2010 Shanghai World Expo

8 confirmed dead in Manila hostage taking incident, says Chinese FM spokesman

At least eight tourists from Hong Kong were confirmed dead and another two seriously injured in a bus hijack in Manila Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Monday night.

“The Chinese government expresses its grave condolence to the victims and its deep sympathy to the families of those Hong Kong compatriots,” Ma said in a statement and they condemn the violence of the hijacker, and will send a working team to the Philippines to deal with the aftermath, he said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also held a phone conversation with Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang over the tragedy. They agreed that the working teams sent by the Foreign Ministry and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will cooperate in dealing with the aftermath. Tsang also appreciated the central government’s efforts.

A bus carrying 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos was hijacked in the Philippine capital Monday morning by a former Police Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza.

Mendoza, who is demanding the authorities to be reinstated to the service, released some hostages but kept 15 Chinese nationals in the coach until he was found dead after local police assaulted the bus Monday night.

The Chinese government, which attached great importance to the case, has urged the Philippine side to spare no efforts in rescuing the hostages on precondition that their safety is ensured, Ma said.

The related Chinese departments will keep close contact with the Philippine side and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government to make all-out efforts to rescue the wounded and to properly deal with the aftermath, he said.

“China has requested the Philippine side to take pragmatic measures to ensure life and property safety of Chinese nationals in the country,” Ma said.

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Visit Shanghai World Expo now to avoid huge crowds

The World Expo 2010 Organizer advises people to make an early visit to avoid overcrowding in the event’s final two months. 

Only 60,000 group tourists are expected today and tomorrow, and the weather is ideal, the Organizer said. 

Huge attendance is expected at the World Expo from mid September to the end of October, according to the experiences of previous World Expos. 

As of yesterday, more than 18 million tickets had yet to be used, said the ticketing center of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination. 

Visitor number topped 47 million at 9:30am today.

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Double Seventh Festival

The Double Seventh Festival, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, is a traditional festival full of romance. It often goes into August in the Gregorian calendar.

This festival is in mid-summer when the weather is warm and the grass and trees reveal their luxurious greens. At night when the sky is dotted with stars, and people can see the Milky Way spanning from the north to the south. On each bank of it is a bright star, which see each other from afar. They are the Cowherd and Weaver Maid, and about them there is a beautiful love story passed down from generation to generation.

Long, long ago, there was an honest and kind-hearted fellow named Niu Lang (Cowhand). His parents died when he was a child. Later he was driven out of his home by his sister-in-law. So he lived by himself herding cattle and farming. One day, a fairy from heaven Zhi Nu (Weaver Maid) fell in love with him and came down secretly to earth and married him. The cowhand farmed in the field and the Weaver Maid wove at home. They lived a happy life and gave birth to a boy and a girl. Unfortunately, the God of Heaven soon found out the fact and ordered the Queen Mother of the Western Heavens to bring the Weaver Maid back.

With the help of celestial cattle, the Cowhand flew to heaven with his son and daughter. At the time when he was about to catch up with his wife, the Queen Mother took off one of her gold hairpins and made a stroke. One billowy river appeared in front of the Cowhand. The Cowhand and Weaver Maid were separated on the two banks forever and could only feel their tears. Their loyalty to love touched magpies, so tens of thousands of magpies came to build a bridge for the Cowhand and Weaver Maid to meet each other. The Queen Mother was eventually moved and allowed them to meet each year on the 7th of the 7th lunar month. Hence their meeting date has been called “Qi Xi” (Double Seventh).

Scholars have shown the Double Seventh Festival originated from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD220). Historical documents from the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD371-420) mention the festival, while records from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) depict the grand evening banquet of Emperor Taizong and his concubines. By the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties, special articles for the “Qi Xi” were seen being sold on markets in the capital. The bustling markets demonstrated the significance of the festival.

Today some traditional customs are still observed in rural areas of China, but have been weakened or diluted in urban cities. However, the legend of the Cowhand and Weaver Maid has taken root in the hearts of the people. In recent years, in particular, urban youths have celebrated it as Valentine’s Day in China. As a result, owners of flower shops, bars and stores are full of joy as they sell more commodities for love.

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Chongqing Zoo–Bochao

Zebra in Chongqing Zoo

Bochao–3 Years Old

Bochao and his friend

Elephant in Chongqing Zoo

Bochao--Very Happy!

