By Beijing Today Staff
December 21, 2012 is the end of the world’s current cycle and everything is about to reset, according to the Mayan calendar.
What would you do today if the world came to an end tomorrow? Beijing Today collected replies from people around Beijing. The answers are diverse and reflect an assortment of views and lifestyles.
Our questions also include, which book, movie or song you would bring to the afterlife if the world ends tomorrow?
Smile!
I would spend the day with my family for a great meal and review our happy times together and then face the disaster. Meanwhile, I’d prepare a lot of materials to deal with the situation, especially drinking water and food. There is always hope, and I would not want to die from starving after we survive the disaster.
For music, I prefer songs by Jacky Zhang, a singer from Hong Kong. as his songs are so comforting no matter whether it’s the last day of the world or the days after.
– Qi Dafu, member of Beijing Farmer’s Market
By Zhang Dongya
Environmental elements are becoming important considerations for China’s architects.
Last year, the state-owned steel giant Shougang Group decided to end its production and transform the former factory into a “green steel city” of the future.
The project is being hailed as a new model for “green transformation” in the country.
Earlier last year, Shougang Group halted production at its Shijingshan factory.
The death of the factory was part of the company’s 4.6-billion-yuan effort to reinvent the area as a modern “green steel city.” No less than 30 percent of that investment would go toward protecting and improving the factory’s environment.
To shape its green vision, Shougang enlisted the help of ZNA, a Boston-based architecture and urban design firm that collected development ideas for the Ertong factory through the 2011 Architects in Mission (AIM) contest.
The contest brought together experts in architecture, landscaping and urban design and distributed five awards for Best Planning, Best Architecture Design, Best Exterior Space Design and Best Sustainable Design to projects from the Netherlands, Norway and China.
The winner of Best Sustainable Design was “Vertical Park,” the design by Li Zhonghui, a student from China Academy of Art that took used the shape of a smokestack as a symbol for “green transformation.”
“It’s a genius solution and symbolic of transforming the city’s pollution,” said judge Thomas Schroepfer.
The Best Planning Award went to a trio from Tsinghua University, which was made up of three students from different countries: Martijin de Geus from the Netherlands, Tan Guang Ruey from Malaysia and Lian Xiaogang from China. Tan said their different backgrounds helped them open their minds.
The Best Exterior Space Design Award winner was Jin Longqiang from the Olso School of Architecture and Design in Norway. He sees future construction as moving away from high-rises and prefers to work with more interactive and dynamic buildings.
Wang Xu, director of the AIM committee, said the old factory gave participants a harder challenge.
“The factory covers a huge area. If mishandled, the project will fail,” he said.
“Since it is located at the west end of Chang’an Avenue near Third Ring Road, special consideration is necessary in connecting it to the surrounding environment,” he said.
Ertong, located in Fengtai District, is an 83-hectare plot with some 300,000 square meters of building space. It has been dormant since 1997, but still has its old machinery and locomotives, which will be preserved during the transformation.
The old factory began its transformation into an animation and game industry center last June.
“[That role] will certainly inspire the future transformation of the factory. Some good ideas are sure to be put into consideration,” said Chen Shijie, assistant general manager of Shougang Group.
Despite China’s rapid building efforts, “green architecture” has remained elusive. It is often rejected early in the process as too expensive.
“However, some foreign architecture companies are changing the face of the local industry, and there are more and more examples that show green architecture can be environmentally friendly and sustainable,” Li Zhonghui said.
“Another part of “green design” is more effective use of city space. This can dramatically improve the quality of urban life,” he said.
“I’m excited to see how the interest in green architecture will change the way we live.”
By Zhang Dongya
Environmental elements are becoming important considerations for China’s architects.
Last year, the state-owned steel giant Shougang Group decided to end its production and transform the former factory into a “green steel city” of the future.
The project is being hailed as a new model for “green transformation” in the country.
Shougang Group hopes to turn its old steel factory green. Photos by Mockingbird
Earlier last year, Shougang Group halted production at its Shijingshan factory.
The death of the factory was part of the company’s 4.6-billion-yuan effort to reinvent the area as a modern “green steel city.” No less than 30 percent of that investment would go toward protecting and improving the factory’s environment.
To shape its green vision, Shougang enlisted the help of ZNA, a Boston-based architecture and urban design firm that collected development ideas for the Ertong factory through the 2011 Architects in Mission (AIM) contest.
Vertical greening is popular in urban design. CFP photo
The contest brought together experts in architecture, landscaping and urban design and distributed five awards for Best Planning, Best Architecture Design, Best Exterior Space Design and Best Sustainable Design to projects from the Netherlands, Norway and China.
The winner of Best Sustainable Design was “Vertical Park,” the design by Li Zhonghui, a student from China Academy of Art that took used the shape of a smokestack as a symbol for “green transformation.”
“It’s a genius solution and symbolic of transforming the city’s pollution,” said judge Thomas Schroepfer.
The Best Planning Award went to a trio from Tsinghua University, which was made up of three students from different countries: Martijin de Geus from the Netherlands, Tan Guang Ruey from Malaysia and Lian Xiaogang from China. Tan said their different backgrounds helped them open their minds.
The Best Exterior Space Design Award winner was Jin Longqiang from the Olso School of Architecture and Design in Norway. He sees future construction as moving away from high-rises and prefers to work with more interactive and dynamic buildings.
Wang Xu, director of the AIM committee, said the old factory gave participants a harder challenge.
By Annie Wei
For a decade, the Beijing Municipal Administration Committee has been trying to pass garbage regulations that would make every resident responsible for reducing and classifying waste, as well as paying for his or her own waste disposal. It also asked companies and individuals to avoid using unrecyclable products.
Waste management has become a tough civil project. According to the committee, Beijing produces 18,000 tons of kitchen waste every day.
