Today I went to Powerhouse Gym to run my 10K (OK, I am weird, who runs in such hot, polluted, unpleasant weather?). Surprise when I saw a TV: CCTV finally added the info with the nationals flags of the competing football teams and the present score. I promptly run watching Brazil-Japan, cheering with the goals of the verde-amarelo team. Till all the screens went blank on the treadmills. The Chinese staff, with its usual keen sense of observation and alertness gave it a blank stare and nothing was done – the other TVs were still OK. I’ll read China Daily to find out the final score. At least I know my favorite team did win. The least they could do! Parabens!
Well, you could say it’s all my fault because I don’t understand or read Chinese. Up to a point I could accept that, but what the Chinese with hearing difficulties?
The Beijing Graft Case – the sequel
The head of a major Beijing property developer has been placed under questioning, the China Business Times and China Daily reported. Liu Xiaoguang, president of Beijing Capital Group Ltd and chairman of Hong Kong-listed subsidiary Beijing Capital Land Ltd, was taken away by staff from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on 16 June.
Rumors say that it is linked to Beijing Vice-Mayor Liu Zhihua’s sudden dismissal on June 11 for corruption and poor morals. A dispute over a valuable parcel of land next to Olympics venues is mentioned… with 3 buildings (an office block, a hotel and apartments). Originally to be developed by a foreign joint venture involving a company called AC Morgan Investment. Then “changed hands”. It is not clear at this stage if Liu Xiaoguang – one of the top businessmen in business is being accused of anything.
More from the rumor mill (and NOT confirmed!!!!): the buildings could be the ones under construction, west of the National Swimming Center. Pic taken in March 2005 showing the National Aquatics Center and the National Stadium construction sites
Not to stop there, a Hong Kong newspaper reported that one of the major officials the Beijing 2008 Project Construction Headquarters had been taken away to assist the graft investigation. Of course, locally ”no comments”.
As said earlier, I am positive. Hopefully the authorities will go to the bottom of it all and it can only improve (or restore?) the image of the city.
The local press (Xinhua!) did report that “The Communist Party of China is dealing with the corruption by killing flies as well as killing tigers”. Next are the dragons?
Film censors miss an ad – you can’t see it all! Mission Impossible!
Poor Hollywood. Tough to make a movie here. Next time they should clean the streets, paint the buildings, remove all ads, the mahjong players, the laundry, etc. And give faster cars to the police. Now read this, you don’t need Gilbert’s sarcasm to have a good laugh. Shanghai Daily is as good.
Source: Shanghai Daily
In trying to sanitize Shanghai’s image, the film censors scrutinizing “Mission: Impossible III” missed a phone number for phony documents that China netizens trumpeted.
But by the July 20 release date, that’s likely to be wiped out by the censors who want to put Shanghai’s best foot forward.
One shot the censors initially missed was a scene of protagonist Tom Cruise running past a wall with a poster promoting sale of counterfeit documents – identification papers, college degrees, business papers, drivers’ licenses – you name it.
It was part of the local color and reality in downtown city streets.
The fleeting scene was an embarrassing reminder of the rampant illegal sales of bogus documents for any underachiever or pretender.
Media reports said other aspects of the film were embarrassing – the police being inept and slow to respond to emergencies, and the common practice of hanging laundry to dry on poles outside of windows.
It was not known whether laundry or police scenes would be cut for not exemplifying cosmopolitan Shanghai.
But local media reports about the illegal document business have created a buzz. The number, a virtual hotline was “live” yesterday – a sign of the demand for fake documents and new identities.
In an early unofficial screening of the action thriller, someone spotted the illegal ad pasted on a wall. On May 28, it was posted on www.tianyaclub.com, showing a scene in which the phone number was visible as Cruise ran past.
Netizens disseminated it widely. The mobile phone number was swamped. One caller to the number told a local newspaper that he claimed he wanted a fake document, and met a low-level worker answering the phone.
The man said he was swamped with calls, many from people who simply wanted to find out if the number was real.
Beijing vice mayors
Recent changes… some made headlines. Vice mayor Liu Zhihua was picked up by the anti-corruption brigade because of his “decadent lifestyle”. He has some mistresses (rumor go he had quite a few), led a luxurious life well above his expected income and it seems he was involved in some dubious deals. He was in charge of some of the Olympic projects, public projects and real estate. Good move – it proves that finally nobody is above the law. Let’s hope it makes some others think twice…
He is replaced by Ji Lin, former chief of the Communist Party Youth League in the capital, to oversee Olympics construction projects.
Beijing has a total of 7 vice-mayors.
Vice mayor Zhang Mao recently left to become the vice president of the National Development and Reform Commission, a prestigious position. I have a good impression of his work. He had the unusual attitude to be rather frank and direct. On 13 March he gave a presentation on Beijing’s 11th Five Year Plan. During the Q&A I asked a question: What was Beijing doing to implement the policy on energy conservation in public buildings where during winter temperatures go up to 28C due to excessive heating, while the “Energy Police” set up under the vice mayor was doing little about it. He explained there was indeed a problem – the government was unable to enforce the policy as the legal framework was lagging behind. He said new regulations would come out by the end of this year. That was at least honest. See the article with a picture of me asking the question.
Vice mayor Lu Hao is less forthcoming. At a seminar organized by the EUCCC on 12 December 2005 I asked the question – when Beijing would improve its transparency for public tenders by publishing them in an open and timely manner. The vice mayor replied: “Foreigners maybe don’t read Chinese newspapers nor China Daily”. This is not exactly what participating companies comment in the EUCCC Public Procurement Group: the feeling is that less than 10% of public tenders are properly published, and the members do read China Daily, Chinese newspapers and websites. Particularly for the European SMEs this is a serious issue, as officially mentioned in the EUCCC Position Paper that was handed over to the vice mayor during the meeting. Maybe some officials need a second reading of China Daily and the Chinese newspapers.
See the vice mayor receiving the Chamber’s Position Paper from the EUCCC representatives (Henry, Giorgio and Jörg), me asking the question and me again, thanking (?) for his answer.
Father’s Day
Yesterday Sunday 18 June was Father’s Day. Unfortunately some children are unaware or ignore it… even the parents!
It was a day to remember my father, born in 1899 (no typo) and who passed away, too soon, in 1979. I regret I missed the chance to know him better, sometimes also due to my own ignorance. I left my favorite country – Brazil – largely in part to be with him as I knew he was not going to end the year, in 1979. I was with him during his last moments and at least it compensated some of my shortcomings towards him.
He had divorced in the early 20th century, a period when it was very unusual and not so well accepted. I had two half sisters, one I never knew and one that later on became friends with my mother. All a bit strange for me – my half sister Irene is 83 years old, her son Frank was a couple of months older than me. I considered Frank as my brother, unfortunately he passed away a couple of years ago in Singapore. We did write to each other regularly.
Irene and myself have been exchanging letters and she surprised me with two old pictures, one of my father (around 18 years old?) and one of herself with my father and his sister Yvonne, maybe dating from the late 1930 and probably taken in Lokeren, his hometown. Valerie scanned the pics and did a great job to improve them. Funny was, she first thought it a picture of me when I was young…
Yes, I don’t forget you Pa, wherever you may be. You were a good father, in your very own way, rough on the outside and a golden heart inside.