snow
There’s no particular reason for my silence these last few days. I wish I could say I’ve been busy, but strictly speaking that’s not entirely true. There have been a few things to drag me away from the computer, like helping a new teacher get settled in, and there are plenty more things that should be dragging me away from the computer, but I haven’t really been as productive as I should’ve Oh well.
But checking the calendar- the traditional Chinese one, that is- I see that today is 雨水, Rain Water.
This morning started well. For some reason I was drawn to the balcony. The windows were all fogged over, but something made me open one. What greeted me was a sight for sore, drought-stricken eyes:
And let me guess… my stupid camera still thinks it’s 2005? Gotta do something about that.
Quite appropriate weather given the date on the Chinese calendar, really.
The best part is there’s more snow forecast for tomorrow.
choosing a hukou
Posted by wangbo in news, tilting at windmills on February 13, 2009
Here’s an interesting story: A family in Shunyi is upset because their township family planning office won’t let them register their child with an agricultural hukou (户口, residence registration). They want their child to have an agricultural registration because that will allow him to benefit from more favourable policies.
农村婴儿难上农村户口
Village baby has difficulty getting village residence registration
顺义区李桥镇一村民不满；当地计生部门称鼓励“入非”，但非强制
Villager from Liqiao Township, Shunyi District not satisfied; local family planning bureau says non-agricultural registration encouraged, not forced
顺义区李桥镇村民为孩子办理户口手续时被镇计生办告知，只能入非农业户口。村民孙先生认为农业户口能享受许多优惠政策，该规定不合理。当地计生部门人员称，目前鼓励新生儿登记非农业户口，但非强制，不过“之前很多类似情况者都已入非农业户口”。
When a villager in Liqiao Township, Shunyi District was processing his child’s residence registration, he was notified by the township Family Planning Office that he could only enter a non-agricultural residence registration. Villager Mr Sun believes an agricultural residence registration can enjoy more favourable policies, and this rule is unreasonable. A worker at the local family planning department says that at present they encourage but do not force new borns to take a non-agricultural residence registration, and besides, “before plenty of people in this kind of situation entered a non-agricultural residence registration.”
村民
Villager
孩子入农业户口遭拒
Child refused agricultural residence registration
顺义区李桥镇村民孙先生致电本报热线称，他们夫妇二人都是本市农业户口，想让孩子也入农业户口。上周到镇计生办办理相关手续时，工作人员告知按规定孩子户口性质只能为非农业，否则不予办理。
Villager Mr Sun of Liqiao Township, Shunyi District called this newspaper’s hotline saying that he and his wife both had Beijing agricultural residence registrations, and wanted their child to enter an agricultural residence registration. When they went to the township Family Planning Office to undertake the procedures last week, a worker informed them that according to the rules the child’s residence registration could only be entered as non-agricultural, otherwise it would not be processed.
“之前咨询过，上不上农业户口都是可以的。”孙先生认为，既然父母都是农业户口，所生子女也应当可以入农业户口。农业户口可以享受到很多惠农政策，镇里的规定不合理。
“From earlier enquiries, taking an agricultural or non-agricultural residence registration were all ok.” Mr Sun believes that since both parents have agricultural residence registrations, any child they have should be able to enter an agricultural residence registration. Agricultural residence registrations can enjoy many policies benefiting rural areas, and the township’s rule is unreasonable.
计生办
Family Planning Office
家长可自愿选择孩子户口
Parents can freely choose their child’s residence registration
顺义区人口与计划生育委员会工作人员解释，为加快城市化进程，区里出台政策鼓励新生儿登记非农业户口。按孙先生的情况，可自愿为孩子选择登记“农业户口”或“非农业户口”。
A worker from the Shunyi District Population and Family Planning Commission explained that in order to speed urbanisation, the district set a policy to encourage the registration of new borns as non-agricultural. According to Mr Sun’s situation, he can freely choose to register his child as “agricultural” or “non-agricultural”.