The city has 27 garbage disposal factories, and 17 more will be created during the 11th Five-Year Plan. But without responsible civil action, that may not be enough.
Free bins and bags
In 2009, the Beijing government began a garbage classification trial in 600 residential communities.
In the past, residents simply dumped trash into one of two big barrels, labeled “recyclable” and “non-recyclable.” The new project improved on the system.
Each family was given two standard bins and garbage bags, and was encouraged to separate kitchen waste from paper, batteries and plastic. The kitchen waste was to be collected in a green garbage bag, where it would be delivered to a nearby plant and converted into organic fertilizer.
Last year, the government planned to distribute free bins and garbage bags in another 1,200 communities.
But despite the government’s good intentions, many environmentally concerned residents said the project isn’t working.
A resident, Sun Hao, who lives in Xicheng District, said many of her neighbors aren’t familiar with the concept of garbage classification. Garbage is garbage: they all go into the same bins.
Lawyer-turned-crusader
Not everyone is standing idly.
Huang Xiaoshan, 49, a well-off former lawyer, is on the front lines of the fight for disposal decorum. Since last February, he’s been leading a self-created company that acts as an intermediary between residents and government trash collection agencies.
In a coffee shop in Nüren Jie, Huang looks the part of the environmental activist: slim, tanned, with purple-dyed hair and white-frame glasses, a rosy colored tight T-shirt and tattered jeans. The only accessory that suggests Huang is a man of means – and one with real clout – is his LV belt.
Huang said he got involved in 2009 when he joined protesters to fend off plans to build a landfill in Napa Valley of Xiaotangshan, where he lives. Last year, he joined officials and experts on a trip to Japan, sponsored by the local government, to learn about garbage disposal. CCTV, Phoenix TV and Beijing Evening News were among the media outlets that identified Huang as a leader in the grassroots garbage disposal campaign.
Impressed by Japan’s advanced trash disposal technology and its citizenry’s awareness of garbage classification, Huang couldn’t help but wonder why garbage classification was so difficult for his neighbors back home.
“Garbage classification is not a technological issue; it’s a conceptual one,” he said. It’s a process that both the government and citizens must take time to learn.
Huang said he travels abroad every year and notices Chinese people act differently when home and abroad. “They don’t honk their horns, spit or jaywalk [in foreign places] like they do here,” he said.
He concluded that garbage classification first needs to be drafted into law so that people are forced to take responsibility for their actions. Last year he came up with the slogan: “No garbage classification, no disposal.”
‘Green house’
Huang faces an uphill battle. Relying on volunteers and old hutong residents to spread the word – or pamphlets and slogans – isn’t enough.
“Garbage classification is an eclectic system, consisting of classification, collection, transportation and disposal,” he said.
Then there’s this: the waste from Chinese families is different from that of many other countries. Chinese cooks use lots of fresh vegetables and a variety of oils and ingredients. As a result, 65 percent of household waste is liquid.
“Of the 18,000 tons of household garbage produced every day, 12,000 tons is kitchen waste and 8,000 tons is liquid,” Huang said.
Beijing has a limited number of landfills, and the amount of trash that’s produced puts a lot of stress on garbage trucks.
In January, Huang proposed a “green house” project to the government, basically suggesting garbage be sorted according to “wet” or “dry.”
“My basic idea was that each community build a 10-square-meter house, painted green, where garbage is separated,” Huang said.
His proposal is practical on many levels. For example, it would recruit many migrant garbage collectors into the system. A green house would help the economy, too: residents would stand to make 0.18 to 0.20 yuan for selling aluminum cans of soft drinks.
Huang said he and his friends did not think the government would take the proposal seriously, but after Spring Festival, he got a call from Deng Jun, vice director of the solid waste department of Beijing Municipal Administration Committee.
The government was receptive to Huang’s idea, Deng said. The green house project was a good supplement for the city to improve garbage classification and reduce waste.
Deng said he hoped that Huang could give more detailed information about the plan and an estimated budget.
Future of collection?
Since February, Huang has been working on his green house project. To register his company – Lüshidan –Huang had to give up his law license.
Huang’s first step was to find a machine that could effectively sort wet and dry garbage. His project attracted many companies’ interest – “I have talked with more than 30 environmental companies and visited quite a few,” Huang said – but few have impressed him.
“A lot of companies are not doing this out of concern for the environment,” Huang said. “They just want to make money. And the technology and machinery they’re offering doesn’t do the job.”
He said he might just design one himself.
Huang was confident that with a team, he can begin installing green houses and sorting. He gets many emails every day from people who are excited about his project and willing to volunteer.
But even if the infrastructure gets put into place, there is still the human problem. The task of convincing people to buy into his work is daunting – it includes distributing brochures, educating people and collecting data about each household’s garbage output.
Huang is beginning a long journey, but at least he’s willing to wade into the marshes.
After three years of calling on the government and public to look for better methods in garbage disposal, he finally won approval to begin his green house project in three trial locations this March.
By Annie Wei
For a decade, the Beijing Municipal Administration Committee has been trying to pass garbage regulations that would make every resident responsible for reducing and classifying waste, as well as paying for his or her own waste disposal. It also asked companies and individuals to avoid using unrecyclable products.
Waste management has become a tough civil project. According to the committee, Beijing produces 18,000 tons of kitchen waste every day.
The city has 27 garbage disposal factories, and 17 more will be created during the 11th Five-Year Plan. But without responsible civil action, that may not be enough.
Many Chinese cities are being surrounded by garbage dumps. CFP Photo
Free bins and bags
In 2009, the Beijing government began a garbage classification trial in 600 residential communities.
In the past, residents simply dumped trash into one of two big barrels, labeled “recyclable” and “non-recyclable.” The new project improved on the system.
