The traffic jam to end all traffic jam.

One thing I have had to deal with during my time here in Beijing has been the awful amount of traffic on the roads. I’m very fortunate that the area I’m in is more or less on the outer areas of Beijing (although still within the 5th Ring Road) the traffic where I am doesn’t get too bad, somewhat comparable to the traffic one would expect in a medium sized city. I also have the luxury of being able to walk to work, within less then 25 minutes, or other means of transportation such as the bus (7 minutes), electric bicycle (10 min), or regular push bike (10 m).

The only real times I have to deal with traffic are my Wednesday morning commutes to Chinese classes in Guomao (the CBD), which take me about 70 minutes via bus, and often spent not moving at all. I’d estimate that for at least 30 minutes of that ride, the bus is stationary. A few of the relaxed bus drivers will even go so far as to turn off the engine when they get closer to the CBD, as we’re often stuck 6 or 7 minutes at a time, and don’t want to waste their gas.

Of course nothing compares to the nightmare that appears to be common place on the highways outside of Beijing on the way to other cities and provinces. Take for example the 30 kilometer traffic jam on the Beijing – Tibet highway;

It was not long before 2,000 vehicles were parked on the road and drivers were praying for a way out.

The previous jam, which started on Aug 14, lasted nine days and trapped thousands of vehicles in a tailback that extended for more than 100 kilometers. That jam was caused by road maintenance work and an exceptionally large number of heavy trucks trying to use the road.

Source: China.org.cn

Ouch. I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad about an extra few minutes on my commute in the mornings? Still, what does one exactly do when they are stuck in a jam like that?

"Who knows when the traffic will move again?" the frustrated driver asked. "I should have prepared some food and drink."

Compared with the anxious Lu, Gao Yunming, a 32-year-old bus driver from Zhangjiakou, appeared much more relaxed, passing time by chatting with other drivers and eating deep-fried buns and meat.

Gao said he left home prepared for the worst and brought instant noodles, buns and drinks.

That’s tough going. I also read that some people, who anticipated the traffic jam, stocked their trucks up with food and drinks just so they could sell it to people stranded on the road at inflated prices. I’m not sure if that’s the right thing to do, but certainly grabbing an opportunity to make a few extra yuan I’m sure.

So next time you’re stuck in a traffic jam back home, spare a thought for the poor soul’s out on the country highways here in China. It reminded of the Dr. Who episode where people were stuck in a massive traffic jam for 30 years!

1,300 dead in mudslides.

You may, or may not, have read about the massive landslides that have been happening here in China. So far, nearly 1,300 people have already lost their lives in Gansu Province, in North West China, with a further 500 people still missing. It’s hard to really put that figure into any real perspective, but that’s about the same number of people that died during 9/11, so it really is a big deal. When you live in a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion people, 1,300 people may not seem a lot, but can you imagine if there was a natural disaster like this Australia and the same amount of people died?

That’s not to say the Chinese aren’t taking it lightly, on the contrary, as it covers the news here with images of brave rescue workers and soldiers all doing their part in the crisis. Even yesterday, most of the entertainment activities in the country stopped and shut down for the day as a mark of respect and mourning for those who had lost their lives. Many of the entertainment websites, including the one I use to watch 99% of my TV, were down, and instead plastered with black and white images from the areas affected.

Let’s hope that the weather is more favourable in the coming weeks and no more life is lost.

Sleeping a little better.

I was interested in seeing in the news today that South Korea have added their own version of the cruise missile into their military arsenal. The Hyunmu-3C missile has a range of 1,500 kilometres and a payload of 450 kilograms, which I’m sure is enough explosive force to knock a North Korean solider off his bike (and probably a lot more).  It is the longest range missile the South Korea military possess, though far short of the North Korean’s Taepodong-2 missile, which has a range of 6,700 kilometres, and based loosely on a Scud rocket design (so I’m guessing a rocket aimed at South Korea would most likely ended up hitting my apartment block here in Beijing).

Keeping in mind that North Korea, as well as China and Russia, both lie within 1,500 kilometres of South Korea, one has to argue do they need a missile to travel any further? No one really has any qualms with South Korea, except of course the North, but I’m sure a few Hyunmu-3C missiles would be much more effective than the North Korean equivalent.

