Blogs » Society » Driver Narrowly Escapes Being Crushed Under Overturning Truck

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• Driver Narrowly Escapes Being Crushed Under Overturning Truck
• IKEA in China, “our home is your home”
• Lessons Of Beijing’s Floods
• Friday Night Musical Outro: Second Hand Rose – Train Will Start Soon
• Olympics Links: How China changed the Olympics, where to watch in Beijing and online, and we turn to Xinhua’s forum for a chuckle
• ‘Watch: Catwoman Steps Out in 1930s Shanghai’: WSJ
• Watch: NMA's hilarious take on Kim Jong-un's marriage
• Green and pleasant land?
• Germany's risky green wager
• Friday Links: Bo Xilai back in the news, Beijing rainstorm death toll raised to 77, and ChinaJoy
• Nerd Alert! ChinaJoy 2012
• Six Things to Salivate Over this Weekend
• Watch: Chinese man riding cow sings Justin Bieber's 'Baby'
• Olympic Tickets Fiasco: No Pain No Gain
• A Possible Case Of Child Abuse Exposed – And Shared – On TV News
• Photos: Tianjin people seek pleasure in battle against rainstorm and flood
• Photos: TICT's Disco Beach Bash
• On Getting Paid From China. Is There Really A $50,000 Yearly Limit?
• Driving Fail, Parallel Parking WIN
• A Torrential Rainstorm

Driver Narrowly Escapes Being Crushed Under Overturning Truck Posted: 27 Jul 2012 01:00 PM PDT A driver in Wujiang, Jiangsu province recently said "not today" to death when he slid from the driver's to the passenger seat in the nick of time. Sensing an oncoming truck with a wide load was about to tip over — seemingly in slow motion — the driver managed to reposition himself inside his sedan, which wound up being completely smushed. Youku video for those in China after the jump.

IKEA in China, “our home is your home” Posted: 27 Jul 2012 01:25 AM PDT From Sina Weibo via @薇薇诺诺2661317325 Go to IKEA, I was socked by all kinds of sleeping postures on each bed and each sofa, deeply deeply shocked!  0 to 80 years old, are all so indulged in sleeping! Beds without someone sleeping on them were all a mess.  Daycare center does not require store receipt to pick up their child.  People are so clever! My husband said, we have to wait till after our generation all die first, then we can talk about quality (of people).  Ay ~ daughter, it is up your guys now!  IKEA, I am really impressed by your tolerance! This blog post showed some pictures form Ikea in Beijing: 北京人已經用行動表達「宜家是咱家」，是咱們安睡的好地方。 Beijing people already use their action to express "IKEA is our home", it is good place for a peaceful nap.

Lessons Of Beijing’s Floods Posted: 27 Jul 2012 08:58 AM PDT The flooding that hit Beijing a week ago (above) was a freak. The rains that caused it were the heaviest in 60 years. Severe weather, certainly, but not beyond the bounds of what a national capital should be prepared to … Continue reading →

Friday Night Musical Outro: Second Hand Rose – Train Will Start Soon Posted: 27 Jul 2012 08:30 AM PDT Beijing's very own Second Hand Rose (二手玫瑰乐队), formed in 2000, was featured on this site in March for a Traffic Light post. The song used was Train Will Start Soon 《火车快开》, which deserves to be heard in full. Here it is, from a live performance on July 1, 2010. By the way, these guys will be performing at MAO Live House in Beijing tomorrow at 8:30 pm. Youku video for those in China after the jump.