Each family was given two standard bins and garbage bags, and was encouraged to separate kitchen waste from paper, batteries and plastic. The kitchen waste was to be collected in a green garbage bag, where it would be delivered to a nearby plant and converted into organic fertilizer.
Last year, the government planned to distribute free bins and garbage bags in another 1,200 communities.
But despite the government’s good intentions, many environmentally concerned residents said the project isn’t working.
A resident, Sun Hao, who lives in Xicheng District, said many of her neighbors aren’t familiar with the concept of garbage classification. Garbage is garbage: they all go into the same bins.
By Annie Wei
Food safety concerns have led thousands of urban shoppers to explore Farmer’s Market, a volunteer group bringing organic produce to the capital.
Within one year, the group hosted events from once a few months to almost every one or two weeks, with more than 30 farmers and thousands of visitors attending each time.
Too pricy?
Farmer’s Market has been operating since 2010. But unlike similar markets abroad, Beijing’s is less like a flea market for fresh produce than a trendy lifestyle destination for well-to-do families.
With 25,000 followers of its Sina Weibo (@farmersmarketbj), the market has made considerable efforts to address misunderstandings about its sales. A minority of shoppers have complained about prices that, in some cases, exceed eight times the going supermarket rate.
But organic produce costs more: especially in China – and especially in a city like Beijing, which is notorious for its poor and polluted soil.
“You cannot expect to pay the same as you would at a supermarket,” said Jin Jiashu, 39, a market volunteer who works in the IT industry.
Jin moved from Shenzhen to Beijing in 2008 with the dream of starting a direct organic market in the capital. But he soon found that China’s organic farms were scattered all over the country and totally disconnected from an distributors.
“That was when I ran into Farmer’s Market. As I got to know the organizers, I found we were very like-minded,” Jin said. He has since shifted his start-up plans to a low-carbon social network called Lohasoo.com.
With much of the design and programming work being handled by other engineers, Jin prefers to donate his time at the market.
A trusting system
But can the vendors be trusted?
“At first, the market was just a few farmers that we trusted. Then it started to explode,” said Chang Tianle, a former NGO worker and full-time Farmer’s Market volunteer.
One of the most important jobs at the market is to visit each farm and interview its owners before inviting them to sell.
There is currently a very long list of vendors looking to get into the market, but without more volunteers to inspect their farms, Cheng said they will have to wait. Chang is considering switching to a system that would assign vendor screening to a third party.
Market organizers use their Sina Weibo account to announce their inspections of each new farm so interested customers can ride along.
“We hope our customers’ experience with organic produce doesn’t end at the market. They should learn more about how organic food is actually grown, where it comes from and more about the farmers,” Jin said.
Little kitchen
The volunteers’ effort has not gone unappreciated. Of the current 30 vendors, almost all attend every Farmer’s Market events, Chang said.
Dealing with customers face to face has helped many farmers learn what consumers want. The praise they’ve received for the quality of their produce has helped bolster their confidence in organic farming, Chang said.
It doesn’t hurt that the vendors are not charged for their stands.
To raise more money for advertising, market organizers began a second project called “Little Kitchen.” The kitchen concept was first proposed by Emi Uemura, a Japanese woman and the founder of Farmer’s Market.
At one market session last January, the venue decided to charge the group 500 yuan. Farmers donated some of their vegetables and volunteers decided to cook and sell food, using that to raise money.
The amount of food they sold could barely meet the demands of shoppers.
“We earned 10,000 yuan through Little Kitchen because the Halloween party brought in 4,000 visitors. We prepared a lot of food,” said Yu Lu, the head chef of Little Kitchen.
Yu came to Beijing from Shanghai early last year after marrying a Beijing man. She quickly discovered Farmer’s Market, and Chang encouraged her to get involved with the kitchen.
For the Halloween event, Yu and three volunteers began preparing dishes three days in advance. At most market events, Little Kitchen earns between 1,000 and 2,000 yuan. On its worst month, it earned only 80 yuan after deducting the cost of raw materials.
Priority issues
Having found reliable vendors, venues and customers, the market is now looking for full-time employees.
While core volunteers like Jin Jiashu, Yu Lu, Chang Tianle and Qi Yang have worked essentially for free, they hope the next round of people involved in the market will be able to get something back for their contributions, Chang said.
Ma Xiaochao, 25, a Beijinger who recently returned to the capital after working on a farm in Anhui Province, is one such member.
“When I was in school, I was very interested in Chinese agriculture,” Ma said.
She previously worked with an NGO providing aid to migrant workers in Shanghai. After that she got involved in organic farming.
While cities such as Chengdu and Guangzhou have a long history of organizing farmer’s markets, the groups have done little to help farmers and consumers expand their knowledge of organic agriculture, Chang said. Unpaid volunteers could never devote enough time to the cause.
“Beijing is different,” she said, because it became so popular so quickly.
“At first we only planned to host it once every several months as a symbolic gesture of our support for organic food, but the strong response from consumers showed we would be able to make a difference,” Chang said.
By Annie Wei
Food safety concerns have led thousands of urban shoppers to explore Farmer’s Market, a volunteer group bringing organic produce to the capital.
Within one year, the group hosted events from once a few months to almost every one or two weeks, with more than 30 farmers and thousands of visitors attending each time.
The core volunteers of Beijing Farmer's Market/Photos by Wang Chen
Too pricy?
Farmer’s Market has been operating since 2010. But unlike similar markets abroad, Beijing’s is less like a flea market for fresh produce than a trendy lifestyle destination for well-to-do families.
With 25,000 followers of its Sina Weibo (@farmersmarketbj), the market has made considerable efforts to address misunderstandings about its sales. A minority of shoppers have complained about prices that, in some cases, exceed eight times the going supermarket rate.
But organic produce costs more: especially in China – and especially in a city like Beijing, which is notorious for its poor and polluted soil.