I do wonder, however, how well protected I am here in Beijing. Being so close to both North and South Korea, as well as the always dodgy Russian’s, it’s not that incomprehensible to think that China may get hit with a stray missile. So how would China react? Well in the worst case scenario, I can see China rolling out some of it’s ‘Dong-Feng 5‘ missiles, all carrying 3,000 kT nuclear warheads with a range of 13,000 kilometres. Probably a little extreme, but a good enough deterrent to ensure one accurately spends the time pointing their own missiles in the right direction.

Combined with an army over 2.5 million people, and a defensive budget of $700 million US dollars this year alone, I’m actually starting to feel rather safe here in the good old People’s Republic!

Changes back home.

It’s amazing how detached one can become from their home country when they are living abroad. For the most part I stay in touch with what’s happening in Australia by reading the news every morning, although it’s hard to always get a full picture, especially opinion of the masses, as I don’t have anyone to talk about domestic issues with over here. I haven’t worked with an Australia in, gosh, 3 or 4 years now, so while I’m still working with non-Chinese people (and non-Korean’s before) I’m still, by definition, working completely with foreigners.

I suppose that was why it came as a huge surprise to me to meet a Perth girl working for another branch in our academy.

A good example of how far detached I am from Australian news was the dumping of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for the deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. I was never a big fan of Kevin Rudd, I don’t voted for him, but I didn’t know his popularity had dropped to the point where his own party had elected him out. So alas, Australia has a new Prime Minister, and it’s first female one. Of course she wasn’t elected, but then neither was Kevin Rudd or any other Prime Minister, one simply votes for the party not the person so the party, as illustrated by the events of last week, as they decided on a new party leader to take control of the country.

It’s a little scary to think the government can put someone in power that the Australian people haven’t really taken into consideration during the last Federal election. Is this democracy? I suppose it is, but surely a federal election would have at least been a better option given the fact that most people didn’t like Rudd and the policies the Labor Party were pushing through. If the party didn’t like Rudd’s new taxes, etc, they could have thrown them out in the senate, but instead stood silent and showed their support. If they didn’t agree, the senators should have voted against these changes instead doing nothing, which is actually a misuse of their powers.

We don’t elect senator to please their party. We elect them to represent the people.

In my opinion, the Labor government should have called the election and have the people judge their fate.

Kim Jong-Il takes a trip to China’s North.

It looks like North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Il, has taken a little trip to North-East China, no doubt scoping out some prime real-estate for more Sino-North Korean economic development. Of course, when one says ‘economic development’ and ‘North Korea’ in the same sentence, it’s more along the lines of some token charity business that will help a select few North Koreans from not starving this year.

Either way, it was Kim Jong-Il’s first overseas visit in a few years, marking a strong indication that the leader has recovered well from his strokes from a couple of years back.

The Republic of Korea (ROK) based Yonhap News reported that Kim entered China by a 17-carriage train on Monday and spent the night in Dalian, a northeast port city known as a model of market reforms.

He was found to have traveled to a development project area, some 30 kilometers from Dalian, and inspected a port under construction there

Source: China.org.cn

The trip is closely being watched by sources in both Japan and South Korea, the second of which has pointed the finger directly at North Korea (unofficially) for the sinking of one of it’s navy craft. China, on the other hand, have wisely decided to remain neutral in the debate until further evidence can be made indicating that indeed a North Korean submarine did in fact sink the South Korea ship. China’s main priority is getting North Korea back to the six-party talks, so this little economic sweeter may just be the key for that.

Kim Yong-hyun, a DPRK expert at Dongguk University, was quoted by Chosun IIbo as saying, "The DPRK’s main interest is in economic assistance from China, and China’s top priority is to set a date for DPRK to return to the Six-Party Talks and reaffirm Pyongyang’s willingness to scrap its nuclear weapons."

