprescribed medication to leverage its near monopoly on drug sales and pad its bottom line.
For years, drug overprescription has been rampant in China, symbolized by the overuse of IV drips and antibiotics. Severe crackdowns have improved the situation somewhat in recent years, but doctors around the country continue to prescribe unnecessary or off-label drugs. This isn’t a victimless crime: In addition to underlying dangers like antibiotic resistance, patients pay the price for all these unneeded prescriptions. In one recent case, a 50-year-old cancer patient died deep in debt after his doctor prescribed him drugs that were not clinically proven to treat his condition, sparking a social media firestorm.
The incentives for doctors and hospitals to overprescribe drugs are well known. The marketization reforms of the 1980s saw China’s medical system partially deregulated in ways that distorted the caregiver-patient relationship. As medical costs spiraled upward and hospitals were freed to experiment with new revenue sources, doctor fees and compensation remained capped at artificially low levels. One popular means of making up the difference was to sell drugs to patients directly through hospital-owned pharmacies.
This helped public hospitals survive, but it also hooked them on drug sales and medical test fees. Further complicating matters, hospitals, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies developed increasingly close ties, with the latter offering rebates, subsidies, and other benefits for prescribing more of their medications.

 . . .

they believe that market competition is the only way to break up the current cartel. And one of the easiest ways of stimulating this competition would be to finally allow e-commerce platforms — already widely used and convenient — to get in on the act.
Currently, it’s extremely difficult for patients to comparison shop. Once online sales are permitted, however, patients will at least theoretically be able to compare the price of drugs from different sellers all over the country and choose the cheapest ones. And with doctors and hospitals less certain that patients will leave the consultation room and buy whatever drugs they’ve been prescribed at the hospital pharmacy, their prescription decisions will be less motivated by profit.
At least, that’s the idea. But there is still a lot to do before China can consider its overprescription problem cured.

 

This doesn't seem to be a problem in Yulin. We usually buy prescribed medicines at the hospital pharmacy, but then purchase refills at the local drugstore. It's only some of the newer or more expensive medicines that we have to get through the hospital pharmacy,

[Randy W]

More modernization on the way - this is dated May 10

China has unveiled a high-profile guideline to build a more convenient and high-quality transportation network by 2035, allowing most residents to have access to a national highway within 15 minutes, a freeway in half an hour and a railway in an hour.
The plan, which was jointly released on February by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, set the goal of building a comprehensive transportation network by 2035.
A more convenient logistics network will also be built, in which parcels will be delivered to customers in China in only one day, to neighboring countries in two days and reach major cities around the world in three days.
By 2035, a comprehensive transportation network of about 700,000 kilometers will be established. The network will be convenient, cost-effective, green, intelligent and safe, according to the guideline. #ChinaRoad

from China Pictorial on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3765754300216598&id=553929144732479
 

[Randy W]

Many older residential buildings in China aren’t equipped with elevators, nor are they cheap to install. Aimed at raising funds for facilities much-needed by the elderly, a residential complex in Hangzhou has unveiled elevators that charge $0.16 per ride.

Buildings in China are limited to seven stories when they don't have an elevator. But even WITH an elevator, off-grid or "urban village" buildings can still be limited to seven stories. One of the neighbors of our downtown apartment building had their rebars lopped off as they were attempting to construct an eighth story, even though they also had an elevator shaft.

We lived on the fourth floor at the university, where I remember thinking that was one floor too high - not that it was physically too much, but that it just got boring after the second flight of stairs.

The sixth floor seems to be the limit for a lot of people - Jiaying had to lower the rent a little bit for the seventh floor in our downtown building.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/1570821646570023/posts/2952090681776439/

Edited May 20, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

A Beijing court has denied a divorcing woman’s demand that, according to a signed marriage contract, her ex-husband should compensate her $1.5 million because she helped him receive a desirable “hukou,” or household registration status.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/1570821646570023/posts/2952017991783708/

Ex-Spouses’ Money-for-‘Hukou’ Contract Annulled by Court
Previous examples of invalid marital agreements include those detailing punishments for being unfaithful.

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A Beijing court has denied a divorcing woman’s demand that, according to a signed marriage contract, her ex-husband should compensate her with 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) because she had helped him receive a desirable registration status.

 . . .

According to Beijing Evening News, the woman, surnamed Bai, was allowed to register herself and her spouse as Beijing residents because she holds a doctoral degree. Local household registration, known as hukou, comes with a laundry list of benefits such as access to health care, social security, public education, and real estate.

In the second year of Bai’s marriage with a man surnamed Hu, they signed a document — called a “loyalty agreement” in China — stating that, if the couple were to divorce, Hu would pay Bai 10 million yuan in compensation for his hukou. But the court decided the contract was invalid.

 . . .

In one of 10 example cases published by China’s Supreme People’s Court in 2019, a judge denied the validity of a couple’s agreement stating that cheating would mean losing custody of their child as well as paying the other spouse 200,000 yuan in compensation. The court commented that “the duty of loyalty between husband and wife is more of a moral duty,” and couples should stick to such agreements as a matter of conscience since they are not enforceable by law.