“You cannot expect to pay the same as you would at a supermarket,” said Jin Jiashu, 39, a market volunteer who works in the IT industry.
Jin moved from Shenzhen to Beijing in 2008 with the dream of starting a direct organic market in the capital. But he soon found that China’s organic farms were scattered all over the country and totally disconnected from an distributors.
“That was when I ran into Farmer’s Market. As I got to know the organizers, I found we were very like-minded,” Jin said. He has since shifted his start-up plans to a low-carbon social network called Lohasoo.com.
With much of the design and programming work being handled by other engineers, Jin prefers to donate his time at the market.
By Huang Daohen
Doctors say you are what you eat, but these days it can be difficult to figure out exactly what that is.
Reports of food tampering often hit the news. In search of health, savvy locals are thinking of ways to grow their own organic carrots and cabbages.
Renting a farm
Fan Xuefang doesn’t go to her local supermarket anymore. But she’s not shopping online either.
This year, the 35-year-old housewife who works for a US law firm is getting her vegetables from a suburban farm that she maintains in her spare time.
“I don’t trust the vegetables at the markets, and I don’t have time to waste in supermarket lines,” said Fan, a mother of a 3-year-old daughter. She spent her past weekend harvesting carrots and cabbages on her small “farm,” a 10-square-meter slab of land she rents in a suburb.
“This way I know how the vegetables are grown – I can’t have that assurance at the market,” Fan said. She goes to her farm once or twice a week to pick food and work the land.
This year, Fan was able to harvest quite a few vegetables, including tomatoes, potatoes, beans and carrots.
“I hope my family can eat more healthily by growing food for our own table,” Fan said.
Fan started farming in 2010 after seeing an advertisement for Little Donkey Farm. The farm, founded by a Ph.D student at Renmin University of China in 2009, offers local residents a chance to grow their own vegetables.
“I was curious at first and later found it really interesting,” said Fan, who rents her small plot for 1,000 yuan per year. She now grows more than 10 vegetables in different seasons.
“I feel excited. Farming gives my family healthy food and some of life’s simple pleasures lost amid the city’s fancy skyscrapers,” she said.
Fan is not alone in her farming adventure.
Recent years have seen a surge in organic farming among ordinary families in the capital, which advocates producing food by using traditional ways that don’t involve modern synthetic inputs like pesticides or chemical food additives
Many office workers who live in downtown Beijing like Fan drive to the suburbs, spending weekends toiling over the soil.
According to the Little Donkey Farm, the number of people renting plots has risen to 120 from 20 in 2009.
Container farming
Traveling a long distance to the suburbs can be time-consuming, so young people found another way to grow organic food.
Chen Hui, a 29-year-old clerk for a local IT firm, decided to go organic by growing her own fruit and vegetables in her office and apartment in Chaoyang District.
Like millions of young professionals in the capital, Chen, a passionate ecologist and vegetarian, used to spend eight hours a day in a cubicle.
She always wanted to improve her immediate environment. And so it was that several months ago her eyes landed on a 5-liter plastic container – the perfect pot.
“I have been growing vegetables online in virtual farms, so I just thought why not plant something real on my balcony?” Chen said.
A couple of weeks later, she had several containers with tomato plants.
“It’s not only about growing own food for the sake of health, but it’s also a chance for some really creative recycling,” Chen said. “You can grow plants in virtually anything that holds some soil and has holes in the bottom.”
“The only limit is your imagination.”
Chen has been using old flowerpots, big cartons, plastic containers and baskets of various sizes. “I almost used a washbasin I found in the trash, but I didn’t like the color,” she said.
“With those containers, you can grow a surprising amount of vegetables and fruit on your balcony or windowsill,” Chen said, “The rewards can be large, even if your ‘farm’ is small.”
Farms on the rooftop
Savvy residents go even beyond their houses. A recent CCTV report said locals in Shanghai have turned the rooftops of their high-rise buildings into green farms.
In the city’s Yangpu District, many of the roofs were used for growing cucumbers, beans, cabbages and tomatoes in the fall, according to the report.
Residents in one building said they enjoyed the burst of color in their 100 meter-square rooftop as well as the supply of safe organic vegetables.
“The benefits are numerous,” said one old resident surnamed Wang. “These vegetables are not only a source of organic food, but they also help improve our environment. The rooftop farm keeps the building interior much quieter. It’s warmer in winter and cooler in summer.”
The Shanghai municipal government said it would encourage more such green areas by 2015. The city has nearly 30 million square meters of unused rooftop space.
Beijing’s city planning authorities said they would also start work on a plan to add 1 million square meters of above-ground greenery within five years.
“Compared with traditional scenic gardens, rooftop gardens cost less to start and operate,” said Beijing’s Bureau of Landscape and Forestry in a statement on its website. “They require less labor, and water. What’s more, the farms offer real returns since the produce can be sold to locals or nearby markets.”
Ke Huanzhang, an expert on urban ecological planning at Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design, said the idea of rooftop farms or gardens is nothing new in the global context.
But Ke said in the big cities like Beijing, rooftop farms are more significant because they can help ease the problem of limited land resources for agriculture and increase food safety.
More importantly, as more migrants and farmers pour into the cities, it will allow farmers to apply their skills at their new homes, Ke said.
By Huang Daohen
Doctors say you are what you eat, but these days it can be difficult to figure out exactly what that is.
Reports of food tampering often hit the news. In search of health, savvy locals are thinking of ways to grow their own organic carrots and cabbages.
Many residents near Nanluogu Xiang grow vegetables on their windowsills. CFP Photos
Renting a farm
Fan Xuefang doesn’t go to her local supermarket anymore. But she’s not shopping online either.
This year, the 35-year-old housewife who works for a US law firm is getting her vegetables from a suburban farm that she maintains in her spare time.