李桥镇计生办工作人员称，他们已知晓孙先生的情况。镇里确实出台文件提倡新生儿“入非”，但不是强制要求。孙先生的担忧没有必要，非农业户口享受优惠政策和待遇并不会少于农业户口。
A worker from the Liqiao Township Family Planning Office said they were already aware of Mr Sun’s situation. The township had in fact put out a document advocating the registration of new borns as “non-agricultural”, but this was not a compulsory requirement. There was no need for Mr Sun to worry, non-agricultural residence registrations enjoy favourable policies and will not receive any less than agricultural residence permits.
“动了一个，以前的怎么办？”这位工作人员说之前很多类似情况者都已入非农业户口，若为孙先生孩子办理农业户口，会引发很多问题。目前计生办正与孙先生沟通协商，“尽量想办法替他解决”。
“If he moves, what will he do about the earlier one?” This worker said that before many people in this kind of situation have all already entered a non-agricultural residence registration. If Mr Sun takes an agricultural residence registration, it could cause many problems. At present the Family Planning Office is talking things over with Mr Sun, “We’re doing all we can to think of a way to solve this for him.”
北京市公安局人口管理处工作人员称，父母均为本市农业户口的，孩子户口性质可自愿选择“农业”或“非农业”。
A worker from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Population Management Office said that as both parents had Beijing agricultural residence registrations, they can freely choose an “agricultural” or “non-agricultural” residence permit for the child.
■ 说法
■ Opinion
村民：农业户口好处多
Villager: Many advantages to agricultural residence permit
顺义区李桥镇村民孙先生认为，农业户口比非农业户口得到的好处要多。如果孩子入了非农业户口，村里分配宅基地和耕地时将不再有份；现有 的房屋和土地，孩子继承时会面临问题；自家房屋或土地拆迁，孩子拿到的补偿费用会减少。村集体收益分成、各级政府给予农村的各项补贴和优惠政策等，非农业 户口也都不能享受。
Liqiao Township, Shunyi District villager Mr Sun believes that an agricultural residence registration will bring many more benefits than a non-agricultural one. If the child enters a non-agricultural residence registration. If the child takes a non-agricultural residence registration, then when the village is alloting land for housing or cultivation, he won’t be alloted any. With the current house and land, when the child inherits it, he’ll run into problems. If his own family’s house or land are demolished or moved, the child will get less compensation. When the village’s collective profits are distributed or with subsidies and favourable policies from every level of government, those with non-agricultural residence registrations will get nothing.
First up, it seems fairly clear to me that there’s been some serious miscommunication between Mr Sun and his township Family Planning Office, quite possibly compounded by an overzealous local official.
But what a curious attitude! Sure, Mr Sun raises some real issues with housing, land and inheritance, and sure, we’re going to see more and more subsidies and other favourable policies extended to rural areas and farmers, but the countryside is slowly emptying out, has been for years. Rural schools are seeing their students disappear into townships, county towns and cities with better educational opportunities. Young rural people, regardless of whether they’re registered as “agricultural” or “non-agricultural”, are flooding into urban areas.
And in my experience, admittedly limited to two clans (Ma’s and Ba’s) mostly in Yanqing (but with still one or two of Ma’s clan staying in the ancestral village in Huailai), I cannot think of any rural parent I’ve met who wants their child to till the soil. Nor can I think of any rural child who wants to farm. lzh, her brother (her generation was born at a time when rural families in Beijing were legally allowed two children) and all her cousins are either studying or working in at least the county town, if not Beijing or other cities, in fields decidedly non-agricultural- fields as diverse as taxi driving, medicine, construction, translation and editing, casual labour… But nothing agricultural.
In fact, I sent lzh the link to this story, and her response was similar to mine (taken off MSN):
挺逗
So funny
以前大家都抢非农户口
Before everybody grabbed non-agricultural residence registrations
现在相反了
Now it’s the opposite
Indeed, her parents made sure to get non-agricultural residence registrations for her and her brother.
And yet Mr Sun wants his child to be able to till the land. Most curious indeed.
Has anybody else out there familiar with rural China come across this kind of attitude? Or does your experience match mine?
