Nanning China Green or Grey City?

Is it the weather or is it the pollution or is it just me without those wretched rose tinted glasses on?
One things for sure, it ain't what it used to be.
This is a question now being asked by many here in what once was a GREEN city.
Still a shade of green at ground level, if you scrape the dust and grime off first -  but far from green in the skies above.
The dust appears to be everywhere. Is it the extensive ongoing construction work or just dirty air blowing in from elsewhere or just another, newer Grey City in China.
No matter how often you clean within hours another layer of dust appears.
Keep your doors and windows shut they tell you - That might suit a Chinese rabbit but not me, I like to have air flow through a living area - Perhaps China for me is wearing a bit thin...One wonders what the summer has in store - Can you imagine it Hot, sultry, dirty and air less.

This picture taken around 9am 3rd April 2011 and that is not a heat haze...
No doubt, this winter has dragged on, perhaps 4/5 months or more - Dull, dreary, often cold and most certainly, dirtier and dustier than ever before.

Not just me saying this, talk to the native Nanningers, see what they are saying online, never have they known Nanning to be so dirty, dusty and grey skyed for so long.
Is Nanning now a true Chinese city? - with all that comes with it.

Maybe it's time for me to call it a day and move on to greener pastures...

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Donald Trump on China - OPEC and the presidency

Should Trump run?
http://shouldtrumprun.com/
Is he right?
 http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/21-reasons-why-donald-trump-is-right-china-is-just-ripping-this-country-like-nobody-has-ever-ripped-us-before




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Li Ning Sports Center Nanning Guangxi China

Li Ning
Located in the new Nanning Business District -  South Fengling Road.
The Nanning Li Ning Sports Center - It is now open.
Apparently the largest Sports Park for public welfare in China.

Now open 2011

Ricky Gervais Brings AN IDIOT ABROAD to Science Channel

Karl Pilkington, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant - An Idiot Abroad
In AN IDIOT ABROAD, Gervais and Merchant surprise their close friend - and close-minded curmudgeon - Karl Pilkington with a forced trip around the globe to visit the Seven Wonders of the World. This jet-setting adventure would be a dream come true for most, but it is a nightmare for Pilkington, who has no interest at all in ever leaving his comfort zone in the UK.
Despite his resistance, however, he's shipped to exotic locales, including the Great Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, and the Taj Mahal. His assignment at each destination is to learn the history of each Wonder of the World and immerse himself in the local customs. Will Pilkington, whom Ricky calls "the real-life Homer Simpson," broaden his perspective or trigger an international incident?

http://science.discovery.com/tv/an-idiot-abroad/



Another trailer video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o2Ee2l6nro

Getting tougher on foreign property investment in China Guangxi Nanning

UPDATE
Beijing is set to order China's second and third-tier cities sell only one homes to buyers, in an expanded effort to curtail housing hoarding and profiteering and rein in steep rises in property prices.
A top official from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development was reported as saying that cities including Qidao, in East China's Shandong province, Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, and Nanning, in southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will be included in the government's new plan to curb property bubbles from growing in the country.
Source: People's Daily http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7269847.html

Buying a property in China may be getting a little more difficult for the foreigner.
China is tightening regulation on foreign investment in the real estate sector to crack down on speculation, according to a statement from the China Ministry of Commerce in December 2010.

The ministry urges local authorities to increase checks and supervision on property investment that involved foreign investors and strengthen risk controls on the sector, said the statement posted on the MOC website.
Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-12/24/content_11747879.htm

China will enhance the regulation of foreign institutions' investment in the country's property market and home purchases by non-Chinese citizens, as part of its efforts to curb the inflow of hot money and continue tightening of the real estate sector, a senior official said.

Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Jiang Weixin said at a national conference that China will crack down on speculative home purchases and curb excessive growth in property prices next year.
The government will also strengthen the implementation of tightening measures unveiled in 2010.
The country has rolled out a string of tightening measures to cool the market, including suspending mortgages for third-home purchases, speeding up trials of property taxes, raising down-payment requirements for first-time home buyers and only allowing foreign citizens living in China to buy one home for their own use, which have "helped contain speculative demand to some extent", Jiang said.  
Source: http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=16488

Both property sales and prices are on the rise, according to a real estate research institute of China's Soufun Holdings.
The average price of housing in 100 Chinese cities rose 0.82 percent to 8,487 yuan (US$1,274) per square meter in November month-on-month, while the price in eight major cities including Beijing and Shanghai during the same period increased 0.41 percent to 15,407 yuan (US$2,313) per square meter, according to the institute's statistics.
The two reasons behind the rising property prices are increasing inflation pressure and foreign capital entering China on expectations that the yuan will appreciate, Yang Hongxu, a researcher with the Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institute, said.
Source: http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1202&MainCatID=12&id=20101224000018

English teachers in Nanning - Enlightenment - Changing Paradigms

It was my view some years back that, the English language teaching standard offered by westerners in Nanning was inadequate and sadly lacking - Good news, late 2010, my view is changing...
The overall standard of the English language teaching westerner in Nanning Guangxi China has, most definitely, improved these past four years, not necessarily because the original ones have changed in any way but most certainly because the newer entrants into this field have considerably more technical ability and educational nous...O.K.