“I don’t trust the vegetables at the markets, and I don’t have time to waste in supermarket lines,” said Fan, a mother of a 3-year-old daughter. She spent her past weekend harvesting carrots and cabbages on her small “farm,” a 10-square-meter slab of land she rents in a suburb.
“This way I know how the vegetables are grown – I can’t have that assurance at the market,” Fan said. She goes to her farm once or twice a week to pick food and work the land.
This year, Fan was able to harvest quite a few vegetables, including tomatoes, potatoes, beans and carrots.
“I hope my family can eat more healthily by growing food for our own table,” Fan said.
Fan started farming in 2010 after seeing an advertisement for Little Donkey Farm. The farm, founded by a Ph.D student at Renmin University of China in 2009, offers local residents a chance to grow their own vegetables.
“I was curious at first and later found it really interesting,” said Fan, who rents her small plot for 1,000 yuan per year. She now grows more than 10 vegetables in different seasons.
“I feel excited. Farming gives my family healthy food and some of life’s simple pleasures lost amid the city’s fancy skyscrapers,” she said.
Fan is not alone in her farming adventure.
Recent years have seen a surge in organic farming among ordinary families in the capital, which advocates producing food by using traditional ways that don’t involve modern synthetic inputs like pesticides or chemical food additives
Many office workers who live in downtown Beijing like Fan drive to the suburbs, spending weekends toiling over the soil.
According to the Little Donkey Farm, the number of people renting plots has risen to 120 from 20 in 2009.
By Zhang Dongya
Modern travel has lost any hint of relaxation. Most travelers act as their own porters, lugging huge bags and fancy cameras as they chase planes. Their schedules are artificially tightened to suit a travel agency’s shopping plans, and rest days call on one to rise even earlier than during the work week.
The reward? Photos to post on your microblog.
Make 2012 a year to dump the heavy bags and take a minimalist approach to travel. Most cities have more to see and experience than your travel agent would have you believe. These tips can help you strike out on your own and see it all during your next vacation.
Avoid tour packages
Although travel agencies can offer a good price and hassle-free arrangements, it’s better to do it yourself if you want to enjoy a freewheeling trip.
Sharon Wu, a human resources manager, is an “impulsive” traveler who prefers her trips be as loosely planned as possible. She tends to pounce on each trip idea as it enters her head.
In April, when the willow trees were turning green and the peach trees were blossoming, she went to Hangzhou to take in the sights around West Lake. She planned to visit West Lake on her second morning there, but a late night at the bar turned that morning stroll into an afternoon jaunt.
“It’s relaxing to be able to walk at your own pace. There are some scenic spots in West Lake that are on the agencies’ schedules, but better enjoyed on your own,” she said.
Wu had nothing good to say about tour packages. Although she had only joined one group tour, she said she would never do it again.
“The tours are organized, but inflexible. For some interesting places, they only give you 30 to 60 minutes. I was irritated about how they rushed me out when I wanted to stay, yet in other places we would have to sit around waiting for other members of the group,” she said.
Shopping time is the most criticized element of any package tour. If you don’t enjoy shopping, it’s best to travel alone.
Tips to plan a light trip
1. Choose the destination that appeals to you, regardless of what others say.
2. Have a rough plan for which scenic spots you want to see. Limit yourself to two places per day. Leave yourself lots of free time to get a feel for the place.
Shrink your backpack
Many travelers said that trip enjoyment is proportional to luggage carried. Unless you are planning on a constant use of taxis, you should pack light.
Backpacks are much more convenient than suitcases when going up and down subway steps and hotel staircases.
Ramon Lee, a master of packing, is always seen carrying one small backpack: it’s the same backpack he uses on every trip.
“I’ve seen many people traveling with their whole homes crammed into an array of big suitcases. Those have to go through every airport and subway scanner and create huge delays. Don’t try to pack for every contingency because most of them won’t happen,” Lee said.
“Dump your more cumbersome things like umbrellas. People carry umbrellas in case it rains, but usually we change our plans according to the weather. If you absolutely need an umbrella, just buy one at the time you need it,” he said.
Ways to pack less
1. Only pack the necessities and don’t bring along disposable goods. Leave out most of your emergency goods and buy them when you actually need them.
2. Don’t buy anything that you seldom use and can borrow on the spot. You don’t need to buy binoculars if you just want to watch the birds at the seashore.
3. Women can lighten their luggage by leaving all their expensive skin-care products at home.
Save money,
save energy
If you have enough time, don’t make your trip into a rush.
Taking trains instead of airplanes can save you a lot of money. With long distances where an airplane is necessary, try buying your tickets through a discount website instead of through the airline’s website.
You can also lodge in youth hostels, which usually make up for their modest facilities and service by giving you the chance to make new friends. Youth hotels have improved dramatically over the last decade, and many provide separate toilets and other facilities.
A good attitude is vital when traveling light. Accidents happen, and you should see them as special experiences instead of complaints.
Lastly, remember to experience the local scenery and culture with your eyes and heart instead of through your camera’s viewfinder. Unless you are taking photographs for a magazine, take a small point-and-shoot camera instead of a big DSLR and your bag of lenses.
Environmentally-friendly ways to see Beijing
1. Walk. If you can reach somewhere on foot within 30 minutes, then you should walk instead of taking the subway or bus. You could waste more than 10 minutes waiting for a bus or pushing past subway crowds.
2. Bicycle. On a clear day, a bicycle is an environmentally-friendly and healthy way to travel. Wear a mask if the smog gets too thick or choose another method of transportation.
3. Use the subway and bus. Online maps can help you plan your subway and bus connections to minimize transfer times.
By Zhang Dongya
Modern travel has lost any hint of relaxation. Most travelers act as their own porters, lugging huge bags and fancy cameras as they chase planes. Their schedules are artificially tightened to suit a travel agency’s shopping plans, and rest days call on one to rise even earlier than during the work week.