Olympics Links: How China changed the Olympics, where to watch in Beijing and online, and we turn to Xinhua’s forum for a chuckle Posted: 27 Jul 2012 07:14 AM PDT OOPS! Via Daily Mail: "North Korea's women footballers walked off in protest before their match with Colombia yesterday when the flag of bitter rivals South Korea was mistakenly shown on the big screen in Scotland's Hampden Park." Manchester City just beat the incredibly popular-in-China Arsenal 2-0 in heavy rain at the Bird's Nest today. The Olympics opening ceremony begins in a matter of hours, at 4 am China time (7 pm London). Here are your Olympic links. To start, the question everyone wanted — nay, needed — an answer for. "Chinese basketball player Yi Jianlian has been chosen to carry the flag of China at the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games on Friday." [Xinhua] "How China Changed the Olympics Forever." "…No one seemed concerned about the question of whether, instead of us changing China, China might actually change us. I felt that many of my Western listeners needed to be awakened out of their smug self-centeredness. // …Did China change the Olympics? Yes — since the Chinese leadership invested the Olympics with so much significance, the economic and political powers-that-be in the developed West took them more seriously as well. Romney, whose career got a boost when he was hired to navigate the Salt Lake City Olympic committee through its bribery scandal, will be attending the opening ceremony in London, as will Michelle Obama. The pundits seem to agree that no one will be able to match the ceremonies in Beijing — because of the 'unlimited' resources that can be commanded by an authoritarian government — but if London fails to organize an event that is outstanding in other ways, it will be interesting to see what kind of discussion it initiates about the strengths and weaknesses of liberal democracy." [Susan Brownell, interviewed by Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Asia Society] The Olympics matter to the Chinese, still. "According to workforce research firm Kronos Incorporated's survey of 9,500 workers in eight countries, Chinese ranked the world's most likely citizens to call in sick to watch a sporting event, with 54% of Chinese employees surveyed confessing that they've ditched work for having stayed up too late watching or attending an athletic event. That compares to 41% in India and 23% in the U.K., both countries in which sports like cricket can last days on end, according to the survey." [WSJ] Ping-pong gamesmanship is the best kind. "On a hot August evening in 2008, his tousled locks subdued by Beijing humidity, Boris Johnson seized the Olympic flag and uttered a rallying cry for London 2012 that will echo down the generations: 'Ping pong is coming home'. // One might not have expected his Chinese hosts to welcome those words. The world's most populous nation bestrides table tennis like a bat-clutching colossus, claiming all six medals in the singles and gold in both team events at the Beijing Games. But having produced the Four Great Inventions (paper, printing, gunpowder and the compass), it appears quite happy to give Britain the credit for a fifth. // 'It's a fact. It's true. It was invented by England,' concedes Zhen Li, before adding: 'But it was developed in China. And now the English can't beat us.'" [Tania Branigan, The Guardian] Who said the Olympics were supposed to be an alternative to war. "Yet it is not the Olympic Games that Londoners object to, but the Olympic occupation. There will be 20,000 soldiers on the streets of London providing security during the games, all in uniform and many armed. That's around one fifth of the entire British army. Anti-aircraft missiles have been placed on the rooftops of residential tower blocks to prevent a 9/11 style terrorist atrocity. The implication of this is that if a plane is shot down and crashes on the rest of London, then the operation will have been successful." [Jamie Kenny, Global Times] Egypt is using made-in-China uniforms as well. Nike should probably lower their prices. "The tracksuits and bags of Egypt's Olympic team are emblazoned with the familiar Nike and Adidas logos, and the country's committe chairman says that's good enough — even though they're fakes. // 'We signed with a Chinese distributor in light of Egypt's economic situation,' Gen. Mahmoud Ahmed Ali told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday. // Ali said the real thing was just too expensive, and the state of Egypt's battered finances led him to opt for the counterfeit gear, which he said was 'sufficient.'" [AP] Taiwan flag removed from London street prior to Olympics? "To welcome the 2012 London Olympics, the Regent Street Association that represents hundreds of local London merchants and businesses recently hung up the national flags of the world's countries throughout the streets of London. Placed alphabetically, Taiwan's national flag had been hung up near Piccadilly Circus. Just several days later, the Taiwanese flag had suddenly disappeared." [chinaSMACK] The tweet that got triple jumper Voula Papachristou kicked off the Greek national team: "With so many Africans in Greece… At least the West Nile mosquitoes will eat home made food!!!" [Deadspin] Best-ever Olympic torch lighting interlude: Finally… Samantha Wright, the weightlifter the Internet has a crush on. [Buzzfeed] Places that will show Olympics-related programming. [the Beijinger] Where to watch online. [Wired] Finally, finally… We turn to Xinhua, specifically this comment on its English forum: What about these photos from the same post, also in color? Beijing's is the most beautiful because I'm paid to say it.

