uh-oh
Apparently 30% of Chinese married couples have given up on sex due to stress.
“With constant pressure from families and careers, a staggering 30 percent of middle-aged couples give up on sex, according to a new survey.
The survey, the first of its kind to measure intimacy between middle-aged couples in China, was conducted by American pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly Company and the Beijing-based China Population Communication Center.
Interviewing 32,906 people in 10 big cities including Beijing and Guangzhou, the poll found that middle-aged couples on the Chinese mainland seldom communicate in their daily life, and often rate their sex lives poorly.”
That about sums up the article. There are, of course, more details. It does not, however, paint a particularly pretty picture of married life in China.
could this be true?
Are the French finally seeing the light? Is true civilisation finally reaching their shores? Or are the IRB and French rugby union just trying to make sure they manage to pull off the world cup?
This bit is interesting:
“Rugby is also being seen as a means of addressing one of France’s biggest social problems – the poor integration of young French people from Arab and African descent.
The virtues of strength, self-restraint and team spirit are being harnessed by France Rugbycite, an association that teaches rugby to teenagers in the grim, crime-ridden, suburban housing estates.”
Well, forgive my scepticism, but if soccer can’t do that, despite the rather “colourful” nature of the national team, I have my doubts that rugby will. Still, rugby does have its advantages over soccer, like its intolerance of professional fouls and greater emphasis on discipline, and the programme may well turn out to be a success. And the world cup may well prove a huge boast for the programme.
affordable housing
Posted by wangbo in admin, life in Beijing, news on April 1, 2007
Not much of the real estate developments being built in Beijing are accessible to the plebs that make up the overwhelming majority of the city’s population. In fact, the more expensive the development, the harder it is to find any Beijingers there. Anyway, it’s quite a serious problem, and the city government has been trying to do something about it, and this article is a good look at the city’s attempts to inject low-rent and affordable housing into the equation. Oh, low-rent is obviously rental accomodation, but by affordable housing I’m referring to housing built to be sold to lower-income households.
And an administrative note: It appears that this is becoming my main blog almost by accident. I started it to increase the number of blogs accessible in the mainland I have, but I don’t much like the situation I have with blogspot and canalblog, where I can blog all I like but I can’t see it without a proxy. I’m still looking at options…..
bizarre
So I got this WordPress plug-in called Short Stat, and it’s kinda fun to watch. The keywords, for example: So far there’s only been three, but it was interesting to see somebody found their way here by googling “chris waugh” on google.co.nz, or by googling “The relationship between cultural difference and translation skill” on google.cn. Or from news.aol.com’s edition of that Amelia Earhart article I linked to (and I can’t see how that links to me at all- oh wait, it’s from their sphereit weirdness). I’m not entirely sure how these stats work, or how I should interpret them. Canalblog offers by far the best service of any I’ve tried in that department- much more clearly, logically set out- but it looks like I’m going to have a lot of fun seeing all the weird and wacky ways people find their way here.
Excellent news
China’s learner drivers will have to sit a tougher test with a greater focus on safety. About bloody time, too.
Amelia Earhart
Apparently Amelia Earhart may well have narrowly missed the island she was looking for and crash landed on another island not too far away, only for the US government to completely fuck up the search for her.
internal affairs
I was reading ESWN’s translation (should be the piece entitled “Internal Affairs” at the top of the page) of an article by Wang Ganrong in Southern Weekend and this bit struck me:
“The heavens will not fall down on account of these actions. Actually, when many things show up in the public media, the truth becomes clearer; when something is debated publicly, the rights and wrongs become clearer. These are the benefits that the Internet bring to the citizens.“
The truth becomes clearer? No, unfortunately. Just like the media or the “justice” system in any country, the player who is best at working the system wins. Truth doesn’t necessarily become any clearer, the one in the right may well lose. It sucks, but I don’t think there’s any way to change that.
Easter!
Posted by wangbo in life in Beijing on March 30, 2007
Apparently Easter is coming up soon. Next weekend, judging by an email I just received from a friend in New Zealand. Easter usually manages to just slip by unnoticed. I guess it’s a bit too macabre for young, trendy Chinese people to use as an excuse for a party. “Hey everybody, today is the anniversary of Jesus’ death! Let’s have a party!” Doesn’t quite work, does it? “Hey everybody, today is the anniversary of Jesus’ resurrection!” “What’s resurrection? Forget it, got work tomorrow.” Yeah, not much of a party festival. And being determined by some old lunar calendar that is only used to find Easter makes it even harder to remember. Most years I think, ummm, Easter should be coming up soon, shouldn’t it? Oh! It’s already been and gone! Oh well, next year….
good news?
According to this article, China is starting to experiment with reforms of the hukou system. “China to Eliminate Urban-Rural Division”, screams the headline. That seems pretty unequivocal. Unfortunately, the article isn’t quite so earth-shattering. Some of China’s provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions have begun trial reforms. Still, it’s a step in the right direction.
Sir Bono
Well, Bono’s been awarded a KBE, but being an Irish citizen he’s not allowed the title ‘sir’, you’ll be glad to know.