The reward? Photos to post on your microblog.
Make 2012 a year to dump the heavy bags and take a minimalist approach to travel. Most cities have more to see and experience than your travel agent would have you believe. These tips can help you strike out on your own and see it all during your next vacation.
Dump your heavy bags for a more enjoyable journey. Photo by Wei Yao
Avoid tour packages
Although travel agencies can offer a good price and hassle-free arrangements, it’s better to do it yourself if you want to enjoy a freewheeling trip.
Sharon Wu, a human resources manager, is an “impulsive” traveler who prefers her trips be as loosely planned as possible. She tends to pounce on each trip idea as it enters her head.
In April, when the willow trees were turning green and the peach trees were blossoming, she went to Hangzhou to take in the sights around West Lake. She planned to visit West Lake on her second morning there, but a late night at the bar turned that morning stroll into an afternoon jaunt.
“It’s relaxing to be able to walk at your own pace. There are some scenic spots in West Lake that are on the agencies’ schedules, but better enjoyed on your own,” she said.
Wu had nothing good to say about tour packages. Although she had only joined one group tour, she said she would never do it again.
“The tours are organized, but inflexible. For some interesting places, they only give you 30 to 60 minutes. I was irritated about how they rushed me out when I wanted to stay, yet in other places we would have to sit around waiting for other members of the group,” she said.
Shopping time is the most criticized element of any package tour. If you don’t enjoy shopping, it’s best to travel alone.
Tips to plan a light trip
1. Choose the destination that appeals to you, regardless of what others say.
2. Have a rough plan for which scenic spots you want to see. Limit yourself to two places per day. Leave yourself lots of free time to get a feel for the place.
By Huang Daohen
The first month of 2012 is drawing to a close with no notable disturbances.
That may mean that doomsday enthusiasts will have to find a new date to latch onto come December 21.
Modern life already has enough challenges without imaginative images of global storms: roads are becoming more congested, food is becoming dangerous and air is becoming edible.
How to survive in a big city like Beijing is a much more immediate problem.
The capital’s government is not entirely without a plan.
Mayor Guo Jinlong said he wants the city to become a “World City” by 2050. Though the term still has a hazy political definition, it represents the new direction of Beijing’s development.
Seeking clean air and blue skies
As with every winter in recent memory, thick smog has once again come to envelope the capital.
But Guo is confident there will be more blue skies and cleaner air this year.
The capital’s leaders decided last month to expand their efforts to monitor air quality and reduce pollutants, Guo said at the city’s annual meeting on January 12.
This year, the Beijing municipal government will allocate 2.1 billion yuan to tackle air pollution and other projects related to environmental protection, energy conservation and emissions reduction, Guo said.
“The government will try with renewed determination, effective measurements and higher standards to solve the air pollution problem,” he said.
As one of its first moves to solve the problem, the environmental protection bureau began releasing measurements of air quality up to 2.5 micrometers, the PM2.5 standard, earlier this month.
In 2010, Beijing’s average annual PM2.5 density was 70 to 80 micrograms a cubic meter – more than double the limit recommended by the World Health Organization.
The PM2.5 density in Shanghai, by contrast, was 44 to 53.
The municipal government said it will improve air quality by slashing automobile pollution and reducing industrial emissions.
Tian Min, a city planning expert at Beijing Normal University, applauded the government’s efforts to fight air pollution.
Tian said it would greatly help to set up more monitoring sites to map out the exact air quality in the city.
“There are about 5 million vehicles in the city. Incomplete combustion of fuel has led to a tremendous increase in the density of PM2.5 that causes severe air pollution,” he said.
Public transport to ease traffic
Cities are built for people, not cars.
Nevertheless, the wealth of China’s middle class is helping to turn Beijing into a giant parking lot.
The Beijing government said it will continue its car registration policy that limits the issuance of new license plates. It will also speed up construction of subway lines and regional branch road networks.
Guo said Beijing will open another four subway lines and construct 45 kilometers of branch roads to form regional road networks that will ensure smooth traffic flow this year.
Three of the city’s new subway lines opened late last December, extending the capital’s total subway length to 372 kilometers.
Guo said the government will also work to to develop the bicycle rental industry. It expects to support 500 new rental booths around the city that would make 20,000 bikes available for rent.
The government is also constructing new bicycle lanes in downtown areas.
Tian said a lack of bike lanes is why many people refuse to bike. “Currently, bikes and cars are using the same lanes. It frightens many cyclists and is dangerous,” he said.
According to the government’s work report, by 2015, the public bicycle system would offer 50,000 bikes at 1,000 booths along subway lines and in key areas around town.
But Tian said that doesn’t go far enough. “The government should have more concrete measures to ensure effective operation of the public bicycle system.”
Housing prices tumble
The capital’s housing prices fell for the first time last October, a sign that the government’s efforts to cool the surging property market are working.
The good news for those without a home is that the city will continue to restrict property purchases and build new subsidized housing this year.
Many in the public called on the government to lift a ban on purchases of second homes by Beijing residents who lack official housing registry in the city.
The city started to limit home purchases last February, together with boosting lending rates. Those who have not paid social security or income taxes for five straight years are prohibited from buying a home in Beijing.
“In 2010, the number of housing units sold dropped 14 percent, and nearly 90 percent were sold to first-time homeowners,” Guo said.
About 70,000 subsidized housing units will be completed this year while another 160,000 will enter construction. Half will be used for public rental.
Many experts predict the city’s housing prices will continue falling in 2012 and are anticipating a crash.
But Zhao Xiao, local economics professor, said China is unlikely to be the next Dubai.
“Though it’s impossible to foresee when housing prices will bottom out, it’s unreasonable to expect real-estate bubble to burst,” Zhao said.
A sharp slump in housing prices won’t be permitted because housing prices are a cornerstone of social stability, Zhao said.