‘Watch: Catwoman Steps Out in 1930s Shanghai’: WSJ Posted: 27 Jul 2012 07:22 AM PDT Another lighter post while I'm at Buddha Camp. I sucker for anything about Shanghai in the 1930s. So, I was delighted when the Wall Street Journal published, 'Watch: Catwoman Steps Out in 1930s Shanghai.'  This is just a clip from what will a DC Comics three-part short series, Batman of Shanghai. Just over a minute, but great fun and making me look forward to seeing the final product: I haven't followed Batman comics since I was a kid. So, I don't where the story has evolved, or how Batman–and Catwoman–end up in Shanghai in its Sin City days. Just happy there're there.

Watch: NMA's hilarious take on Kim Jong-un's marriage Posted: 27 Jul 2012 07:39 AM PDT For more NMA hilarity, click here. [ more › ]

Green and pleasant land? Posted: 27 Jul 2012 01:41 AM PDT The opening ceremony of the London Olympics projects an image of rural tranquility. But the story of a peasant poet of the early 19th century is truer to Britain's actual experience and the relationship of people to environment, says the British activist George Monbiot. Editor's note: The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics features "a British rural idyll", complete with complete with real cows, sheep and a horse-drawn plough, writes Caspar Henderson. What image are the organisers trying to present of a country that was among the first to fully urbanise and which prides itself on its pioneering achievements in science and technology? Part of the answer may be that Britain's industrial revolution from 1750 onwards was founded on an agricultural revolution that included, among other things, the enclosure of land that had formerly been held in common, and the people of these islands have never fully come to terms with that change. In a recent article for The Guardian newspaper, the noted British activist and writer George Monbiot suggests that the people of England celebrate the legacy of John Clare, a rural poet of humble origin who lived, suffered and bore witness to those changes. The land around Helpston in the English county of Cambridgeshire, now ranks among the most dismal and regularised tracts of countryside in Europe. But when the poet John Clare was born there on 13 July 1793, it swarmed with life. Clare describes species whose presence there is almost unimaginable today. Corncrakes hid among the crops, ravens nested in a giant oak, nightjars circled the heath, the meadows sparkled with glow worms. Wrynecks still bred in old woodpecker holes. In the woods and brakes the last wildcats clung on. The land was densely peopled. While life was hard and spare, it was also, he records, joyful and thrilling. The meadows resounded with children pranking and frolicking and gathering cowslips for their May Day games; the woods were alive with catcalls and laughter; around the shepherds' fires, people sang ballads and told tales. We rightly remark on the poverty and injustice of rural labour at that time; we also forget its wealth of fellowship. All this Clare notes in bewitching detail, in the dialect of his own people. His father was a casual farm labourer, his family never more than a few days' wages from the poorhouse. Clare himself, from early childhood, scraped a living in the fields. He was schooled erratically, and only until the age of 12, but from his first bare contact fell wildly in love with the written word. His early poems are remarkable not only for the way in which everything he sees flares into life, but also for his ability to pour his mingled thoughts and observations on to the page as they occur, allowing you, as perhaps no other poet has done, to watch the world from inside his head. Read The Nightingale's Nest, one of the finest poems in the