China's giant panda base sees profit in poop

A giant panda research base in southwest China's Sichuan Province has come up with a novel way to profit from panda dung - craft souvenirs out of it.

Jing Shimin, assistant to the director of the base, proudly declared that the souvenirs would be relatively odour-free. "They don't smell too bad because 70 percent of the dung is just remains of the bamboo that the pandas are unable to digest."

Not wishing to miss out on Olympic-inspired profits, the base is currently working on moulding the poop into statues of athletic pandas performing various Olympic sports to sell as "special gifts designed for the 2008 Olympic Games". (Xinhua)

"Safer" lodging

July 26 - Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Health joint release of Lodging Industry Hygiene Regulation, Public Bathing Establishment Hygiene Regulation, and Cosmetology Industry Hygiene Regulation.

New hygiene requirement:
All lodging and public bathing establishments should place condoms or condom vending facility, and provide HIV/STDs prevention and awareness material.

Pricey Master Kong's and President's!

Domestic instant noodle brands that are priced below 1 yuan, or 0.13 US dollars will on Thursday join a nationwide price hike, the result of the soaring cost of materials.

An official with the China Branch of the International Ramen Manufactures Association (IRMA), Meng Suhe, said the prices will on average be raised by 20 percent, and no highest than 40 percent.

Sources close to the industry reveal that the sector has been severely affected by booming materials price hikes since last year.

The price of palm oil, a major ingredient that can account for 18 percent of noodle production costs, has risen to around 8,000 yuan per tonne, up from 4,200 yuan in 2006. (CRI English)

I'm actually surprised that they do use real material like palm oil to make instant noodles!

I ain't taking no Engrish receipts!

Fark.com style headline: Not news: McDonald's sued. News: For issuing receipts in English in China.

A customer in Beijing has sued McDonald's in Beijing for giving him receipts with only the food order name in Chinese but the rest all in English and thus offending his customer's right to know.

Related information: in 2005, IKEA China was also challenged by customers for issuing all English receipts and thus critised by China Consumers' Association for offending customer's rights.

Source: The Beijing News (Chinese)

Wow, I'm impressed. But let's be considerate for all our laowai friends, sole Chinese receipts aren't all that good either. Looking forward to a completely bilingual fast food receipt!

100 million hits

The daily online musings of a popular Chinese actress and director has turned her into one of the world's most widely-read bloggers.

Xu Jinglei has just celebrated her 100 millionth hit since starting the blog less than two years ago, according to the Chinese website Sina.

At one point last year, her site topped the list with Technorati, the respected US-based search engine for blogs. (BBC)

OMBW is such a gem and SCMP is such a GENIUS paper!

A bit more green for you

30 new public parks are going to be open in the suburbs of Beijing next year. Adding on top of the current 30, there will be altogether 60 parks between the 4th and the 5th Ring Roads in Beijing by the end of 2008, average one park every 3 km. The whole park area will be as big as 14 Summer Palaces.

And what's even better? FREE of charge!

9 new parks in Chaoyang District.