We were visited the Chongqing Zoo on August 21th 2010.  It’s wonderful day!

 Wendy, Shanghai World Expo, TV Frame, Microplus Membrane, SEO Services, SEO Tools

Chinese Tea–Green tea

Green Tea

Chinese tea may be classified into five categories according to the different methods by which it is processed: Green Tea; Black Tea;Oolong Tea;Compressed Tea and Scented Tea.

Green tea is the variety that keeps the original color of the tealeaves without fermentation during processing. This category consists mainly of Longjing tea of Zhejiang Province, Maofeng of Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province and Biluochun produced in Jiangsu.Green Tea is the most natural of all Chinese teaclasses. It’s picked, naturally dried, and then fried briefly (a process called “killing the green”) to get rid of its grassy smell. Green Tea has the most medical value and the least caffeine content of all Chinese tea classes. Aroma is medium to high, and flavor is light to medium. About 50% of China’s teas are Green tea.

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Shanghai World Expo grieves for Zhouqu Gansu

As a blessing of Gansu......

People crowded the Gansu Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo to pay their respects to the victims of the August 8 mudslide in the province. At 10am, people in the pavilion, wearing small plastic white flowers, observed three minutes of silence. They then removed the flowers and put them on a glass table under a map of Gansu, on which Zhouqu, where the disaster struck, was highlighted.
Du Jingli, 50, from Gansu, placed her flower on the table and gazed at the map. “I don’t know what to say, I just feel sad,” she said. Du had planned to visit the China Pavilion first, but changed her mind when she learned about the tribute.
The pavilion was dark as most of its lights were turned off. Only a few were used to illuminate a banner saying “Deep Condolences to People Killed in the Zhouqu Mudslide.” It was written in large black Chinese characters and hung in the pavilion’s main exhibition room.”Let’s remember the lost lives, put aside the pain and join hands in rebuilding Zhouqu,” Li Shumin, deputy head of the pavilion, said after the ceremony.
Mourning events were also held outside the Gansu Pavilion. In the Pavilion of Public Participation, people gathered to fold paper cranes, a traditional symbol of good wishes, to pay tribute to the lives lost in the disaster.  hope that the victims can rest in peace and the survivors can be stronger,” said visitor Zhao Xing.
The 2010 Shanghai Expo Bureau halted all entertainment activities on the grounds yesterday.The Gansu Pavilion will not hold any entertainment activities until September, spokesman Wang Shigang said. The pavilions for Italy, United Kingdom, France, Romania and Croatia, among others, lowered flags to commemorate the victims. Workers at the Pavilion of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies gave visitors red bracelets.
Visitors could also write messages for people in Zhouqu in a book near a donation box. Both their words and donations would be sent to the Red Cross Society of Shanghai, Wang said.
“Although my family is not in Zhouqu, I’m still worried about them,” said a visitor surnamed Wang, a native of Gansu who works in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. A student volunteer at the China Pavilion, Yang Yaoci, 20, lost seven relatives back in his hometown in Zhouqu County. An ethnic Tibetan and a junior student, Yang started working at the Expo with 1,160 other volunteers from the Shanghai Institute of Electric Power on August 9.

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Visitors’ spirits high on 100th day of Shanghai World Expo

Ni Dan, 20, and two of his classmates were sitting at the front of a long queue outside Gate No. 6 of the World Expo Park. They had been there for six hours and it was just 4 a.m. Sunday.

“We chose to visit Expo today for three reasons: it’s Expo’s 100th day, it’s the two-year anniversary of the Beijing Olympic Games, plus it’s the eighth day of the eighth month,” Ni said. Eight is considered by many Chinese an auspicious number that brings fortune.

Just graduated from a high school in east China’s Jiangsu Province, Ni and his friends will have to separate to study in colleges in different parts of China and some will even go abroad. “We want to mark our friendship with this special day,” one of Ni’s friends said.

Ni and his friends planned to stay in the park for 12 hours after they get in. “We may get tired. But it will be worth it.”

The moon was still on the sky when more people were joining the long lines of thousands of people each, five hours before the gate would open.

Sitting on the ground or on 10-yuan (about 1.5 U.S. dollars) plastic foldable stools newly purchased from vendors, people chatted, played cards or meditated to reserve energy for a very long day of waiting, walking, viewing and waiting again.

