Olivier Strebelle in the Olympic Green

Posted on 11 November 2007 by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

in 2008 Beijing Olympics Leave a comment

The project large sculpture “The Athletes Alley” is progressing well.
On 10 October the whole team, including the artist, went to see the exact spot where the sculpture will stand. The group is pictured at the “observation spot” and you can see the view towards the sculpture, a view from the last statues group towards the observation spot (so far you can’t see the group anymore). As well as shots of the temporary weather station, with the temporary venue in the back for the grass hockey.

At a later date, on 2 November, I led former Ambassador Ms. Claire Kirschen to inspect the same location, together with Ms. Kristine De Muylder, general manager of Europalia. Claire is one of my oldest acquaintances in Beijing; we first met in late 1980 when she was Minister Counsellor at the embassy. Later in the nineties she came back as ambassador.

Claire, Kristine and others on location in the Olympic Green

Now she is the General Commissioner for Europalia China, the Cultural and Artistic Festival Europe – China that will take place in Belgium sometimes in September 2009, for several months. Claire and Kristine were in China for a series of contacts for the festival. Claire is also a close friend of the artist Olivier.

Pollution standards in China

Posted on 11 November 2007 by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

in Consumer & Environment Issues 2 Comments

Ever wondered what is “acceptable” in terms of pollution? Well, depends where you are. Residents with good memory will recall when China Daily was regularly publishing pollution data of major cities in China. Suddenly, what was “poor” became “much better”. Tweak tweak.
Then, as it became really too ugly, no more publications. Gone.
On the other hand, China Daily does not hide it all. See here what they published in October, comparing WHO standards with Chinese one.

I let the graphics talk for themselves. Clear (and worrying) enough.
I also found this statement from economist Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize:
“Global warming is now at a serious stage, and greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. Europe is concerned, but the USA does nothing and refuses to sign the Kyoto Protocol. All China’s power is based on dirty fuel, and China’s emissions will become worse and worse. Next to follow is India. So, now three nations have joined the club. The real problem is lifestyle. And now China is aping America’s wasteful lifestyle”
Of course, he is just an economist. How can he understand.
But let us put it all in perspective, With all the talk about China and consuming “all the oil”, see here a graphic just published in the IHT.

Needless to say(?) China has 1.3 billion people versus ??? in the USA.

Fake invoices anybody?

Posted on 11 November 2007 by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

in Letting Steam Off Leave a comment

If you think Chinese only copy foreign stuff to rob poor foreigners from their IPR, well, look at this.

I get this publicity openly in the mail. Just in case I need some fake invoices for my taxes.
As openly as the fake DVD in the street. Contact clearly available.
I’d rather stick to the occasional CD or DVD.

1 Nov 07 – Koen Allaert and Siegfried Verheyke

Posted on 11 November 2007 by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

in Biz, Economy and More Leave a comment

Koen Allaert, Managing Director Flanders Investment and Trade (FIT) came to Beijing with a delegation related to renewable energy. It was also, at least for me, the farewell for our good friend Siegfried who is leaving for Hong Kong after so many years representing FIT over here.

the Belgian Ambassador, Siegfried and Koen

Siegfried was good fun to work with and established a solid base for FIT. He is also a sports maniac (sorry Siegfried) doing real crazy stuff like triathlons. Good luck in the SAR…

Birds Nest, pollution and construction

Posted on 9 November 2007 by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

in 2008 Beijing Olympics, Consumer & Environment Issues Leave a comment

I participated in the IOC World Conference in Beijing at the end of October, more about that some other day. It was not exactly “a good day” for Beijing. The whole IOC top management experienced the horrendous pollution. API levels shot up to 300 in some areas. Some days later the index went even higher.

Kind of difficult to say all is well when the Beijing Airport is closed due to the pollution. The other pic was taken around the same period, 3rd Ring Road looking south from the Sheraton Hotel. The PTFE roof of the National Stadium is now also becoming visible, filling up the gaps between the huge steal beams.

See also pics taken from about the same location but on a real nice day, just a couple of days later.

Returning there for another conference I was amazed with the speed of construction. Suddenly, out of nowhere they had build a large part of the bridge that will connect the 4th Ring Road with the side road of the Bird’s Nest. Only in China really.
Of course the massive construction is one of the causes of the pm10 pollution, partly due to the trucks and partly due to the construction dust.