Update: He’s still being refused an agricultural residence registration– and the plot thickens. Apparently all villages in the district are required to have 100% of rural newborns register as non-agricultural. But nobody’s being forced to take a non-agricultural residence registration. No, I don’t get it either, and nor does Mr Sun.
a little dialogue
Here’s a little dialogue from 河蟹上岸:
蒙牛:请问我们的产品检测出三聚氰胺了吗?
Mengniu: Excuse me, did you find any melanine in our products?
质检人员:恭喜你,没有!
Quality inspector: Congratulations! No.
蒙牛:那请问检测出致癌物质了吗?
Mengniu: So did you find any carcinogens?
质检人员:恭喜你,含量没那么高。
Quality inspector: Congratulations! The amount wasn’t that high.
蒙牛：有..有多高?
Mengniu: So, uh… how high?
质检人员:不足以致癌,只是有害!
Quality inspector: Not enough to be carcinogenic, just harmful.
蒙牛:有害的物质有..有吗?
Mengniu: Was there…. wasn’t there harmful matter?
质检人员:有还是没有?
Quality inspector: Was there or wasn’t there?
蒙牛:你们检验的,有没有你还不知道啊,这又不差钱!
Mengniu: You tested but you still don’t know! I’ve already paid!
质检人员:哦~~那没有.
Quality inspector: Oh… there wasn’t.
蒙牛:益菌因子有吗?
Mengniu: Was there beneficial bacteria?
质检人员:没有!
Quality inspector: No!
蒙牛:这个可以有!
Mengniu: But that’s allowed!
质检人员:这个真没有!
Quality inspector: There really wasn’t any!
Mengniu, for those who don’t know, is one of China’s bigger dairy companies, and, along with (yet another) New Zealand dairy company, is in a spot of bother over one of its products.
this doesn’t look good
Posted by wangbo in Environment, news on February 12, 2009
I saw an article a few days ago in which somebody tried to pretend the drought would have no effect on sandstorms this season, and I remember immediately spluttering, “Bollocks!” How could the drought not have an effect? Well, of course it depends on the situation in the areas that so generously supply North China with an excess of windborne sand each Spring, so I suppose….
Well, then I came across this disconcerting article. It’s a bit repetitive, so I’m going to cut a hefty chunk of the first paragraph and maybe just paraphrase the rest before I get into the meat of it:
9400多亩植被受旱情影响 沙尘天气今春威胁北京
Over 9400 mu of vegetation affected by drought, sandstorms threaten Beijing this spring
Oh, just noticed an error in the headline. Later on the article says “9400多万亩”- over 94 million mu. Quite a difference.
Anyway, quickly paraphrasing the few important and unrepeated details in the first paragraph: This information comes from Luo Bin, vice chair of the State Forestry Administration‘s Sand Prevention and Control Office, and was presented at yesterday’s State Forestry Administration press conference. Now, the meat:
罗斌介绍，沙尘暴的发生，主要与大气环流时间、沙尘源状况和路径植被状况有关。对我国来讲，沙尘天气主要发生在每年3至5月。从目前情况看，我国阿拉善高 原以东的植被状况处于比较好的状态，但如果干旱范围扩大、干旱持续时间延长，将会对随后的返青造成影响，并直接影响到这些地区的植被发挥生态防护功能，对 沙尘天气的抑制作用也会有所减弱。
Luo Bin said that sandstorms normally occur in times of atmospheric circulation and are related to the conditions at the source of the sand and the condition of vegetation along their path. In China, sandstorms mainly occur from March to May each year. Looking at the current situation, the condition of vegetation to the east of China’s Alashan Plateau is in a relatively good state, but if the scope of the drought expands and it continues over a longer time, it could soon affect greening of vegetation and directly influence the ecological protective function of vegetation in these areas, weakening its controlling effect on sandy weather.