“It would be a magnificent sight when the gate opens. Just imagine tens of thousands of people all wanting to get in at the same time,” said He Wenping, 46, from central China’s Hubei Province. On Saturday, she and her daughter came to the gate at 5 a.m. and managed to visit six pavilions. “We plan to finish all of them in three days.”

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South Africa celebrates today

South Afica Pavilion

South Africa celebrates its National Pavilion Day today with an evening gala dedicated to South African women and their contributions to freedom.The pavilion adopts a simple design to create a peaceful and quiet atmosphere. The arched door looks like a huge canopy, while the interior is decorated with textures in various colors. It signifies the diversity of South African culture and the nation’s confidence in building a better life for its people.
Inside the pavilion is an open area with round pads made of ostrich leather. Around the area are timbers representing traditional villages and fences, with humanity at its center. The pavilion theme is “Rise of a Modern Economy – Ke Nako!”

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Dams strained as rains pound flooded NE China

Continuous rains in Northeast China’s Jilin province are raising pressures on already strained reservoirs, many of which have had to discharge water or risk embankment breaches.

Rainfall reached 204 mm over the previous 24 hours as of 8 am Thursday in central Jilin, the provincial meteorological station said.

Rainstorms began to pour in Gongzhuling city and Lishu county at 2 pm Thursday, with the highest rainfall reaching 121 mm in Lishu, according to the station.

Constant rains had forced seven of the 25 medium and large reservoirs in Jilin city, including Fengman, Baishan and Xingxingshao, to discharge water, and their levels were falling, according to Jilin municipal government.

At Fengman Reservoir, the largest reservoir on the Songhua River, the speed of the discharge had reached 4,500 cubic meters per second, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

Thousands of people had been deployed to watch embankments and dams, and a 24-hour monitoring system had been set up to ensure the safety of reservoirs, said Wang Rulin, governor of Jilin province.

In Liuhe county, Tonghua city, 15,702 residents had been evacuated to 10 safe locations as the county braced for the second wave of floods, according to the county’s flood control headquarters.

In Linjiang city which borders the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea along the Yalu River, three townships had been cut off by rain-triggered floods and mudflows, and 38,000 residents were relocated from other parts of the city as more torrential rains were forecast for the next two days, said Yin Xiangmei, deputy mayor of the city.

Floods on Saturday cut the drinking water supply to more than 68,000 city residents for more than 120 hours.

Although tap water supplies resumed at 5 pm Wednesday, it would take at least three days for the water to clear so it was potable, said Zou Jichun, manager of the tap water company.

Many water meters needed to be replaced as they were broken or blocked by the mud and sand in the water, Zou said.

The city’s fire trucks had been mobilized to provide drinking water to the public, and two mountain springs in the suburbs were serving as backup water sources.

The Jilin provincial government had allocated 270 million yuan ($39.87 million) for flood control, disaster relief and reconstruction as of Wednesday, said Jilin Assistant Governor Wang Huawen Thursday.

Heavy rains had also hit nearby Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and Shandong, with Liaoning, Shandong and Hebei issuing torrential rain alerts.

In Xingcheng, Huludao city, of Liaoning, 10 workers doing dredging work in a river were stranded on an island before they were rescued.

National Road 102 from Beijing to Shuangcheng city, Heilongjiang province, was disrupted at the section in Xingcheng, and workers were rushing to repair it, according to Huludao City Government.

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Smothering heat fails to diminish Shanghai Expo crowds

More than 330,000 visitors entered the Expo site as of 7:30pm yesterday despite a record high temperature of 39 degrees Celsius.

Among yesterday’s visitors, 107,417 came in tour groups and 30,051 were local residents who used complimentary tickets offered by the Shanghai government.

A total 54,861 tickets were sold at the gates, 22,742 of them for evening visit.

Statistics obtained at 6pm yesterday showed that 62,000 visitors had passed through Houtan entrance, compared with 49,000 at Shangnan Road entrance, 54,000 at Changqing Road entrance and 41,000 at Gaoke Road W. entrance.

As many as 75 shows were performed at Expo venues from morning to 5pm yesterday, attracting 49,200 spectators. Some 6,009 volunteers worked on the site.

Five health clinics on the site had treated 517 visitors by 4pm. Forty-nine of them suffered minor injuries while 85 suffered heat strokes.

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