Sunday, January 16, 2011

“China’s railway system will move 230 million during Spring Festival” plus 4 more

“China’s railway system will move 230 million during Spring Festival” plus 4 more

China’s railway system will move 230 million during Spring Festival

Posted: 15 Jan 2011 09:12 PM PST


Passengers queue up to buy train tickets in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China. Source: Xinhua

The Chinese railway system will be put the test during the Spring Festival this year.  A staggering 230 million people are expected to travel during the holiday season.

The Lunar New Year comes eleven days earlier than last year.   Because of this timing, students will be returning home just having completed finals, along with all the regular travelers and migrant workers that use the train system.

The Chinese proverb 人山人海 (people mountain, people sea) will certainly apply.  It means there will be a huge crowd.

According to the vice-minister of railways, China will run an additional 293 trains to help alleviate the expected 12.5 percent increase from last year’s traffic.

Kicking off on January 19th, the holiday season will see millions rushing from the far ends of the nation to make it home.  For many, it will be the only visit to see loved ones for year.   Most will want to be home for the Lunar New Year which is February 3.

If you are planning to travel during the Lunar New Year, what mode of transportation will you use?

1.5 million Chinese take grad school entrance exam

Posted: 15 Jan 2011 08:46 PM PST


Teacher checking ID at Peking University prior to grad school entrance exam.

January 15 is the start of a two-day graduate school entrance exam.   This year 1.5 million students are taking the exam, which is a seven percent increase from 2010.

Although China’s economy is doing well, it has been more difficult for new college grads to land a job right after graduating from college.  So, like their counterparts in America, continuing their studies seems to be the right thing to do.

About 20 percent of those taking the entrance exam plan to work on professional degree programs.  Of such programs, management, economics, translation, and finance are quite popular.

And with an increased demand for teachers in China, many are looking at graduate degrees in education.  In all there are 38 different graduate programs to choose from.

To maintain the integrity of the test process, thorough security checks and surveillance will take place to avoid any cheating.

Best wishes to these students! 加油！加油！

Another suicide at Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, China

Posted: 15 Jan 2011 07:36 PM PST


Shenzhen, China, location of another Foxconn suicide.

On Friday, Foxconn, a Taiwan owned high-tech manufacturing company which has a sizable presence in Shenzhen, China, disclosed that a factory worker jumped to her death.

The worker, who went unnamed, was a 25-year-old engineer who had been with Foxconn since 2005.  She had been on sick leave after her management threatened that she would lose her job.

Media accounts in Taiwan reported that the woman was troubled by some sort of mental anguish.

In 2010, there were 13 suicides by Foxconn employees.   Large high-tech companies such as Dell Computer, Apple, Sony, and Nokia outsource work to Foxconn which is the world’s largest manufacturer of computer components.

After the 2010 suicides, Foxconn raised  employee wages by nearly 70 percent to help alleviate some of the pressure faced by workers.

Labor activists from around the world have been critical of how working conditions at Foxconn contribute to the high level of suicide at its plants.

“Tiger Mom” stirs up controversy in the US

Posted: 15 Jan 2011 06:36 PM PST


Amy Chua, author of "The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom"

Amy Chua, author of the book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom”, has stirred up a hornets nest of controversy with her specific views on Chinese parenting compared to Western.

Chua has very good credentials.  She attended Harvard as an undergraduate student, then on to Harvard Law School.  She teaches law at Yale.   Very impressive.

In her books she thinks that Western parents are “soft” and she does not allow her daughters to have “play dates”.

Her academic standards are very simple.  “A”s in all subjects are a must except for physical education and drama.    Here’s her philosophy on poor work:  “The solution to substandard performance is always to excoriate, punish and shame the child.”

If her daughters did not play their piano as well as they should, she would deny them bathroom and water breaks.

Her attitude that the “Chinese parenting style” is superior to Western has been applauded by some because of lower standards, and other for being racist.

I don’t think she can speak for all Chinese parents.  I know Chinese parents who hold their children to high standards without being so draconian and the kids did very well.

Many things in life require balance, and parenting with kindness while holding high standards is one of them.

Sounds somewhat yin-yang, doesn’t it?   What do you think?

US to prompt Hu on human rights during visit

Posted: 15 Jan 2011 02:49 PM PST


US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with China's President Hu Jintao. Getty Images

When President Hu Jintao arrives in the United States on January 18th,  one topic that come up will be China’s human rights record.

Recently, two Chinese citizens, Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, and human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng, have been prominent in the news.

Liu was imprisoned for calling for democratic political reforms and the end of one-party rule in China.  China made its displeasure known to any nation sending representatives to the Nobel Prize Peace Prize award ceremony, saying that the Nobel Committee was interfering with an internal matter concurring a “criminal”.

Gao, a human rights lawyer who has represented underground Christians and Falun Guan members, was disbarred for representing their legal rights.   He went missing in April of 2010 after granting  the Associated Press  an interview in which he described being brutalized by Chinese secret police.

Gao asked the AP to keep the interview under raps until he was able to leave China or he went missing.  The AP published their interview on January 10, 2011.

On Thursday, President Obama met with three Chinese human rights activists to get their account of abuses.  These discussions will certainly be brought up during Hu’s visit.

During a speech at the State Department on Friday,  Secretary of  State Hillary Clinton said China’s repression of human rights remain a symbol of its “unrealized potential and unfulfilled promise” on the world stage.

Posted by Suresh at 4:08 AM

0 comments:

Post a Comment