- Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Favier_alexandre

As economy grows, so do China's garbage woes

Alexandre — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:31:53 +0000

Visitors can smell this village long before they see it.

More than 100 dump trucks piled high with garbage line the narrow road leading to Zhanglidong, waiting to empty their loads in a landfill as big as 20 football fields.

In less than five years, the Zhengzhou Comprehensive Waste Treatment Landfill has overwhelmed this otherwise pristine village of about 1,000 people. Peaches and cherries rot on trees, infested with insect life drawn by the smell. Fields lie unharvested, contaminated by toxic muck. Every day, another 100 or so tons of garbage arrive from nearby Zhengzhou, a provincial capital of 8 million.

“Life here went from heaven to hell in an instant,” says lifelong resident Wang Xiuhua, swatting away clouds of mosquitoes and flies. The 78-year-old woman suddenly coughs uncontrollably and says the landfill gases inflame her bronchitis.

As more Chinese ride the nation’s economic boom, a torrent of garbage is one result. Cities are bursting at the seams, and their officials struggle to cope.

Rape claim puts focus on Beijing’s ‘black jails’

Alexandre — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:24:58 +0000

The 20-year-old student spoke softly but firmly as she described how a dispute over grades led to her rape at an unofficial jail.

She had been expelled from college because of poor exam scores, so she went to the capital city to petition the Chinese government to reinstate her. Thousands of Chinese travel to Beijing every year to air complaints ignored by local authorities, ranging from real estate scams to wrongful death cases.

But shortly after the student arrived, she was picked up by police. She was delivered to a run-down hotel and dumped in a locked room filled with other detainees. There, a guard raped her.

Ageing Shanghai Urges 2nd Baby For Eligible Couples

Alexandre — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:12:49 +0000

Shanghai is urging eligible couples to have two children as worries about the looming liability of an ageing population outweighs concerns about over-stretched resources, a city official said on Friday.

The policy marks the first time in decades Chinese officials have actively encouraged procreation.

China’s famous “one child” policy is actually less rigorous than its name suggests, and allows urban parents to have two offspring if they are both only children. Rural couples are allowed a second child if their first is a girl.

This is still the official line in most of China, but the financial hub of Shanghai is now rich enough to focus on a new concern — the burden of an ageing population of native-born Shanghainese.

Dozens held over Tibet rumors

Alexandre — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 06:00:37 +0000

China has detained 59 people in Tibet for spreading rumours and trying to stir up racial hatred and incite violence, state media reports.They are also accused of...

Rare disease haunts poor Tibet plateau villagers

Alexandre — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:51:18 +0000

A rare condition still haunts the poorest villagers on the Tibetan plateau but improvements in nutrition and grain handling could help eradicate it, the head of a Belgian group fighting Kashin-Beck disease said on...

At 30s and 40s, Men's fertility begins to fall

Alexandre — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:09:01 +0000

Until age 13 or 14, sperm is not fully formed, increasing the risk of infertility or birth defects. Sperm may be extremely healthy in older teens, who are famous for their potency. But risky teen behavior may put sperm at...

Cook For Her And Make Her Swoon

Alexandre — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:11:27 +0000

t’s now time to panic. Somehow between “How about my place?” and “8:00?,” you managed to blurt out “I’ll make you dinner.”

43 Killed and 247 Injured in Beijing Train Crash

Alexandre — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:22:25 +0000

A pre-dawn collision Monday between two passenger trains in eastern China killed at least 43 people and injured 247, a state news agency reported. Witnesses said a train traveling from Beijing to the coastal city of Qingdao derailed and hit a...

An Anti-CNN Website brought to you by The Chinese

Alexandre — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:08:20 +0000

Chinese students have started to use the Internet to hit back at the Western media’s alleged biased coverage of unrest in Tibet, echoing views expressed by the Beijing...

Olympic turmoil: Dissident is shocked with electric batons in court and Tibet protesters hijack torchlighting ceremony

Alexandre — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:06:01 +0000

China hoped the Olympic Games would show the world that it had finally arrived as a modern superstate.

But yesterday, even as the Olympic flame was lit in Greece, the country’s authorities resorted to their traditional methods of dealing with dissent.

A man was jailed for five years for suggesting that human rights should take precedence over the Beijing Games.