Me Ol' China, Week 26

So guys, the weather this week has been as bad as last week and only this morning, while I write, I can see the sun out and the mountains surrounding Beijing. fog, smog and heavy rains. Sorry but we haven't seen the invasion of grasshoppers that media have reported being happening in Beijing... I still wonder if I am in China sometimes or this is a sort of Truman Show. Anyhow. China is doing something to fight pollution, especially during the Summer Games. They are starting ordering some polluting plants to shut down: In Tianjin, two cement works, 26 building sites and six factories which cause "effluvial contamination" will also be affected, said Xinhua news agency. Add to this the works for an underground railway line. End of july will see some factories shut down in Tangshan too, another city 90 miles east of Beijing, where 300 factories will be closed for the Olympic Pax. Seems like China is suspending the fighting against nature during the Olympic Games. However, most correspondents say that it will not be enough to insure that athletes will not suffer as pollution here in endemic. We will see...

In the city we have seen a few strange cars around... They are hybrid taxis, called Huhe Dongli Qiche, that use gasoline as main power and its working engine will recharge special cell in the vehicle. The electric power kicks in when the car is idle or it starts going. when above 5 Km/h, the gasoline kicks back in. Perfect for traffic in Beijing. Beijing is paying taxis a subsidy to compensate the low costs of rides. This was around 800 yuan per month. Now, due to rising cost of oil, the amount has been increased to 1305 yuan per month.

But it is not only carrots, there are sticks too: illegal cabbies will be subject to severe punishments, cabs must be clean, passengers can be picked up only in designated areas, deliberate longer routes will attract a 2K RMB fine. I wish, honestly, that they could do something for those cabbies that refuse to pick you up when and if they please. That is most annoying. Yesterday we were refused, once again, on the grounds of being too close to our destination. Then a yes, but with a fix fare of 50 RMB and only after I walked away, I got a yes with meter. Total cost of ride, 18 RMB. I tipped him...

The Visa situation is getting worse, more and more people are leaving the country and someone, apparently, has started making profit from the desperate ones. Look at this advert appeared this week, and read the one following it few days later:

all foreingenrs
Here is the solution to your visa probs...
We are a australian visa and insuarance company that offers visa services
to all nationalities... wea re the only ones who are able
to give all categories of visa to any foreigners in China because we work with the immigration directly.
We handle North American passports, European Passports,
African passports (even Nigerians), Asian passports etc etc.
If your passport has got only a few days to expire... or even expired, we can renew it. U can reach us thro
Special EMS that gets here within 20 hrs.... from any part of China.or you can come directly to our office.
We offer
(...)

and this one:

The "australian company" that provide cheap and quick visa was reported before as follows:

Attention

There is a scamer who are currently in China a foreigner elias FRANK BROWN GATES. He is opportunist and asking visa help and others. PLS PLS do not listen to this guy or anybody who will ask CHINA VISA assistant. They are just scammer take your money and even passport that will put you in danger. The number he is using is xxxxxxxx

Believe me Help yourself and don't ask help to anybody , they will just put you in danger

Here is the ad he just published:

all foreingenrs
Here is the solution to your visa probs...
(...)

Nothing to add, I guess... And all of this thanks to the AOYUN (Olympic Games)...

Oh.. Do you know that Chinese people like commemorate every sort of events and for this reasons in the last years, have seen birth nearly 7000 Aoyun babies? During the last month, since the earthquake, a few children have been named after Sichuan province and now carry well wishing names.

Talking about names... You must have certainly heard on the news that the "chicken without a sex life" or "bean curd made by a pockmarked woman," "ants climbing a tree," are no longer on the menu. Well, the government has published a list of "acceptable" names for Chinese dishes. The whole world has been laughing at the poor chicken mentioned above but I invite you to think of food in your country and you will realise that we are not any different. Try to explain to a foreigner the meaning of "Pasta alla Puttanesca"... I am sure they will find amusing to find out the meaning and the reason why this is called like that. this is the link to find out the 28 pages list of official dishes names . And if you are from England, before you laugh think of the "toad-in-the-hole" or a nice "spotte dick", before doing so.

Out of the thousands of plates on the Chinese menu only a few will make you laugh while a few more will make your eyebrows rise: "braised fallopian tubes" or "dried and fried bull penis" or the most exotic "scorched pig dick" and the nice "burned bull testicles"... Oh well, you should try it before judging...

I am not sure I ever mentioned that the subway in Beijing, as at today has 4 lines: 1, 2, 5, 13 and batong (which is an extension of line 1 so I consider it as one). It is taking years to have a line C in Rome, in 4 years from now Beijing will have: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, Daxing Line, Yizhuang Line and Fanshan Line. With Lines 10, 8 and the Airport line opening next week. Here is the final picture from what it is today. By the year 2050 there will be more than 1K Kms of underground tracks... Amazing! Security has been tightened even more and metal detectors are in use in all stations now and I get checked regularly, well, my briefcase does.

Bush has guaranteed his presence to the opening ceremony of the Summer Games while Chinese people think that Mr. Sarkozy of France should stay at home as it is Persona non grata around Beijing after the Tibet affair.

If any of you thinking of coming to China and exchange more than 50,000 USD during the Olympics, be careful! It has been set the maximum allowable amount. Unless you decide to buy a house or enjoy the company of 3 to 400 prostitutes during your stay, I doubt you will have to exchange so much money, anyway.

In the meantime, in Italy, Berlusconi had been involved into the usual RAI scam: recommending starlets to the State TV has been the favourite sport since it was established but, when you hear the Prime Minister using some terminology talking about girls he recommends, I find it so bloody funny! And Veronica Lario (Berlusconi's beautiful wife) is getting more and more pissed off about her playboy dwarf...

What has it got to see with China? Nothing, but I found it funny and I thought about it.

Anyway, time to go out guys, the weather is fantastic today and I will take my family for a walk in the park and some massages. Tonight we have acrobatic show at the Poly theatre. Talk next week! oh, by the way, still working here and waiting for a decent proposal that might or might not come within July. If not, I will continue the blog from other location.