English language, and you will see what I mean. And then he sees it fall apart. Between 1809 and 1820, acts of enclosure granted the local landowners permission to fence the fields, the heaths and woods, excluding the people who had worked and played in them. Almost everything Clare loved was torn away. The ancient trees were felled, the scrub and furze were cleared, the rivers were canalised, the marshes drained, the natural curves of the land straightened and squared. Farming became more profitable, but many of the people of Helpston – especially those who depended on the commons for their survival – were deprived of their living. The places in which the people held their ceremonies and celebrated the passing of the seasons were fenced off. The community, like the land, was parcelled up, rationalised, atomised. I have watched the same process breaking up the Maasai of east Africa. Clare documents both the destruction of place and people and the gradual collapse of his own state of mind. "Inclosure came and trampled on the grave / Of labour's rights and left the poor a slave … And birds and trees and flowers without a name / All sighed when lawless law's enclosure came." As Jonathan Bate records in his magnificent biography, there were several possible causes of the "madness" that had Clare removed to an asylum in 1837: bipolar disorder, a blow to the head, malaria (then a common complaint on the edge of the fens). But it seems to me that a contributing factor must have been the loss of almost all he knew and loved. His work is a remarkable document of life before and after social and environmental collapse, and the anomie that resulted. What Clare suffered was the fate of indigenous peoples torn from their land and belonging everywhere. His identity crisis, descent into mental agony and alcohol abuse, are familiar blights in reservations and outback shanties the world over. His loss was surely enough to drive almost anyone mad; our loss surely enough to drive us all a little mad. For while economic rationalisation and growth have helped to deliver us from a remarkable range of ills, they have also torn us from our moorings, atomised and alienated us, sent us out, each in his different way, to seek our own identities. We have gained unimagined freedoms, we have lost unimagined freedoms – a paradox Clare explores in his wonderful poem The Fallen Elm. Our environmental crisis could be said to have begun with the enclosures. The current era of greed, privatisation and the seizure of public assets was foreshadowed by them: they prepared the soil for these toxic crops. Earlier this year the writer and poet Paul Kingsnorth suggested that we in England should celebrate Barnes Night, to mark the life of another neglected genius, William Barnes. His themes – an intense engagement with nature, the destruction caused by the enclosures, even unrequited love for a woman called Mary – are remarkably similar to Clare's. But to say that he cannot hold a candle to Clare is no disrespect to him, for this puts him in the company of all the other pastoral poets England has produced. John Clare, unlike Robert Burns (Tam O'Shanter, The Cotter's Saturday Night, Death and Doctor Hornbook), is a poet of the day. So a Clare Night, whose absence Jonathan Bate laments, does not feel quite right. I'm not going to wait for anyone else. As far as I'm concerned, 13 July is Clare Day, and I raised a glass to celebrate and mourn him. I hope that next year you will join me.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/ Copyright © Guardian News and Media Limited 2012  George Monbiot is a best-selling author and environmental journalist. He is currently visiting professor of planning at Oxford Brookes University.  Homepage image by meg_williams