I’m always amazed that no matter how bad the North Korean’s are, they always manage to persuade some concessions out of either China and the United States when they have decided to walk away from talks. Of course the concessions both super-powers to concede are relatively small-potatoes, but the principal of giving in remains a problem. Still, if they can get away with it, even if only a few times, then why wouldn’t they. Let’s face it, they have nothing to lose (the people, that is).

The more time I spend reading Chinese news the more I begin to realize that the whole North-South Korea-United States tensions are somewhat an annoyance and problematic to the Chinese people. I would go far to say that China sees these problems are a hindrance to doing some serious business in North Korea, where the labor is cheap, resources are to be had, and would have huge bargaining power over an otherwise bankrupt country. China loses a lot of these powers having to play a role as mediator to all parties concerned.

As for the developing news with the sinking of the South Korean Cheonan naval ship, it’ll be interesting to see how China approach North Korea should the verdict be that they indeed did fire a torpedo at the vessel.

In all seriousness, I wouldn’t be so worried about China, the South response will be a lot more interesting and no doubt China will again have to play mediator to stop any sort of retaliation.

*Photo above: Kim Jong-Il inspects a cake factory. ‘Where’s the Uranium?’ Feel free to add your own caption.

Slapping your kids.

I don’t have children, so I’m not sure how strong my opinion really rates with this post, bt I’m sure those of you that do will be interested to read this article from news.com.au.

A MUM was hauled before police and accused of assault after disciplining her nine-year-old daughter with a wooden spoon.

Officers warned Claire Davidson she risked being charged with "assault with a weapon" after her daughter revealed during a classroom discussion on bullying that her mum smacked her.

Wow. I never knew that disciplining your own children was a criminal offence. Personally speaking, I don’t really ever being hit with a wooden spoon during my youth, but if I ever was I’m sure I probably would have deserved it.

A shocked Ms Davidson told the Herald Sun a support worker from Yea Primary School reported her to police.

Ms Davidson said she grew up with a wooden spoon in the house and admitted she and her partner, Joe Oravec, used it – sparingly – on their Year 3 daughter, Anna.

When I grew up I was given a slap on more than a few occasions, and while I didn’t enjoy being disciplined, I can tell you now it was a good motivating factor in me not wanting to misbehave. As a result I turned out to be a simply wonder and awesome* child to my parents.

Ms Davidson, of Flowerdale, said officers at the sexual offences and child abuse unit at Seymour spoke to her daughter: "She (the officer) said if it did happen again, or was reported to her again, she would charge us with assault with a weapon."

I don’t think poor Anna had much to worry about any more. No threats of being smack and I’m sure the threat of no dessert will be returned with an assault charge of neglecting to  feed her child.

In a society where young adults run amok with very little boundaries, one really has to question the newly adopted method of not being able to smack your children. While I’m sure no parents enjoys slapping their children, and when I say slapping I mean a firm slap that won’t cause bodily injury, I have no doubts the positive results completely outweigh any negative ones.

Are there any parents out there who don’t slap their children? Were you slapped as a child? What are your thoughts?

* Perhaps a slight exaggeration.

Burger resturant opens in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Sorry to make it two North Korean posts in a row but I could let this one slip. I’m happy to see that North Korea has it’s first hamburger joint in the country’s capital, Pyongyang.

Once condemned as evil “U.S. imperialist” fare, Western-style fast food is now available in North Korea thanks to a Singaporean entrepreneur who is already drawing up expansion plans just months after opening his first outlet.

The first branch of Samtaesong (“three big stars”), as Waffletown is known in North Korea, started operating in May after Soh’s company got the first license awarded to a foreign fast food outlet.

Well done. I’m a little surprised it’s a Singaporean company, one of the Mecca’s of capitalism in Asia, but I figure their burger have to be miles better than the local burger places in China.

Burgers, called “minced beef and bread” to mask their American association, are the biggest attraction at the eatery, which also sells fries, crispy Belgian waffles, fried chicken and — the latest addition — hotdogs.

I’m sure marketing have along way to go. Minced Beef and Bread isn’t quite the same as a Big Mac, although one does have to admit that it does have a very North Korean touch to it.

A North Korean delegation paid a visit to Singapore early this year to sample the fare at a Waffletown outlet.

