CAPEC Conference 19 June

CAPEC is the abbreviation of China Association of Plant Engineering Consultants. Affiliated to General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), it is a national-level nonprofit professional intermediary organization in Chinese plant engineering industry. CAPEC is organized by representatives from such units and social entities as plant engineering consulting, design, manufacturing and users, as well as volunteers related to plant engineering activities. CAPEC is committed to promoting the plant engineering consulting system in China, and standardizing the plant engineering activities through the supervision and management over the process of design, manufacture and installation of important plants in construction projects, so as to ensure the quality and investment benefits of the plants, guarantee the important projects to be implemented smoothly and promote China’s plant engineering consulting industry to keep pace with that of developed countries earlier.
CAPEC organized the “International Forum on Plant Engineering Consulting Cooperation 2009, held in Beijing International Hotel on 19 and 20 June 2009. The Vice Minister of AQSIQ, the former Vice Mayor of Beijing and other personalities attended, along with embassy representatives from the UK, Finland, Spain and others.
The theme: “Quality Safety & Sustainable Development”.
On 19 June, as Chair of the Public Procurement Working Group of the European Chamber (EUCCC), Gilbert gave a presentation on the EUCCC, the Working Group and one of its key recommendations:
Utilize Green Public Procurement (GPP) and Life Cycle Cost (LCC):
– Promote public procurement policies that encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly goods, construction works and services.
– Allow for environmental considerations and higher quality solutions in technical specifications, selection and award criteria, and contract performance clauses.
– Include LCC as an award criterion to identify the most economically advantageous tenders.


Gilbert illustrated some of the issues by showing examples of poor construction, leading to excessive waste, high maintenance costs and poor use of water and electric power. One of the (poor) examples was Julong Garden… Chinese construction and maintenance “Chinese style”.
Pictured is Mr. Ben Papé, Chairman, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, BETNET.
Ben also happens to be the Advisory Counselor of the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund – one of the partners of the Rotary Club of Beijing.

60 Years – 60 Brands Seminar

“Chinese Brand Development and Transmission – Summit Forum”
On 10 June 2009, CCTV.com and other CCTV companies organized a Forum in the “State Guest Hotels – Presidential Plaza Beijing”, to discuss about Chinese brands. At a later date a jury will select the 60 most famous Chinese brands.
Gilbert was one of the keynote speakers, talking about “Chinese Brands Facing the World”, see here the speech in pdf. Feedback indicated the audience liked the presentation…


Other speakers included:
Mr. Zhou Fan (pictured), CEO of Zhoulin Bio-Spectrum Technology Co., Ltd., and Mr. Feng Jun, President of Aigo (Beijing Huaqi Information (aigo) Digital Technology Co., Ltd, among many others.
CCTV will air the Forum at a later date, before the 60th Anniversary of the PRC.

Beijing API May 09

The table for May 2009 is done! Shows the pollution in Beijing.
I now included a second measuring point, the Agricultural Exhibition Palace.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge


For further details, see the related Pages in the right hand column of this blog – more general information on API, pollution effects, charts etc. All completely re-designed!

Foreigners Not So Welcome?

See here a rather disturbing story. The (real) security people, busy with looking at the Internet, are usually too late. It would be extremely sad for China if this trend continues. Personally I encountered little of this, but I did see very unpleasant attitudes from two types of Chinese people: private security people (thugs) working at buildings and night clubs, and the hateful “new rich youth” driving around in expensive cars and spending money like crazy.
I wonder if China Daily would dare to talk about this, of course NOT. Now just wait for a Chinese to be beaten up like that in New York. Wait, better even: Chinese guy gets beaten up by 3 foreigners in Sanlitun. Millions of angry netextremists would jump on it, demonstrations, attack on embassies.
Read the full story:
http://www.chinaexpat.com/blog/ernie/2009/06/16/foreigners-not-so-welcome.html
Ernie’s blog 16 June 09
He had no clue he was in danger when the beer bottle smashed into his face. He had been about to step into another cab ride home after another night’s drinking at Sanlitun, Beijing’s infamous bar street. No posturing, no threats, no gut-wrenching realization he had a fight on his hands. Just the impact of cold hard glass.
As he went down, his assailant and two other Chinese men set to finishing the job. Kicks and punches, mostly kicks, to all the places raging instinct strikes for: head, ribs, and groin. It was late, not quite one in the morning, but on Sanlitun Street that still left a clutch of witnesses at hand. Not one, foreign or Chinese, interfered. Not until that tacit moment when the attackers had spent themselves, grave injury done, did another foreigner wade in to push them off.
But the victim’s night of horror was just beginning. Helped to a hospital, he learned in a delirium of pain that no medical treatment would be forthcoming until all proper papers and proof of payment had been verified. Eleven hours passed until doctors finally attended him and assessed the damage: a shattered cheekbone, nose broken in two places, a welter of assorted fractures and contusions. He came to after surgery with two steel plates holding his head together.
The police are never far off at Sanlitun; they know better. And the assailants, compromised by a lack of planning, were soon rounded up. Before being hauled off to jail, they were asked what had prompted such a brutal assault. After all, they hadn’t taken any money. “No reason.”
Once out of the hospital, he dutifully filed a report at his embassy, to learn that he was the fourth of his countrymen to make such a claim in the last week. But by no means is this a matter of Germans being singled out. The diversity of victims, and the spike in violent assaults over roughly the past year, bear the marks of unreasoning, unspecific anti-foreign backlash.

China Daily: “Outraged”

I thought I was being blunt about that Green Dam f### up. Now guess what, China Daily is using the term” outraged” in one of its articles.
Again sad is that it seems the goons are steaming ahead with their pathetic initiative.
Looks all so familiar what is happening in Iran right now. The goons must be worried sick over here.
Read the full story (see here some of the pics):
19 June 2009 – Dam this Net Nanny
By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/showbiz/2009-06/19/content_8301203_3.htm


An excerpt:
I don’t see anything green in Green Dam. Instead I’ve noticed gobs of red and black.
The filtering software, which the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology wants installed in every computer sold in the country starting from July 1, is supposed to cleanse the Internet of unhealthy content. But the most possible effect is, it’s going to make every Chinese netizen look like an idiot – or an adult with the IQ of an 8-year-old.