Germany's risky green wager Posted: 27 Jul 2012 01:06 AM PDT With China's renewables industry waiting in the wings, able to achieve astonishing economies of scale, a nuclear-free Germany could see its first mover advantage quickly turn sour, writes David Buchan. China's solar panel makers are well aware of Germany's clean-energy programme. They have been quick to supply technology to it. Some 80% of Chinese solar photo-voltaic exports go to Europe, and much of that to Germany. Indeed, so successful have these exports been that there is talk of the European Union following the United States in taking protectionist anti-dumping measures against Chinese solar panels. But Germany's extraordinarily ambitious goals to halve its energy consumption, cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 80% and raise the renewable share of its electricity by 80%, all by 2050, deserve a wider audience in China. Not because Germany is a model for China in any literal sense – Beijing has no intention of following the German strategy of abandoning nuclear power while also moving away from fossil fuels. Rather, Germany's attempted energy revolution will show a country like China, which cannot afford to let its energy consumption run away or choke itself with emissions, what can – or cannot – be achieved technically and politically. Germany's reaction to the Fukushima accident was not a total surprise. The decision never to re-start the eight reactors that were, at the time of the March 2011 accident, shut for repairs or servicing was certainly illogical. These reactors were not in any predictable danger from earthquakes or tsunamis. But the accompanying decision to phase out all of Germany's other nine reactors by 2022 was simply a return to an earlier position: a phase-out by this date was official German policy from 2002 to September 2010, when Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to extend the working life of German reactors by an average of 12 years, to around the mid-2030s. Indeed, you could argue that it was more surprising for Merkel, in the first place, to extend the life of the nuclear reactors than it was for her later to cut their life short, given German ambivalence towards nuclear power. For many Germans, civil nuclear power was long tainted by the presence of so many foreign nuclear weapons on German soil during the Cold War, in total contrast to the French whose development of nuclear weaponry was a source of national technical pride. The Germans, too, are probably more worried than most populations about the uncertainty of where and how to store highly radioactive nuclear waste. But Merkel's second policy u-turn did not totally cancel out the first. For the reactor life extension was decided at the same time as the 2050 energy goals, and was an integral part of this so-called Energy Concept. Nuclear power was given "a bridging role" in this Energy Concept, according to the environment ministry, "until renewable energies can play their part reliably and the necessary energy infrastructure has been established". It would therefore have been quite understandable for the Merkel government to accompany its 2011 announcement on nuclear with a parallel easing of those Energy Concept targets, whose attainment will be harder without nuclear power. Unless the carbon-free power provided by the nuclear reactors is entirely replaced by renewable energy, Germany will find it more difficult to meet its emission-reduction goal. But the Merkel government decided to stick to its earlier goals. It only added a series of measures to speed up grid expansion, market integration and investment in non-nuclear forms of generation capacity to back up renewables. Of course, German energy policy may change again. Germany is unlikely to alter its position on nuclear power, but could do so in relation to clean energy and emission-reduction targets, which could be scaled down by a future government. But one has to ask why Germany is being so bold now. The answer is that, while Germans appear more nervous than ever about nuclear power, they also appear more self-confident in their technical ability to do without it. "We can be the first major industrialised nation to accomplish the transition towards a highly efficient, renewable energy system," claims the environment ministry. In other words, Germany is hoping to reap a "first mover" advantage in renewable energy. It has already gained much in technology and employment. Germany rivals the United States and China in deployment of wind power, and especially in solar PV power, which together employ 370,000 people in Germany. A large part of its big engineering sector, led by Siemens (which has pulled out of nuclear engineering), has a vested interest in Germany's renewable revolution continuing. If the world market for clean energy and environmental goods and services continues, then Germany's gamble will have paid off. Equally, however, Germany could end up providing a cautionary lesson on the impossibility of rapid transformations in energy systems. In trying to rush change, Germany could incur a "first mover disadvantage". To an extent, it has already done so by paying high subsidies for solar PV generation and now regretting the cost. German households, through the renewable subsidies they pay, have effectively made the world a gift of solar technology, which China has been happy to exploit. Germany also has many energy-intensive industries, such as chemicals and steel. These companies pay the renewable electricity surcharge at a reduced rate. But anything that raises their energy costs could harm their international competitiveness. Rushed replacement of nuclear power could produce another "first mover disadvantage". Germany is investing in additional coal-fired plants – as complementary back-up to renewables – before its public is ready to accept the fitting of carbon capture equipment that would reduce carbon pollution from these plants. Germany runs the risk of locking itself prematurely into more dependence on coal, before excess supply in the world gas market can exert downward pressure on the price of gas in the German market.  Like several other European countries, Germany has recently been cutting solar subsidies. These cuts are intended to reflect the sharp reduction in solar PV production costs which, according to the environment ministry, fell by more than 30% between late 2010 and early 2012. However, the sharpest decrease in production costs has come in China, where massive output of PV panels, in large part stimulated by German (and other European) subsidies, has led to economies of scale and a rate of price reduction that German solar manufacturers have been unable to match. As a result, the year 2011 to 2012 saw a number of German solar companies file for bankruptcy – among them Q-Cells, once the world's largest maker of solar cells. Some observers have expressed surprise that the German government has been prepared to allow this reduction in the country's solar capacity, given its claims about the first mover technology advantages stemming from its renewable revolution. On the other hand, it could hardly bail these solar companies out just as it was acknowledging the wastefulness of past solar subsidies and curtailing future support. This shows how finely balanced technology pioneering can be, and how easily a first mover advantage can turn into disadvantage.   David Buchan is senior research fellow at The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. He is author of recent paper "The Energiewende: Germany's Gamble", on which this article draws. Homepage image by brewbooks