I recently met up with several newcomers into China with the sole purpose of teaching English as a second language to the ever enthusiastic Chinese kids.
Sadly though, not teaching in Nanning but in other cities.
I was encouraged to find that not only were they very well qualified (all possessing teaching degrees), they also had that enthusiasm that is so important for teaching.

Perhaps we are now seeing a shift away from the previous 'Pretend Western English Teachers, teaching English in China for all the wrong reasons', to a younger, enthusiastic, dedicated, better qualified and overall, more competent influx.
China will, undoubtedly benefit from this.
I agree with Sir Ken Robinson when he said, "People do their best, when they do the thing they love, when they are in their element".

Sir Ken Robinson the creativity expert - How do we make change happen in education and how do we make it last?

The Window of the World 世界之窗 Shenzhen China

A marvellous educational Theme Park - Window of the World in China
Spend a day travelling all over the World.

The Window of the World (Chinese: 世界之窗; pinyin: Shìjiè zhī Chuāng; alternatively 小人国) is a theme park located in the western part of the city of Shenzhen in the People's Republic of China. It has about 130 reproductions of some of the most famous tourist attractions in the world squeezed into 48 hectares (480,000 square meters). The 108 meter (354 ft) tall Eiffel Tower dominates the skyline and the sight of the Pyramids and the Taj Mahal all in proximity to each other are all part of the appeal of this theme park.

Pictures and text above courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_of_the_World


The last time I was here was in 1999 and by all accounts things have much improved.
There is plenty to do and see both daytime and evening.
Daytime is spent visiting the various regions of the world each displaying iconic structures. Including Thai Royal Palace, North Korea and Japanese palaces, Eiffel Tower, Venice, Leaning Tower of Pisa, The Acropolis, Notre Dame, London Iron Bridge, The Russian Winter Palace, A Dutch Windmill, The Colosseum, Roman Holiday Square.
The Eiffel Tower is prominent from anywhere within the complex owing to it's height, built on a scale of 1:3 you are able to access the tower and climb to the top although additional charges apply.

In addition, there are also pyramids and the Sphinx, Niagara Falls all in miniature.

Various displays and shows throughout the year are also on show. These additional events are chargeable and you will need to in some cases book in advance.

In the summer holiday, the International Beer Festival is a big tourist attraction.
In December, Santa Claus welcomes the New Year.
There are also many user activities available, some chargeable, navigating the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, follow the ways of North American Indians and learn to hunt prey in the lush woods, traverse the primitive tropical forest in a cable car and an indoor piste to ski.
Transportation to Shenzhen Window of the World:
Starting from the railway station: take Tour Bus Line 1 (fare 2 yuan), Bus 101 (2 yuan fare).
From the Airport: take Bus 327 directly to the Window of the World
Other pass-by buses: 21, 26, 105, 113, 201, 204, 209, 210, 222, 223, 230, 232, 233, 234, 301, 310-315, or 311.
Shenzhen Metro : Take Line 1 to get off at “the Window of the World” station, then get out of the station from “I Exit” or “J Exit”.
From Guangzhou East Railway Station you exit at Lo Wu train station then take the subway straight to the The Window of the World. It takes around one hour.

About the same from Hong Kong( depending on immigration control)
Shenzhen Window of the World Open Time: 9:00 am-22: 30pm
Shenzhen Window of the World Tickets:
Full fare ticket: 140 yuan / person
Half fare ticket: only for children of 1.1-1.4 m in height, and senior people at an age of 65-69 years old, and third-class disabled veterans.
Free ticket: for children under 1.1 meters tall; senior people over 70 years old, and second-class or above disabled veterans.

The Window of the World 世界之窗 Shenzhen China
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Chao Chow and Swatow Railway - Early trains in China

The ChaoChow–Swatow Railway or "Chao-Shan" railway was a privately financed and constructed standard gauge railway which ran between Chao Chow (pinyin: Chaochou, 潮州) and Swatow (pinyin: Shantou, traditional Chinese: 汕頭, simplified Chinese: 汕头) in Guangdong Province between 1906 and 1939.It's also the first line entirely financed and managed by Chinese merchants.