目前干旱主要影响到京津风沙风沙源治理工程范围的山西、河北、北京和天津，影响森林植被面积9400多万亩，其中包括工程新增林木植被4000多万亩、新增草 地治理1500多万亩。旱情特别会对2008年新造的286万亩林地成活和保存产生不利影响，预计补植补造任务会加大。如果旱情持续恶化，还将对这部分林 木植被发挥生态作用产生不利影响。
At present the drought mainly affects Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin within the scope of the Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Project, and has affected an area of forest and vegetation of over 94 million mu, including forest vegetation of over 40 million mu and managed pasture of 15 million mu newly added by the project. The survival and continued production of the 2.86 million mu of forest added in 2008 especially could be negatively affected by the drought, and it is expected there could be more replanting and reconstruction work. If the drought continues to deteriorate it could also negatively affect the ecological use and production of this forest vegetation.
So it’s the usual rough-as-guts translation. Corrections, as always, are welcome. But in the process of trying to find an official English name for the 防沙治沙办公室, I did find this potentially cool and useful website (although it does seem to have a bit much of a Gansu focus, and isn’t much use for those who don’t read Chinese).
And could I just state that I hate- I mean, really, really loathe- sandstorms?
Update: And I can’t say I’m surprised to see that the front page of Farmers’ Daily is almost entirely drought-relief, with articles of a more general, national scope and from widely-scattered provinces covering just about all of China’s arid and drought-prone areas (actually, that’s most of the country- both the entire northern half and the entire western half at the least). But faced with such a plethora of articles, I just don’t know where to begin.
So for those who haven’t yet noticed: Yes, I am starting to get really quite worried about this drought.
warning
The good news is it’s raining for the first time in over 110 days. But nothing I’ve read suggests the rain will last or have much of an affect on the drought.
And so the bad news: We’ve now officially entered peak flu season. Here’s a warning: In dry weather it’s easy to catch colds and flus and generally diseases of the respiratory tract. Although I have to say I disagree with the inclusion of asthma in that list. Dry climates are better for asthmatics, as there’s less pollen and similar such allergens around.
And then there’s this article with a headline that reminded me of SARS:
北京布网监控不明肺炎病例
Beijing sets up network to monitor and control unknown pneumonias
What’s this about? Well, with the arrival of the Spring peak ‘flu season, the dry weather, the imminent peak return period of labourers and students from outside Beijing, and all this bird ‘flu that’s been lurking out there, the authorities want to keep a close eye on suspicious cases pneumonia, high fevers and coughing, and influenza of uncertain origin.
What can we do?
提醒公众主动预防人禽流感，做到不接触病死禽和野生禽鸟，不购买活禽，不购买流动商贩来源不明的禽类产品，烹调禽蛋时彻底煮熟。
The public is reminded to take the initiative to prevent human cases of bird ‘flu by not coming into contact with wild birds that have died of disease, not buying live birds, not buying bird products of unknown origin from itenerant vendors, and cooking eggs thoroughly.
Ditan and Youan Hospitals have been designated as epidemic hospitals and will treat human bird ‘flu cases. Specialised ambulances will be used to transport human bird ‘flu victims.
Also, relevant departments like health, agriculture and industry and commerce are working together on the prevention and control of human bird ‘flu. Live birds from outside Beijing that need to enter Beijing first need the approval of Beijing’s major animal disease command office (???北京市重大动物疫病指挥办公室) then must be taken directly to abattoirs in the area under the jurisdiction of Beijing Municipality.
So it seems they’ve got some pretty solid measures in place to prevent and control bird ‘flu, especially human cases. I just hope we don’t have to find out how effective those measures are.
lunchtime musings
Posted by wangbo in tilting at windmills on February 11, 2009
You can blame Peony for this. Her musings on place in this post set my mind wandering, and this is the result.
lowest low, highest high
What a curious winter! We go from the coldest December day in Beijing since 1951, with a high of minus eight point eight degrees on December 21, to the warmest day of the same period (I presume they mean February, or perhaps winter) since, once again, 1951, with a high of 16.1 degrees recorded at the Southern Suburbs Observatory at 2:48 yesterday afternoon. But that only narrowly scrapes past the 16 degrees recorded in February 2007. They’re expecting 13 degrees today and maybe a bit of rain tomorrow.