There is still strong demand for new units due to the country’s large population, he said.
Reining in
the cost of living
A report by the consulting firm Mercer in 2011 found Beijing has a higher cost of living than New York City.
The comparison said foreign goods in Beijing generally costs more. A pair of Levi’s jeans cost 699 to 899 yuan in Beijing, while the same pair only costs a New Yorker around 256 to 576 yuan.
Other luxury goods were found to be horrendously overpriced.
But does life in Beijing really cost so much?
Professor Zhao said such comparisons are meaningless, even misleading, without context.
“Because China and the US have different economic structures and taxation systems, surely there will be different labor costs and income levels,” Zhao said.
The consumer price index (CPI) tells a more accurate story. Recent statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics said that CPI in December retreated to 4.1 percent, a 15-month low.
By Huang Daohen
The first month of 2012 is drawing to a close with no notable disturbances.
That may mean that doomsday enthusiasts will have to find a new date to latch onto come December 21.
Modern life already has enough challenges without imaginative images of global storms: roads are becoming more congested, food is becoming dangerous and air is becoming edible.
How to survive in a big city like Beijing is a much more immediate problem.
The capital’s government is not entirely without a plan.
Mayor Guo Jinlong said he wants the city to become a “World City” by 2050. Though the term still has a hazy political definition, it represents the new direction of Beijing’s development.
The municipal government wants the city to become a World City by 2050. CFP Photo
Seeking clean air and blue skies
As with every winter in recent memory, thick smog has once again come to envelope the capital.
But Guo is confident there will be more blue skies and cleaner air this year.
The capital’s leaders decided last month to expand their efforts to monitor air quality and reduce pollutants, Guo said at the city’s annual meeting on January 12.
This year, the Beijing municipal government will allocate 2.1 billion yuan to tackle air pollution and other projects related to environmental protection, energy conservation and emissions reduction, Guo said.
“The government will try with renewed determination, effective measurements and higher standards to solve the air pollution problem,” he said.
As one of its first moves to solve the problem, the environmental protection bureau began releasing measurements of air quality up to 2.5 micrometers, the PM2.5 standard, earlier this month.
In 2010, Beijing’s average annual PM2.5 density was 70 to 80 micrograms a cubic meter – more than double the limit recommended by the World Health Organization.
The PM2.5 density in Shanghai, by contrast, was 44 to 53.
The municipal government said it will improve air quality by slashing automobile pollution and reducing industrial emissions.
Tian Min, a city planning expert at Beijing Normal University, applauded the government’s efforts to fight air pollution.
Tian said it would greatly help to set up more monitoring sites to map out the exact air quality in the city.
“There are about 5 million vehicles in the city. Incomplete combustion of fuel has led to a tremendous increase in the density of PM2.5 that causes severe air pollution,” he said.
January 20, 2012 Filed under News
By Zhao Hongyi
Spring Festival is around the corner, and Beijing’s restaurants are preparing to face this special holiday.
While in the past, Chinese families began preparing food for their reunion banquets weeks or months in advance, many today prefer to leave the details up to a restaurant.
“It’s the peak season for our business,” said Guo Xiaodong, the executive general manager of Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant, a chain famous for its Sichuan cooking.
Spring Festival is an important period for family reunions. On the eve of the festival, families meet to prepare their best dishes and children are expected to bow to elder family members in exchange for money-filled red envelopes.
While elder family members prefer these traditional home gatherings, their well-to-do children see restaurants as an easy alternative.
“All our tables – even the seats in the corridors – have been booked,” Guo said.
Guo suggested that anyone who hasn’t made a reservation should look into home delivery or leave their number in case of a cancellation.
Many of this year’s reservations were made last Spring Festival Eve, said Chen Siliang, assistant general manager of Huating Food & Restaurant Group. The group operates the popular chain restaurants Kaorouyuan, Kaorouji, Youyishun, E’mei and Hongbinglou.
Fengzeyuan is famous of its Shangdong dishes. It offers home delivery banquets priced at 1,588 and 2,688 yuan. The Shanxi dishes Jinyang Restaurant promises for home delivery are priced the same as in the restaurant.
Group purchases of such dinners is also popular. Roast Duck King is offering an 866-yuan banquet as an online special, and Hong Lou Restaurant in Sanlitun has 1,280- and 2,176-yuan banquets available for clients to purchase online.
Many restaurants are holding raffles, magic shows and folk art performances to entertain guests on the eve of the festival.
Special purchases for Spring Festival are a popular tradition. Most families prepare fine candies, teas and roasted seeds and nuts for visiting relatives and friends.
Baked or steamed cakes, rice balls, roasted seeds, nuts and candies have long been an important tradition for Chinese families on the festival eve. Most families stay up together until midnight to welcome the first day of the new lunar year.
“We begin selling out of these goods even a month prior to the festival,” said Wang Jingzhi, a saleswoman at a BHG supermarket. “Our customers grab all the goods without even inspecting them like they normally would.”
Many younger hosts are purchasing these items online, especially office workers who will not begin their vacations until January 23.
Other purchases include rice cakes, wines and prepared foods.
For entertainment, many will head to temple fairs. Fairs offer a glimpse of traditional arts, snacks, toys, books and acrobatics.
The Ditan Spring Festival Culture Temple Fair focuses on traditional culture, dishes and performance, and many expats have applied to work as vendors at the fair.
The Chaoyang Park International Spring Festival Carnival will gather the most foreign performers. Organizers actively solicit the capital’s foreign community to create new programs each year. The Shijingshan Themed Park Temple Fair is another international carnival, and has been organized yearly since the 1980s.
There are a number of other temple fairs in the city, including Beijing International Sculpture Park Temple Fair, Yuanmingyuan Royal Temple Fair, Changdian Temple Fair, Daguanyuan Red Mansion Temple Fair, Donyuemiao Spring Festival Cultural Temple Fair and Lotus Pool Temple Fair.
