Current Events

[Randy W]

The park is no longer offering "couples" tickets, but is instead offering deals explicitly for “male and female pairs.”

“The way the staff explained it to us makes it clear that Chimelong (Safari Park) is homophobic,” she said.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/1570821646570023/posts/2958161681169339/

[Randy W]

Residents in a county in Southwest China's Yunnan Province got a big surprise, as 15 wild Asian elephants suddenly appeared in their neighborhood on Thursday night. They were warned not to get close to or tease the animals to avoid being attacked. 

15 wild Asian elephants surprise residents on county roads after 400-km march northward

from the Global Times

Quote

 

It's unusual that elephants left their habitat and headed north at this time, when the food for Asian elephants in the mountains and forests is scarcer in northern areas with higher altitudes, ecologists said.

The shrinking of rainforests in the elephants' home in Xishuangbanna may be a reason that led to the migration, said Zhang Li, a professor of ecology at Beijing Normal University.

"Another possibility was that this elephant herd lost their way during the march because of the shortage in experience of its leader," Chen Mingyong, a professor at School of Ecology and Environmental Science under Yunnan University, told news outlet thepaper.cn on Friday.

As of Friday afternoon, the elephants were found near Eshan county, only 120 kilometers from Yunnan's capital city Kunming, where the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is scheduled to be held in October.

 

 

 

and the SCMP

Chinese elephant herd hits the road on quest through urban jungle

• A group of 15 animals abandoned their forest home over six months ago and are just 100km from the capital of Yunnan
• The journey may have started as a search for more food, researcher says

The herd ventured along Yunnan’s main roads is just 100km from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan. Photo: Xinhua

Quote

China has only about 1 per cent, or about 300, of the world’s wild Asian elephants and their habitat is confined to the southernmost parts of Yunnan – the prefectures of Xishuangbanna, Lincang and Puer.
The area has urbanised rapidly and the original elephant habitat has shrunk and fragmented into patches of forest trapped between roads, villages, towns and fields. Now the remaining forest is strictly protected, as are the elephants, with the last isolated incidents of poaching 20 years ago.

Edited May 30, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Well done! 👏👏👏Transporting the bamboo rafts of Yangshuo‘s Yulong River（遇龙河） now is getting more mechanized.
#nature #travel #China
video from 山水桂林

from Discover Guangxi China on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1162347897512497

Edited June 2, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

In a first-of-its-kind punishment, an unnamed bakery in Shanghai was fined $1,560 after being caught providing non-biodegradable, disposable plastic straws, which are banned in the city.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/1570821646570023/posts/2964125487239625/

[Randy W]

Animal workers have been trying to guide the herd of 15 wild Asian elephants in Yunnan province moving southwest by putting about 2 metric tons of elephant food in that direction. Some 630 personnel and 103 large vehicles were deployed to prevent the elephants from coming into contact with residents.

from China Daily on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/191347651290/posts/10159528221766291/

[Randy W]

China aims to limit public institutions' total carbon dioxide emissions to 400 million tonnes by 2025, the National Government Offices Administration said Friday.
In 2020, there were about 1.586 million public institutions across China, said a work plan on energy and resources conservation among public institutions during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).
By 2025, the total energy consumption by public institutions will be kept within 189 million tonnes of standard coal, and total water consumption will be kept within 12.4 billion cubic meters, according to the plan.

from China Pictorial on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ChinaPic/posts/3847601888698505

[Randy W]

Why China’s Most-Hated Internet Company Decided to Play Nice
Tencent’s popularity may help it avoid trouble with Beijing. But its vast power could still squelch innovation in the world’s largest online market.

from the NY Times - a pdf version is at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ufgHRuTw7lTEsHhsblaW3u7-1tADQtO_/view?usp=sharing

Quote

 

Mr. Wang’s quote led a 2010 magazine article about Tencent with a headline so famously profane — think the rough Chinese equivalent of an F-bomb — that two top editors were fired shortly after it was published. The cover depicted Tencent’s mascot, a chubby penguin wearing a red scarf, stabbed with knives, blood dripping to the floor.

Dramatic, perhaps, but back then the Chinese technology industry considered Tencent to be Public Enemy No. 1. It wouldn’t hesitate to copy somebody else’s idea and drive the upstart out of business. Its top executives were confronted at industry conferences and in media interviews. Entrepreneurs called it the industry’s most brazen copycat.