They blame the dry weather for yesterday’s high, but part of me wonders if CCTV might have contributed….
And it includes a little reminder at the end that after 110 days straight with no precipitation and everything so dry, the fire risk is still rather high. Uh, yeah, I think we all noticed.
new buses
Posted by wangbo in beijing public transport, Environment, news on February 10, 2009
New buses, but not just new buses, new new energy buses, says 新京报/The Beijing News. I’m feeling too lazy to translate the whole thing, I’ll just summarise- which will amount to little more than repeating a few numbers:
It says that Beijing Public Transport Group/北京市公交集团 will buy 910 new energy buses this year, of which 50 will be purely electric powered and 860 hybrid. The first 50 of these new buses should hit the streets at the end of March, and will mainly be used on downtown routes. They will mostly be made by Foton and Jinghua, and two prototypes have already left the factory. The purely electric buses cost 2 million yuan each, while the hybrids cost 1 million.
In addition, Beijing will buy 30 new energy environmental protection vehicles- I assume that means rubbish trucks. Apparently there are already 60 purely electric and hybrid vehicles on Beijing’s streets (obviously that number does not include electric bicycles), so these new purchases will bring the total number of such vehicles to 1000 by the year’s end.
And some more impressive numbers: Since 2005, Beijing has retired 11 thousand old buses and replaced them with 13 thousand environmentally-friendly buses, and currently has a total of 20,877 buses.
drought, water…
Posted by wangbo in Environment, news, ranting, tilting at windmills on February 9, 2009
It was the headline that got me:
旱情不会影响北京用水供给
And it got me with a “Hang on, wait a minute…”:
- How could the drought- the biggest drought in 50 years, apparently- not affect the supplies of water to Beijing? and:
- Aren’t Beijingers kinda spoilt? I mean, when I lived in Taiyuan, I had mains water supply only 3 times a day. The rest of the time my water came from a tank on the roof- but not for the washing machine, that was mains-only, which meant I had to be really organised about doing laundry. And my in laws in a village in Beijing’s Yanqing county get their water from a tap in the courtyard. And their mains supply is frequently cut off- especially, but by no means exclusively, over winter nights. Therefore (and because Yanqing is Beijing’s coldest county) they store water in a large vat in the kitchen. Isn’t it about time city Beijingers were made to understand the Damoclean sword that is the severe scarcity of water this city faces? Especially in a time of severe drought? (says he who showers habitually every morning and has never been much good at cultivating water conservation habits)
And so I went scanning through what turned out to be a compilation of short investigations into various drought-related issues looking for answers to the questions running around my not-yet-breakfasted brain, and here’s what I found:
“由于去年春夏秋季的降水量非常多，整个土地的含水量一直很足”，孙继松说，“就算100多天没有降水，但地表以下20厘米的含水量还是不错的，因 此，今年的干旱还比较轻。”孙继松说，如果某地区某一段时间的降水量明显低于常年平均水平，那么就可称为气象上的干旱，而真实的干旱取决于土壤含水量。
“Because rainfall last spring, summer and autumn was unusually high, the land’s water content has been very sufficient,” said Sun Jisong [chief forecaster in the Beijing Met Office], “Although there’s been no rain for over 100 days, the water content 20 cm below the ground surface is still not bad, therefore this year’s drought is relatively light.” Sun Jisong said that if a certain region had markedly less rain than the annual average for a certain period of time, that could be called a meteorological drought, but a true drought is decided by soil moisture content.