The railway’s senior operations staff, including the drivers and guards, were all Japanese employees, with Chinese staff engaged on less important functions. This situation endured until the railway was eventually taken over by Chinese National Railways in the 1920s. The railway company imported three 2-6-2 tank locomotives from the American Locomotive Company (Brooks plant) and 24 carriages of corridor plan were manufactured in Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chao_Chow_and_Swatow_Railway

The history of rail transport in China began with foreign assistance. Since then, it has made advances with domestic and foreign technology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_China

The Best Immigration Information Forum on the web - China related

This has just got to be the best Forum for anyone looking for information on immigration to and from China and with just about 5000 members and most online over 400. You will find what you are looking for.
And it's available - none of this members only nonsense.
U.S. Immigration for Chinese Loved Ones
http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php

Property Tax in China - Most likely in early 2011

PropertyWire: Govt official confirms that a property tax will be introduced in China  Friday, 05 November 2010
China may introduce a property tax as early as the first half of next year although first homes are expected to be exempt.
It is the latest move in a bid to cool the country’s raging real estate market and further interest rate rises are not being ruled out.

Business Week: China May Start Property Tax First Half 2011, Securities Says November 01, 2010, 9:34 PM EDT



China Ponders Imposing New Property Taxes

Bloomberg: China May Unveil Property Tax in October to Reign Home Prices, Report Says
The new tax, which will be extended to include residential property, is more likely to be implemented at the start of next year, the Chinese-language newspaper said. The government currently imposes a tariff on business-use real estate and exempts individuals’ residential housing.


Here are two links to Property in China issues - In Chinese - Blood Housing in China

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=111560301092049321699.0004921f02f43f6c4f07e

http://ditu.google.com/maps/ms?brcurrent=3,0x31508e64e5c642c1:0x951daa7c349f366f,0%3B5,0,0&ie=UTF8&hl=zh-CN&msa=0&msid=111560301092049321699.000492290963f3883a9c6&ll=31.466154,121.992188&spn=25.282473,36.035156&z=5

Guangxi Sports Center in Nanning

The Guangxi Sports Center in Nanning is designed for national sports, regional international sports games and some major individual international sporting events.
It is a multifunctional complex for sports, artistic performance, conventions, exhibitions, fitness and entertainment events.
It consists of a stadium, a gymnasium, a swimming and diving hall (Natatorium).
A modern tennis center.
Outside areas fully equipped for 5 a side football and training.
  

• The complex has a main stadium that can hold 60,000 spectators.
• An additional stadium that can hold 10000 spectators.
• A swimming pool that has seating for 3000.
• A tennis court that can accommodate 3000 seated spectators.
• In addition it has a press center and other support facilities.

The main stadium is completed and has already hosted an international football match amongst other things.

Number of British residents in China - 47,000

Number of British residents in China - 47,000
Top 20 countries where British Nationals required the most consular assistance from 1 April

China Travel advice

British behaviour abroad - Foreign Office reports

China’s ‘zero tolerance’ policies lead to detention followed bysuch as gambling, drink driving, fighting or, most commonly, overstaying a visa (offenders are deported only after they have found money to pay for their tickets).

Am I gald to be back...I now want to design and build my own Hutong 胡同 Siheyuan 四合院 Yi Jin Si He Yuan‏

As many of you may know I have just returned from a tri yearly sabbatical, in this case, my return to the UK to see family and friends. I miss them all very much.
I won't mention the journey going or coming back, I will save those moments of joy or not for another occasion.
The highlight was, without doubt getting back to the UK, first time in 3 years and seeing what I had already had an inkling of, a change in the UK for the better.
When I left, all those years ago things were on a slippery slope, most newly arrived immigrants or migratory workers were encamped in the South east, in the surrounding area of the first port of entry in most cases, my neck of the woods.
Now though, pleasantly for them and somewhat to my surprise most had upped sticks and continued on their migratory path, to one or more of the northern ghetto's, no doubt their chosen final destination. I do hope they like it up there. The northerners being so warm, friendly and welcoming.
Back then when I left, the local authorities were more interested in recruiting even more incompetent bureaucratic officialdom into their already swollen ranks and at the same time, desperately trying to become the highest paid civil servants in the land, regardless of qualification or dare I say it, capability, rather than trying to fulfill their job remit of providing reliable, value for money services to the public.
The preoccupation with personal greed and self gratification may have succeeded for a while but it is now looking like it might be short lived and hopefully the useless will be removed along with the excess, with much haste.
The UK to me, this time, appeared greener, cleaner, more at peace with itself, less crowded and brighter on my return, certainly more so than when I left.
Perhaps it is only my perception that things have changed.
What with all these other good and bad influences and re-conditioning in the past 3 years in my current location. Far too numerous to catalogue here...coward that I am.
No, this trip back was much needed and profoundly appreciated. My overall outlook has once again changed...watch this space!