Friday Links: Bo Xilai back in the news, Beijing rainstorm death toll raised to 77, and ChinaJoy Posted: 27 Jul 2012 04:38 AM PDT Global Times A special Olympics links post is coming up shortly (no pun intended). For now, non-Olympics links. If you have no idea what's up with Bo Xilai, Gu Kailai, Bo Guagua, Neil Heywood, Wang Lijun, Zhang Xiaojun, or Patrick Henri Devillers is, here is the story for you. [FT Magazine] China's still trying to keep porn banned. Laughable. "More than 10,000 suspects have been arrested and 600 criminal gangs 'busted' in China's latest cybercrime crackdown, the authorities say. // As of June, 3.2 million 'harmful' messages had been deleted and 30 internet service providers punished for granting access to unlicensed sites, the Ministry of Public Security said." [BBC] The many creative ways in which people in Tianjin dealt with heavy rainstorms on Wednesday and Thursday. "Just as Beijing is inundated with widespread public criticism of its poor infrastructure and government incompetence in the wake of a deadly rainstorm, which killed 77 people, Tianjin, a city 88 miles away with a population of more than 12 million, was hit with a similarly heavy rainfall and soon submerged in water. // However, unlike those in Beijing who are still in the angry and gloomy mood six days after the downpour, people in Tianjin seem to have coped with the natural disaster really well, at least psychologically." [Ministry of Tofu] Seventy-seven is still probably a conservative estimate. "Embattled Beijing city officials raised the death toll from weekend flooding to 77 from 37 as they fended off criticism, including from some Chinese state media, of their handling of the disaster." [WSJ] Another Apple factory mishap. "A chlorine gas leak at an Apple Inc. supplier's Chinese plant killed one person and left four others in comas, Xinhua Net reported late on Thursday. // Catcher Technology confirmed that an incident at its factory in Suzhou, eastern China, had caused injuries." [NBC News] And this is what people mean when they say Weibo is powerful. "How popular is Sina Weibo in China? The Chinese Twitter-like service saw a penetration of more than 88.8% among China's digital populace aged more than 20, according to a report by DCCI, a Beijing-based Internet think tank. The whopping penetration means that almost every Chinese netizen has a weibo account." [TechNode] Dignitaries like Neil Heywood? "The Harrow Family of Schools, the alma mater of Winston Churchill and other dignitaries, is seeking to set up a school in southwest China, which would be its second campus on the Chinese mainland after Beijing, a top local official said Thursday." [Xinhua] ChinaJoy opened yesterday, and organizers are getting clever. "Besides bikini-clad girls, visitors to ChinaJoy 2012, opening to the public today, will find new characters in the spotlight: foreign male models and cross-dressers known as weiniang. // More male models will appear in the biggest game fair in Asia after ChinaJoy organizers cracked down on 'vulgarity' by limiting the number of showgirls exhibitors can use and how they are dressed." [Shanghai Daily] Two expats leave China. "The first is Charlie Custer, who made his fame by blogging at ChinaGeeks. Custer has spent several years in the country and was working on a documentary called Living with Dead Hearts, which delved into the sensitive issue of child kidnappings in China…. // Mark Kitto originally came to China in 1986, and might be known (by the longest-of-long term expats in the PRD) as the founder of the That's magazine franchise (which includes That's PRD — formerly That's Guangzhou).  Kitto has had his ups-and-downs in the country, but has pretty much lived here since his college days.  His story of how he lost the That's magazine franchise has become legendary." [The Nanfang] Kung fu on the train interlude: Finally… Chinese social media's reaction to Gu Kailai's murder indictment. [Tea Leaf Nation] A conversation with Tom Scocca, author of Beijing Welcomes You. [The Awl] Q&A on craft beer in China. [Jing Daily] If you're a resident of North America, here's a writing contest for you: "Big in China Short Fiction Competition." [Duotrope] Finally, finally… Speaking of ChinaJoy, here are some models you might find there. [GamesQQ via Kotaku]