Yang noted, however, that not all marriage agreements are invalid in China. Those that clarify common property and personal property are protected by domestic law as long as they are not based upon the condition of divorce, she said.

 

 

[Randy W]

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit southwest China’s Yunnan province Friday night, leaving at least three people dead and 27 injured. Later, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake jolted the northwestern Qinghai province early Saturday, no casualties have been reported.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/1570821646570023/posts/2953919474926893/

[Randy W]

At least 21 people have been killed after hail, freezing rain and high winds struck during an ultramarathon in China’s northwestern Gansu province, local officials said.

Extreme cold weather hits China ultramarathon, kills 21 runners

from Al Jazeera

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At least 21 people have been killed after hail, freezing rain and high winds struck during an ultramarathon in China’s northwestern Gansu province, local officials said.

“Abrupt, extreme weather” hit a high-altitude section of the 100-kilometre cross-country race held in the Yellow River Stone Forest near Baiyin city at around noon (04:00 GMT) on Saturday, officials said during a briefing on Sunday.

“At around noon, the high-altitude section of the race between 20 and 31 kilometres was suddenly affected by disastrous weather. In a short period of time, hailstones and ice rain suddenly fell in the local area, and there were strong winds. The temperature sharply dropped,” said Baiyin city mayor Zhang Xuchen.

Shortly after receiving messages of help from some participants, marathon organisers dispatched a rescue team that managed to save 18 participants, he said.

At about 2pm (06:00 GMT), weather conditions worsened and the race was immediately called off as local authorities sent more rescuers to help, Zhang added.

 

 . . . and the Sixth Tone

21 Dead From Extreme Weather in Gansu Ultramarathon
The previous day’s forecast failed to predict freezing rain and a sudden drop in temperature that caused hypothermia in many of the event’s 172 participants.

A rescue team searches for missing participants in the Yellow River Shilin 100km Cross-Country Race in Baiyin, Gansu province, May 23, 2021. Xinhua

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A total of 172 participants took part in the Yellow River Shilin 100km Cross-Country Race, organized by the Baiyin City and Jingtai County governments and held Saturday in the Yellow River Stone Forest tourist site. By Sunday morning, the other 151 participants had been rescued, eight of them reporting minor injuries.

According to one of the rescued participants, the previous day’s weather forecast had not predicted such extreme conditions. During the race, he said, the wind picked up and it started to rain. While climbing a steep hill, he became soaked and felt his body temperature dropping.

“I soon realized there was no feeling in my 10 fingers,” he wrote in a post on social app WeChat. “I put my fingers in my mouth for a while, but they still had no feeling. At the same time, I could tell that my tongue was cold.”

 

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

In an act of “revenge against society” following a failed investment, a man in his 30s killed five people and injured another five after plowing his car through a busy pedestrian crossing in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/2955506554768185

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The suspect, a hairdresser surnamed Liu, had decided to take revenge against society after losing money in a failed investment scheme, according to the police. At 11:40 a.m. on Saturday, Liu accelerated through a red light at 108 kilometers per hour and plowed into pedestrians crossing the street at a busy intersection in the city’s downtown area.

Four people were pronounced dead shortly after impact, while a fifth later died at a local hospital.

Street surveillance footage shows that Liu tried to flee the scene in his vehicle afterward but crashed into a van. He then fled on foot before being apprehended around 1 o’clock.

 

 

[Randy W]

Road explosion in China catapults passers-by into the air

This is the terrifying moment when a road exploded from underneath in China, catapulting four people in the air.

Hongshan, Wuhan

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/355665009819/videos/512599753114388

Edit: Still there, but "sensitive" = click through to see

Edited May 26, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

On 5/23/2021 at 3:00 PM, Randy W said:

At least 21 people have been killed after hail, freezing rain and high winds struck during an ultramarathon in China’s northwestern Gansu province, local officials said.

Extreme cold weather hits China ultramarathon, kills 21 runners

from Al Jazeera

 . . . and the Sixth Tone

21 Dead From Extreme Weather in Gansu Ultramarathon
The previous day’s forecast failed to predict freezing rain and a sudden drop in temperature that caused hypothermia in many of the event’s 172 participants.

A rescue team searches for missing participants in the Yellow River Shilin 100km Cross-Country Race in Baiyin, Gansu province, May 23, 2021. Xinhua

 

According to some runners' recollections, the most difficult part of the course was from checkpoint 2 to checkpoint 3. This section had a distance of eight kilometers and a climb of 1,000 meters, and many sections were steep, requiring runners to climb up on their hands and knees.

"Because it was impossible to get to checkpoint 3 with a motorcycle, at checkpoint 3, the organizers did not provide any supplies. Contestants could not even take a break, or even quit the race here," wrote Liuluo Nanfeng.

Reports indicate that most of the participants who died perished on this segment. Many runners experienced hypothermia on the trail. 

from the Global Times
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1224262.shtml

Edited May 24, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Heavy rain has raised parts of the Yangtze River and its tributaries to
 dangerous water levels, putting Chinese authorities on high alert.

from the SCMP on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/475596890382447/