More than a decade later, the Chinese government is finally reining in the country’s most powerful technology companies — but not, at least for now, Tencent. While the company has drawn small penalties, the government has focused most of its attention on Tencent’s archrival, Jack Ma’s Alibaba empire. The government’s next target? It might be Tencent’s onetime rival, Meituan.

 . . .

But one reason may be that the industry is no longer clamoring for somebody to take Tencent down. In fact, it has in many ways become the industry’s biggest and most deep-pocketed cheerleader. The company has managed to revamp its image by throwing money at the little guys and buying off competitors rather than driving them out of business.

No longer Public Enemy No. 1, Tencent now enjoys a status akin to an enlightened ruler of an expansive tech empire. A big chunk of the Chinese internet industry now belongs to what’s known as the Tencent ecosystem. That includes the hundreds of companies that it has invested in, including Mr. Wang’s — Tencent is now Meituan’s biggest shareholder, with a 21 percent stake. (Meituan didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

 . . .

Friendly companies build miniprograms for WeChat. Tencent invested in China’s ride-sharing and bike-sharing companies because their users pay frequently, and Tencent wanted them to use WeChat Pay.

The Tencent chief executive, Pony Ma, likes to say that half of Tencent’s life lies in the hands of its portfolio companies and partners. “When you grow, we grow together. When you fail, we as a platform fail, too,” he told a TV talk show in 2016.

 

 

[Randy W]

A mother in central China was shocked to discover her son’s tall stacks of notes, books, and other review materials for the national college entrance exam, or “gaokao,” which kicked off Monday.
Check out more Daily Tones: http://ow.ly/pWsD50F5dMH

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/2966260603692780

[Randy W]

Why 15 Elephants Went on a 500-km Journey in China
Sixth Tone maps out the herd’s route through Yunnan to find out why they strayed so far from home.

 

Reporters: Chen Si and Liu Chang; video editor: Chen Si; graphic/motion designer: Fu Xiaofan

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

scmpnews on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/p/CP2s0XfJgnz/
After a 500km trek, this herd of elephants deserve a little break.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by South China Morning Post (@scmpnews)

 

[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

 

China Accuses 32 in Ultramarathon Disaster, but Main Suspect Is Dead
Organizers of the May race, which claimed 21 lives, face criminal charges and disciplinary action. The man said to bear primary responsibility died in a fall from a high-rise this week.

from the NY Times 

Quote

Five employees of the company that organized the May 22 ultramarathon in Yellow River Stone Forest Park in Jingtai County, Gansu Province, will face criminal charges, the authorities said. Twenty-six local party officials have been disciplined, with measures including administrative warnings, loss of their jobs, detention and criminal investigations. The swiftness of the investigation and the speed with which disciplinary measures were meted out and criminal complaints were prepared underline a consistent theme in Chinese politics in recent years: Local leaders are quickly blamed when disasters occur. When the central authorities in Beijing want to show that they are taking swift action during a crisis, they often blame those on the ground. In the aftermaths of coronavirus outbreaks, coal mine explosions and other incidents, local leaders often lose their jobs or are subject to Communist Party disciplinary measures.

 

[Randy W]

As millions of senior students across China end their high school journey after completing the grueling national college entrance exam this week, a group of final year students in Henan province were seen bowing to canteen staff to express their gratitude.

Check out more Daily Tones: http://ow.ly/6tQe50F81U7

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://fb.watch/64p9Lnh9PV/

[Randy W]

A court in Beijing has ordered some normal-speed trains to remove designated smoking areas, in what is said to be China’s first public interest case over smoking in public areas since the country’s new civil code came into effect.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/2969247426727431

Quote

On Wednesday, the Beijing No. 4 Intermediate People’s Court notified the plaintiff, the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, of its decision to remove all smoking areas from trains connecting Beijing with Dunhuang in the northwestern Gansu province, and Zhangjiakou in the central Hebei province. The court also asked the trains — the K41/K42 and Y535/Y536 routes — to remove smoking areas and add “no smoking” signs.

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Deadly blast at market in China

At least a dozen people were reportedly killed in a gas explosion at a market in China’s central province of Hubei. More than 138 people were injured and some 913 homes had to be evacuated.

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/355665009819/videos/498724508022688

[Randy W]

The stars shined on the red carpet of the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival (#SIFF) on June 11. Who do you think are the best dressed female stars?

https://twitter.com/ShanghaiEye/status/1403965105579171842?s=19

 

The stars shined on the red carpet of the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival (#SIFF) on June 11. Who do you think are the best dressed female stars? pic.twitter.com/KWVrp6FoNA

— ShanghaiEye (@ShanghaiEye) June 13, 2021