China is the current powerhouse in Olympic gymnastics; winning a lot of gold medals over the years. However, its training programme has been harshly criticised for being too strict.
Children in China start to train to become gymnasts from the age of four. Before they are chosen to start training, children are tested to see if their bodies are limber enough to withstand the demands of the sport. Those that are selected, start a lifelong process of becoming the best. The Chinese government has set up a very large training facility where the children live and train. These little children have to balance a gruelling training schedule, tough school routine and also give time to their families. It can sometimes become too much for them to handle.
Spurred by dreams of national glory, many parent are very willing to subject their children to such intense lifestyle.
Some may say that putting young children under such intense training is child abuse. That is debatable, but no one can argue that such training methods haven’t paid off.
This week shoppers in China cleared salt from supermarkets shelves amid fears of a potential radiation crisis from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Although Government officials tried to calm fears by emphasizing that radiation levels in 41 cities across China remain normal, many Chinese have gone into full panic mode. Staff from multiple branches of the French supermarket chain Carrefour reported that their supplies of salt have been sold out since Thursday morning in Beijing.
Triggered by the belief that salt could prevent radiation-related illnesses and to secure uncontaminated salt sources, shoppers are hoarding as much salt as they can. One customer in the eastern city of Ningbo told the nation’s CCTV that she had purchased a five-year supply to placate her family’s fears of radiation. Another idiot named Michael Zeng, a 21-year-old college student in Beijing, said “it’s always safe to do what the majority are doing.”
Fears of a salt shortage also spread to Hong Kong, where many supermarkets ran out of salt as nervous shoppers stocked up on supplies. In fact, as I checked yesterday afternoon, even soy sauce, other basic cooking condiments and rice have been entirely cleared out from supermarket shelves.
Anyone who has bothered to check Wikipedia would know iodine in iodized salt is ineffective for preventing radiation effects, according to the World Health Organization. It would take 80 tablespoons of salt to make up one prophylactic, or preventative, iodide tablet. Further, only a fraction of China’s salt for consumption comes from the sea, said Song Zhangjing, a spokesman for industry organization the China Salt Association. “In China, most salt are from salt mines.”
In brief, there is no reason to hoard salt at all and those who do are complete fools.
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Traditionally, the luxury sports car market is dominated by men. However, in China, women are leading the way in purchase of exotic cars.
China’s millionaires are growing by the minute. Sales of high-end automobiles rose 60 percent last year and analysts are already pegging a 35 percent climb for 2011.
A third of China’s millionaires are women so that means the sales of exotic cars is going to be huge. Already, the percentage of women buying Maseratis in China is triple that of Europe, while the percentage buying Ferraris is double the global average. Maserati reports that 30 percent of its Chinese sales are to women, compared against just 10 percent for European sales. China is now on track to pass Italy as the automaker’s second largest market.
The rise in exotic vehicle sales has even gotten the attention of Bugatti, and the Volkswagen Group is now discussing a potential sales plan for China.
The craziest thing about this sales growth is that the cars sold in China cost typically double the price compared to those sold in the U.S.. The reason for this is the high tariff for cars assembled overseas (Almost all luxury sports cars are not assembled in China).
I guess that’s why you call them crazy rich…
via Autoblog.
With China’s construction boom, there have been many horror stories of how residents are forced off their land for new construction projects. Although tenants are supposedly able to refuse eviction; in practice, developers will force them off and negotiate the compensation with residents later (usual at an unfair price). This is especially prevalent when there is a major construction project, such as the Olympics.
In other cases, developers still seem to have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. Watch and learn:
There’s quite a lot of beggars scattered around China. Although there are some who are truly helpless and deserve pity, there are many who fake misfortune for profit. In fact, there are even big organizations of beggars that do such a thing.
Many Chinese, and even foreigners, are aware that the beggars they see on the streets may not be genuine. Yes, even beggars in China can be fake. A sad situation, but one that would occur anywhere when there is greed and people with sympathy.
The questions most people have when faced with a beggar are whether he really is a beggar and should I give him money?
When you think of China, human rights and personal freedom are probably not the first things that come to mind. However, getting arrested for a tweet; especially one that is pro-China; seems pretty harsh even for Kim Jong-il standards.
Amnesty International are urging the Chinese authorities to release a woman sentenced to a year in a labour camp for retweeting a supposedly anti-Japanese message.
With all the news about China’s economic growth it is easy for us to forget that it is still developing and that there are still many who live under harsh circumstances.
Although most people in China have benefited from China’s growth, there are still a few who are left out.
The image gallery, after the link, is a reminder of those people.
WARNING: The following images may cause discomfort.
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