A birds eye view of the green Beijing you'll see after 2008

For real?

Cool - New Beijing guidebook to hit bookstalls

A Beijing guidebook with more than one hundred photos and maps and text written by a former UNESCO official has been published in both Chinese and English versions.

The writer, Wu Jisong, served in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and was an attache of the International Tourism Association. he has visited 80 countries and regions.

Wu said that unlike cities like Paris, London and New York, Beijing did not have a city guidebook in picture format for foreign tourists so he decided to write one. He and a professional photographer spent a year on the project. (more)

A new baby boom

China will have a baby boom as more only children, products of the government's family planning policy, grow up and get married, according to a top population officer.

Chinese couples in which both man and wife were raised as single children are now authorized to have two babies.

Earlier reports said that in Beijing more than a third of young couples, who were both raised as single children, plan to have two babies.

As a result, the annual newborns in the city will grow from the current 78,000 to 140,000 in 2010.

China's population is expected to reach 1.36 billion by 2010 and 1.45 billion by 2020. The peak will come in 2033 with a total population of 1.5 billion, according to a report issued by the State Population and Family Planning Commission this January. (more)

1.5 billion Chinese out to get you soon! Stay tuned...

2810 new buses in Beijing this year - 15 meters long

Princess Iron Fan (1941)

For those of you who are familiar with/interested in the story of Journey to the West and Monkey King, this is absolutely priceless. An all-time classic, Princess Iron Fan is the first feature length animation made in China (made in 1941... we weren't just busy enough at that time). Black and white, all titles still written from right to left, dubbed in all kinds of accents before the Beijing accent of Mandarin was made the "standard" in the country, this is about one of the best known stories from the book. Now available to download. Soooo cute!

We follow the Monkey King and his friends on their journey to the west. As they reach Fire Mountain they are unable to pass because of the fire but learn that a special iron fan can quench the flames. However, the fan belongs to Princess Iron Fan and she will not willingly lend it to them...

On the way from Urumqi to Turfan you can see and get on the red hot "Fire Mountain" aka Flaming Mountain where they shot this story for the TV serie of the same book back in 1980's. MAYBE it was even where it really happened? Well the setting fits the story quite well I'd say... stranger than fiction, isn't it? Haha.

NB: No English subtitles, but music, motion pictures and the story itself need no translation!

Credit: Frog in a Well

5 Million English speaking Beijingers for you!

By Beijing Olympics 2008, the foreign language speaking population in Beijing is expected to reach or even exceed 5 million, taking up 35% of the registered population of the city. All the road signs in the center has been standardized to be bilingual last year, and by the end of this year the same will happen to all signs in public areas. - Beijing nomads, please verify.

Standardized English menu will hopefully be approved and published by year end too. Finally laowai's will know what Kung Pao really means... or will they?

Source: The Beijing News (Chinese)

Illiteracy returns to haunt country

The number of illiterates in China rose to 116 million, by more than 30 million between 2000 and 2005 despite its efforts to eradicate illiteracy. The number of illiterates in China accounted for 11.3 percent of the world's total in 2000, and 15.01 percent in 2005.

China defines literacy as the ability to read and write at least 1,500 Chinese characters.

A major reason for the rebound in the illiterate population is the changing perception of knowledge in the market economy. Farmers today can earn money by working as laborers, too. So they tend to ignore the nine-year compulsory education despite having access to it, Gao said.

Another factor that ironically contributed to the increase in the illiteracy rate is the success of the illiteracy eradication campaign of the previous years because that led many local governments to "eradicate" the departments in charge of the program itself, Gao said.

But despite the setback, the illiteracy eradication office is determined to fulfill its mission, for which it's seeking 100 million-yuan ($12.9 million) this year.

The existing budget of 8 million yuan ($1.03 million), it says, is not enough because it allots a paltry 0.07 yuan (or less than 1 cent) to each illiterate person. (China Daily)

8 million yuan. It's so hard to imagine it's even funny. I wish I could laugh out loud. What can 8 million do when you need at least 40 billion to cover the salary of rural area teachers - so that they can earn average 500 yuan a month, which is still lower than farmers' in some part of China, and so that them can stay teaching without some of them having to work weekends as sex workers to support their own families? That necessary 40 billion is for rural area alone, and how much extra is needed in the cities for migrant workers when their social benefits are not secured, when 9.3% - a rather underestimated "official" figure, I might add - school-aged migrant children are out of school, and when for those in school their study environment isn't even safe?

And when insufficient government budget AND effort is the simple fact at the moment, how much impact can NGO's make within their restricted active area in China and how far can non-official projects like "1 kg More" go?