“They came and tried the food and liked the waffle, burgers and fried chicken,” Soh said over coffee at the outlet, located in an upmarket neighborhood near Singapore’s Orchard Road shopping belt.

I’m fairly confident I could cook anything for a few North Korean’s and they’d be happy to eat it, as long as it wasn’t made from bark or grass. Still, one can only imagine the reaction when they took their first bite of a juice cheeseburger, a greasy piece of chicken, or a waffle smothered with cream and apricot jam.

Local worker are very intelligent and eager to learn, Soh said.

“I don’t need to spend much time to train them. I take about two, three days and they have a grasp of the work.”

God only know what what happen to them if they lost their job. Still, it highlights how important a job is to how well one will go about doing it. In a society where we can easily chop and change our own jobs, we somehow take a lot of it for granted. I’m pretty sure any Australian teenager would have a hard time matching the efficiency or dedication to a North Korean Samtaesong employee.

A “minced beef and bread” costs 1.20-1.70 euros (US$1.77 to US$2.50) and about 300 are sold each day, said Soh.

With an average GDP of $1,140 US dollars a year, that’s a hefty price to pay for a Minced Beef and Bread. Compared to an average Australian income of $46,000 US a year we can work out the following (for the cost of the cheapest burger);

If the average weekly pay for a NK citizen is ($21US) and Australian ($884US) one burger represents 8.4% of a NK’s average weekly pay (0.2% for Australia)

I don’t see many Pyongyang citizen’s going out and buying them.

Let’s consider a Mac Donald’s Cheeseburger which costs $1.95US ($1.76US). That’s almost identical to what the cheapest Minces meat with Bread is going for. Basically, in a nutshell, the people of Pyongyang are paying the same price for a Minced Beef and Bread as they would a Mac Donald’s cheeseburger in Australia despite the fact that they earn 40 times less than Australian’s per year (and one has to assume that most of that money is in the upper level of North Korean government).

So when Mr. Kim of Pyongyang buys his Minced Beef and Bread, it’s like you buying 40 cheeseburgers from Mac Donald’s.

I’m sure I could have worked all that out a lot quicker.

Source: China Post

Hey Hey! We’re racists!

Slightly old news now, but I thought I’d bring up the ‘black insult’ skit on ‘Hey, Hey, it’s Saturday‘. For those non-Australian’s, Hey, Hey, It’s Saturday was a variety show that used be on in the 80’s and early 90’s every Saturday evening. It’s some what iconic in Australia and did have a huge following. They re-started it a few weeks back with most of the old crew. Having not see the new series, I can’t comment too much about it.

The problem is one skit where some of the performers dressed up with painted black faces that were suppose to represent the Jackson Five. There was also one member with a painted white face representing Michael Jackson.

AMERICANS have condemned the Hey Hey It’s Saturday "Jackson Five" skit, with US TV talkshows, news bulletins and talkback radio debating whether it was racist and if Harry Connick Jr was correct to take a stand.

On one of America’s top-rating morning TV talkshows, The View, the skit was labelled "demeaning".

You can have a look at the video here and make up your mind;

If you fast forward to the end, they give Harry Connick Jr the chance to talk about what the skit would mean to Americans. It also gave the host of the show, Darryl Summers, the chance to apologies to him and the viewers. Connick’s comments sounded more than fair, and while he understood the skit was done in good humor, he highlighted the fact that it was very poor taste.

"I know it was done humorously, but, you know, we have spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that we take it really to heart," Connick Jr said.

Personally speaking, such a skit should have never been put on air. I can understand if this skit was show in the 80’s, simply because as a society we weren’t as sensitive to material like this, but to show it live on air now? Well that’s inexcusable.

The major US TV networks NBC, CBS and ABC all carried the story and morning shows, Good Morning America and the CBS Early Show, also aired segments.

The skit was also debated passionately online.

On the website of leading American news magazine, Newsweek, Australian and American readers argued.

"Thanks Harry Connick Jr, for showing the world that all whites are NOT racist buffoons," a Newsweek reader wrote.

Like us Australian’s don’t have a hard enough time throwing off the stigma of being racists. But with shows like Hey Hey, why wouldn’t anyone think differently?