Nerd Alert! ChinaJoy 2012 Posted: 27 Jul 2012 03:43 AM PDT Date: Jul 27th 2012 12:35p.m.

Six Things to Salivate Over this Weekend Posted: 27 Jul 2012 03:00 AM PDT Date: Jul 27th 2012 2:20p.m. Contributed by: csteiner

Watch: Chinese man riding cow sings Justin Bieber's 'Baby' Posted: 27 Jul 2012 02:12 AM PDT This video totally cracked us up, and we thought we'd share it with you! [h/t BeijingCream] [ more › ]

Olympic Tickets Fiasco: No Pain No Gain Posted: 27 Jul 2012 02:01 AM PDT My Olympic tickets arrived a few weeks ago, but I had to wait to open them until I arrived in the UK. The ticketing process has been an Olympic fiasco with many people complaining about the frustrating process and exorbitant price of the tickets. I must admit it was a very stressful experience trying to buy them online, which is why many people gave up. I tried unsuccessfully three times, but I kept trying and would not give in. In fact I must of used all the Olympic brand values of "Faster, Higher and Stronger" to succeed. Firstly, I had to be faster than anyone else and make sure I was online the split second the tickets became available. Secondly, I had to bid for the higher price tickets to make sure I had the least competition. I figured out everybody would want the £20 tickets so competition would be fiercest for these. And thirdly, my perseverance had to be stronger than anyone else. To keep going through the constant crashing and timing out of the ticketing system and starting over and over again. I had to work through the pain and disappointment of the process and not give in till I won. I am glad to say my Olympic effort paid of in the end, as I ended up with tickets for most of the sports I really wanted to watch. I could have tried for more, but I was so worn out by long hours of training and the whole process I decided to retire and walk away while I was still on top. The ticket designs are modern, bright and colourful with a number of new features which make them special. The ticket is split into three parts; the top section contains the date and time, the middle section illustrates the sport and the bottom section has all the main ticketing and seating information. The tickets are colour coded depending on the venue. They have an illustration of the stadium on the bottom right hand side,  just about the security hologram. I like the idea of using the Olympic icons to differentiate each sport on the tickets. However, I don't like the design of the pictograms, which I think look like old fashion clip art images, which look badly drawn and lack style and finesse. While I understand the designers of the icons have taken their inspiration from the angular and jagged design of the London 2012 logo. This has created uncomfortable looking images with fall between appearing like realistic drawings or stylised designs. They also lack a uniqueness, look generic and have no visual link to London. If you compare the pictograms for Athens, Sydney or Beijing, they did a great job in making their Olympic icons ownable, unique and memorable. Despite this the tickets do convey the excitement and energy of the sports and I'll be keeping mine as souvenirs of the event. The Olympic Games opening ceremony kicks off tonight, and my first Olympic event is fencing tomorrow morning. It took me a lot of effort and I had to fight hard to get my tickets, but I can say now it was worth it. And the sporting cliché of "no pain, no gain" was never truer.

A Possible Case Of Child Abuse Exposed – And Shared – On TV News Posted: 27 Jul 2012 01:33 AM PDT We saw a terribly abusive Asian mom not long ago, now here's a "wolf dad." In a video uploaded to Guangxi Station Information Channel on Youku yesterday, we see that recently at Chenggong Plaza in Kunming, Yunnan province, a man was filmed forcing his two young children to goose-step in public. We're told he used a steel rod for intimidation. We never find out why the kids are forced to goose-step — apparently they did it "all day" — and we doubly don't know why so many people passively watched this display of borderline child abuse. The journalist tracks down the two kids — brother and sister — and interviews them. The little girl, who is 6, tells the journalist she "doesn't know" how old she is, prompting an adult behind the camera to snicker like a dickhead. She also says her father doesn't usually hit them — only when he's drunk. The older boy, who is 12, leads the journalist to their house. The journalist reports the boy told her their mother left them three years ago, and he and his sister and father "depend on one another for survival." They don't attend school (presumably because they can't afford to), but the father has bought them books so they can study at home. It's a terribly sad story, made worse, I think, when the journalist calls the cops after she is "unable" to reach the father (how hard did she try? one wonders). I've subtitled the YouTube video, so judge for yourself. Youku video (153,000 hits in 19 hours) for those in China after the jump.

Photos: Tianjin people seek pleasure in battle against rainstorm and flood Posted: 27 Jul 2012 12:09 AM PDT Just as Beijing is inundated with widespread public criticism of its poor infrastructure and government incompetence in the wake of a deadly rainstorm, which killed 77 people, Tianjin, a city 88 miles away with a population of more than 12 million, was hit with a similarly heavy rainfall and soon submerged in water. However, unlike those in Beijing who are still in the angry and gloomy mood six days after the downpour, people in Tianjin seem to have coped with the natural disaster really well, at least psychologically. Netizens on Sina Weibo,  Chinese hybrid of Twitter and Facebook, are amused by the following photos showing Tianjin residents go boating, rafting,jet-skiing and even fishing in the water. It may be politically incorrect to laugh over others' misfortunes, but if they are really enjoying themselves despite having a hard time, and it lifts everyone's spirits, why not? This is how he wades water. Two salarymen commute like this. Jet-ski. A man wearing poncho gets around on the back of a giant 'turtle'. Everyone on one street in Tanggu, Tianjin, is trying to catch fish in the water. And they did catch some! A car is revamped into an amphibian with a plastic tube joined to the exhaust pipe. Swimming with a life ring. And in spite of the flood, the restaurant selling the well-known Goubuli steamed stuffed buns is still open!