I liked Beijing, this I have no hesitation in saying.
On my return to China I had arranged to meet up with my wife in Beijing, she travelling up from Nanning and me coming in from the UK.
We had just over a week there and it was fabulous, most impressive.
Once again my view has changed dramatically, the last time I was there for any length of time was way back, the latter part of the last century.
Things have changed in Beijing and I don't just mean the property prices. Cleaner, greener, friendlier, more customer friendly and above all noticeably cheaper.
I don't mean cheaper than last century but, most things, other than property, cheaper than Nanning.
We had some great food dining out, good quality, good customer service and at a price as it appeared to me, very good value.
The hotel cost us 250 RMB a night...in Beijing!!!...probably a 3 star, the hotel staff were obliging and cheerful, something that is often sadly lacking in my chosen residential city.
The Subway was a delight, although at certain times, mostly unpredictable times, a very tight squeeze but at 2 RMB for any distance and any number of lines represents terrific value.
We obtained the prepaid subway and bus cards, putting 50 RMB on as credit, these made our journey's easier as no queuing for tickets.


Beijing has left me in a quandary though, I just love courtyard/quadrangle living...I now want to design and build my own Hutong 胡同 -  Siheyuan 四合院 - Yi Jin Si He Yuan or just a plain ol' living area surrounding an enclosed courtyard quadrangle, Mediterranean style maybe...we shall see...Yet another space to watch!.


All in all, Beijing a great place to visit, plenty to see in and around the city. We by no means exhausted our stay which means we will need to return to do more...Soon I hope.

Hutong 胡同
Siheyuan 四合院

See you soon on the Moon! say Chinese and German designers and engineers

The Moon
Our team name, “Selene” stems both from Greek mythology and Selene, the wife of the team's founder. We have assembled a talented and enthusiastic group of Chinese and German engineers and technicians who are intent upon winning the Google Lunar X Prize. Our goal is to land a remote-controlled lunar rover on the Moon which must then travel a minimum of 500 meters over the lunar surface, while at the same time, sending high-definition images and video as well as other data back to Earth.

Another purpose of this project is to promote greater co-operation between China and Germany, and to foster the exchange of ideas, a process well underway for many centuries.
We seek to dispel the myth that China's design and engineering prowess is merely the product of reverse engineering, too. There are many young, motivated engineers in both countries who are eager to demonstrate that they can succeed in this mission while contributing innovative high technology inventions and concepts to the broader community of space science and exploration as well as providing support to the ongoing humanitarian efforts to achieve better living conditions here on Earth.
more>>> http://www.seleneteam.com/

An ethnic Han Chinese is responsible for a remarkable Electronic Revolution - Memristor

We are now witnessing the next potential great leap forward in Electronic Computer technology - Memristors.
This is likely to revolutionise computers, robotics and not least, our daily lives.
It's a computer - But not as we know it, Jim.

In 1971, electrical engineering professor Leon Chua an ethnic Han Chinese proposed a theoretical basic electronics component called a memristor.
In 2008, Hewlett Packard brought the memristor out of theory and into the real world. And today, HP announced that they have finally proven that they can build devices that use memristors, instead of the transistors that enable all current computer chips.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/hewlett-packard-unveils-first-ever-memristor

Memristors could also help with a problem that continues to challenge the chip industry, continuing to pack more and more computational power into smaller and smaller spaces.

Currently, chip makers follow a path defined by Moore's Law, which states that the number of transistors it is possible to squeeze in to a chip for a fixed cost doubles every two years.
This is currently achieved by producing transistors with ever smaller feature sizes. Current cutting edge chips have transistors with feature sizes as small as 22 nanometres (22 billionths of a metre).
But this miniaturisation cannot continue forever, experts say.
Memristors offer an alternative path.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8609885.stm

The most advanced transistor technology today is based on minimum feature sizes of 30 to 40 nanometers — by contrast a biological virus is typically about 100 nanometers — and Dr. Williams said that H.P. now has working 3-nanometer memristors that can switch on and off in about a nanosecond, or a billionth of a second.
He said the company could have a competitor to flash memory in three years that would have a capacity of 20 gigabytes a square centimeter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/science/08chips.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memristor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Chua