Ditan Park, one of the most popular temple fairs, is just steps away from Yonghegong Lama Temple on North Second Ring Road. CFP Photo
By Zhao Hongyi
Spring Festival is around the corner, and Beijing’s restaurants are preparing to face this special holiday.
While in the past, Chinese families began preparing food for their reunion banquets weeks or months in advance, many today prefer to leave the details up to a restaurant.
“It’s the peak season for our business,” said Guo Xiaodong, the executive general manager of Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant, a chain famous for its Sichuan cooking.
Spring Festival is an important period for family reunions. On the eve of the festival, families meet to prepare their best dishes and children are expected to bow to elder family members in exchange for money-filled red envelopes.
While elder family members prefer these traditional home gatherings, their well-to-do children see restaurants as an easy alternative.
“All our tables – even the seats in the corridors – have been booked,” Guo said.
Guo suggested that anyone who hasn’t made a reservation should look into home delivery or leave their number in case of a cancellation.
Many of this year’s reservations were made last Spring Festival Eve, said Chen Siliang, assistant general manager of Huating Food & Restaurant Group. The group operates the popular chain restaurants Kaorouyuan, Kaorouji, Youyishun, E’mei and Hongbinglou.
Fengzeyuan is famous of its Shangdong dishes. It offers home delivery banquets priced at 1,588 and 2,688 yuan. The Shanxi dishes Jinyang Restaurant promises for home delivery are priced the same as in the restaurant.
Group purchases of such dinners is also popular. Roast Duck King is offering an 866-yuan banquet as an online special, and Hong Lou Restaurant in Sanlitun has 1,280- and 2,176-yuan banquets available for clients to purchase online.
Many restaurants are holding raffles, magic shows and folk art performances to entertain guests on the eve of the festival.
Special purchases for Spring Festival are a popular tradition. Most families prepare fine candies, teas and roasted seeds and nuts for visiting relatives and friends.
Baked or steamed cakes, rice balls, roasted seeds, nuts and candies have long been an important tradition for Chinese families on the festival eve. Most families stay up together until midnight to welcome the first day of the new lunar year.
“We begin selling out of these goods even a month prior to the festival,” said Wang Jingzhi, a saleswoman at a BHG supermarket. “Our customers grab all the goods without even inspecting them like they normally would.”
Many younger hosts are purchasing these items online, especially office workers who will not begin their vacations until January 23.
Other purchases include rice cakes, wines and prepared foods.
For entertainment, many will head to temple fairs. Fairs offer a glimpse of traditional arts, snacks, toys, books and acrobatics.
The Ditan Spring Festival Culture Temple Fair focuses on traditional culture, dishes and performance, and many expats have applied to work as vendors at the fair.
The Chaoyang Park International Spring Festival Carnival will gather the most foreign performers. Organizers actively solicit the capital’s foreign community to create new programs each year. The Shijingshan Themed Park Temple Fair is another international carnival, and has been organized yearly since the 1980s.
There are a number of other temple fairs in the city, including Beijing International Sculpture Park Temple Fair, Yuanmingyuan Royal Temple Fair, Changdian Temple Fair, Daguanyuan Red Mansion Temple Fair, Donyuemiao Spring Festival Cultural Temple Fair and Lotus Pool Temple Fair.
February 11, 2011 Filed under Debate
By Li Zhixin
When migrant workers return to the countryside to reunite with family during Spring Festival, the city’s service industry comes to almost a complete halt. State companies are hardly able to recruit enough stable workers, no matter how much they offer.
A local company recruits babysitters during the Spring Festival. An Xin/IC Photo
Liu Xiaolu, who gave birth early last month, was frustrated by her inability to find a domestic worker before Spring Festival because her current one chose to return to Anhui Province to spend the holiday with family.
“I raised her salary and promised to triple her wages during Spring Festival, but she still chose to leave for her hometown,” Liu said. “I had to ask my 65-year-old mother to come from Shenyang to help me.”
Qing Ming, a restaurant boss, said: “Two cooks and six waiters in my restaurant all went back to their hometown before the festival, so my wife and I had to cook and wait on tables.”
Li Zhangkun, a manager, planned to move to a new house before the festival, but the moving company he was going to use informed him that all movers had returned home in advance. Li had to ask his relatives and friends to help him.
Before and during the festival at the Andemen Labor Market – the biggest migrant labor market in eastern China – the number of job hunters dwindle rapidly even as demand for babysitters, milkmen, couriers, cleaners and deliverers remain high in demand.
According to statistics from Jiangsu Human Resources and Social Security Department, almost 92 percent of migrant workers in Jiangsu Province chose to return home during Spring Festival, which makes the city’s service industry almost grind to a halt.
Lighting lanterns is an ancient Spring Festival tradition. CFP Photo
By Zhang Dongya
To mark the Lantern Festival, the end of the Spring Festival season, The Village in Sanlitun will hold a Terracotta Warriors Lantern Exhibition today until Sunday.
The event will showcase 500 lanterns and four floats. One hundred and two lanterns will be in the shape of Xian’s famous terracotta warriors, some as high as 2 meters and with facial expressions resembling those of the soldier figures. Each terracotta warrior lantern will contain 13 energy-saving bulbs and two energy-saving tubes.
Another 60 lanterns will feature hand-drawn decorations from foreign countries, while there will be 150 traditional lanterns called dengcai and 120 lanterns themed “polite Beijinger.”
The exhibition, which aims to celebrate both ancient civilization and contemporary culture, begins with a lighting ceremony and singing and dance performances at 7 pm today.
Terracotta Warriors Lantern Exhibition
Where: The Village, 19 Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang District
When: Friday – Sunday all day
Tel: 5166 3828
Admission: Free