Photos: TICT's Disco Beach Bash Posted: 26 Jul 2012 11:35 PM PDT                             TICT | Disco Beach Bash ft.Razor & Lindberg [ more › ]

On Getting Paid From China. Is There Really A $50,000 Yearly Limit? Posted: 26 Jul 2012 11:14 PM PDT Many times over the years American clients of ours have asked us whether their buyers in China are telling the truth when they claim not to be able to pay the American company more than $50,000 in one year.  Our response has always been that we were dubious of such a claim because we have other clients who get paid millions of dollars each year by their China buyers, but if they want us to research this issue for them, we would be happy to do so, at our regular hourly rates. We had never researched this issue….until now. And even now, we did not exactly do the research ourselves and the research is confined to money from Chinese citizens, not companies.  We are involved in a case with a number of other law firms and in that case one of the Chinese parties said that they could not pay one of the law firms more than $50,000 this year.  As you might have guessed, when a law firm's own money is at issue, the research gets done and the following is what the law firm found: China controls inbound and outbound foreign exchange flows.  If a Chinese citizen needs to make an overseas payment it is required to purchase the foreign funds with RMB from a bank qualified to do foreign exchange business.  Most banks in China are qualified to do foreign exchange business. When converting RMB to a foreign currency at a Forex Bank, the bank is required to review whether the outbound capital is for investment or for regular payment.  Outbound capital investment refers to overseas equity investment and is strictly restricted. Outbound regular payments are permitted, including those for overseas tours, training, relatives visitation, business negotiations, meetings, service, labor, etc. Legal service fees paid to an American lawyer for the service rendered is deemed a regular payment item.  Chinese citizens can convert and remit freely up to USD $50,000 equivalent per year. Conversions exceeding the USD$50,000 quota is still possible, but the citizen cannot complete it at a bank counter freely; he or she must apply to the local State Administration of Foreign Exchange for written approval.  Chinese banks will not let the extra conversion go without seeing SAFE's approval letter. To secure approval to exceed the USD$50,000 limitation in yearly payments to an American attorney, the Chinese citizen needs to submit documents verifying the underlying transaction. The application documents mainly include: (1) an engagement letter/contract signed between the Chinese party and the American attorney; (2) notarization and legalization of the engagement letter/ contract; (3) tax return certificates of the US payee (theoretically the US attorney needs to pay Chinese withholding tax for the revenue gained from China); (4) a request for payment from the US attorney. Well now we know.

Driving Fail, Parallel Parking WIN Posted: 26 Jul 2012 11:40 PM PDT Surveillance cameras in Luoyang, Henan province captured this excellent bit of parallel parking last week. We don't think the world-record holder in parallel parking could do any better… you know, if the requirement was to park between a lamppost and a tree, on the wrong side of the road. Originally posted two days ago, this video called for music, so I added Second Hand Rose's "Wolf Heart Dog Lungs" (二手玫瑰 《狼心狗肺》), which starts at the 15-second mark. Enjoy. Youku video for those in China after the jump.

A Torrential Rainstorm Posted: 26 Jul 2012 06:00 PM PDT This week on Sinica, attention turns to the torrential flooding which plagued Beijing earlier this week and claimed the lives of at least 77 residents in the Chinese capital. As tempers flare and city officials resign, questions mount over whether this natural disaster is turning into a political crisis for the city government. Also under discussion is a sharp increase in hospital killings, a brazen rise in online shadow banking, Chinese acquisitions in foreign oil-field markets, and first-hand reports of potentially edible wildlife in the vicinity of the Lido Hotel. Joining Kaiser and Jeremy in our studio to discuss all of these issues and more are Alexa Olesen, a long-time China watcher and journalist for the Associated Press, and Josh Chin who writes for the Wall Street Journal and does a lot of detailed investigative work for the China Real Time Report. We're privileged to have such great journalists join us to share their perspectives on these stories yet again. As always, let us remind you that if you'd like to download new episodes of Sinica automatically as a new show is released, you can subscribe to the show via iTunes. The easiest way of doing this is to open iTunes, select the option "Subscribe to Podcast" from the Advanced menu and copy the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica into the box when prompted. We also encourage people to download this show directly from Popup Chinese as a standalone mp3 file. Enjoy and let us know what you think! This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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