根据中央气象台资料显示，本市自2008年10月26日以来，仅出现一次降水，降水量为0.1毫米，较常年同期降水量11毫米，创下自1971 年以来的无降水的最长记录。孙继松介绍，从目前的资料情况分析看，未来十天左右下雪的可能性很小，北京旱情还将继续，并有发展趋势。根据目前气候资料分 析，进入本月中旬后，本市才有望出现一次降水过程。厚度预计在4到5毫米，接近常年的降雪厚度，但此次降雪不会对干旱形成太多改善。据《新京报》报道，北 京市人工影响天气办公室工作人员称，只要有降水天气系统出现，就会进行人工增雨雪的作业。
Data from the National Meteorological Centre show that from 26 October 2008 this city has had only one rainfall of 0.1 mm compared with an annual average of 11 mm for the same period, setting the record for the longest period with no rain since 1971. Sun Jisong said that from an analysis of current data, the chances of snowfall over the next 10 or so days are very small and the drought situation in Beijing will continue, and has a developing trend. According to an analysis of current data, this city could hopefully see precipitation from the middle of the month. The amount is predicted to be 4 or 5 mm, approaching the annual average snowfall, but this snowfall won’t significantly ameliorate the drought. According to a report in The Beijing Times, a worker at the Beijing Artificial Weather Influencing Office said that if any precipitation weather system appears, they will undertake artificial rain- and snowfall work.
很多市民依据“大寒小寒不下雪，小暑大暑田开裂。”这样的民间谚语猜测今年夏天北京可能出现干旱的天气，孙继松表示，谚语虽有道理，但冬季干旱并不意味着夏季会持续干旱，它们之间并没有必然的联系，因此由现在的旱情推测出北京今夏将遭遇干旱没有依据。
Many citizens, on the basis of folk sayings such as “At Greater Cold and Lesser Cold it doesn’t snow, at Lesser Heat and Greater Heat the fields crack open” speculate that Beijing could have a drought this summer. Sun Jisong said that although the sayings make sense, but a winter drought does not mean drought will continue in the summer. There is no necessary connection between them, therefore on the basis of the current drought one cannot infer that Beijing will experience a drought this summer.
So, as usual, parts of the translation have been thoroughly mangled under my incompetence. But this time I’m also going to admit to playing fast and loose with a couple of things:
I mean, I quite deliberately chose to translate ‘非常’ as ‘unusual’ although other options are available. I perhaps shouldn’t have, but I wanted to make a point. See, Beijing experienced one long, continuous drought from.. when? 1999? up to 2007. Yes, plenty of rain and snow fell during that period of drought, but the total was considerably below the long-term average. It’s true that Beijing did get plenty of rain last year- in fact, on September 10 last year the Miyun Reservoir was brimming with 260 million cubic metres more water than at the same time in 2007– but that’s only one year. I dislike what strikes me as the rather cavalier attitude shown in the first paragraph I translate- geez, you’d think Sun Jisong was a Kiwi- “Yeah, she’ll be right mate, got plenty of water stored up from last year.” What happens if this drought continues? What’ll they tell us next year? Shouldn’t all that water stored up be used as conservatively as possible? Y’know, save it for a rainy dry day year?
And sure, judging by what I’ve read on the subject, global warming is supposed to bring more precipitation to Beijing, but higher temperatures will lead to greater evaporation, which apparently means this promised extra rainfall will not relieve Beijing’s chronic water shortage. That means things like water recycling, rain-water storage and conservation are still absolutely essential.
Alright, enough ranting. Let me just state yet again that one of my biggest worries about Beijing’s future is water. And I think far too little emphasis is placed on rural China (especially in expat circles). And therefore this drought really worries me.
reservoirs
Posted by wangbo in Environment, news on February 8, 2009
It’s a very, very short article, actually just one run-on sentence, but for what it’s worth:
两水库上游减排污水200万吨
Pollution on the upper reaches of two reservoirs to be cut by 2 million tons
昨日来自市水务局的消息，目前，密云水库、怀柔水库上游的29个乡镇已全部建起了污水处理厂，74个村建成小型污水处理站，每年可减少排放污水200万吨，使密云水库、怀柔水库水质均保持地表水Ⅱ类标准。
Information from the municipal water services bureau yesterday said that 29 villages and townships on the upper reaches of the Miyun and Huairou Reservois have now all installed sewage treatment plants. 74 villages have built small-scale sewage treatment stations which can cut discharges of polluted water by 2 million tons each year, allowing water quality in the Miyun and Huairou Reservoirs to maintain surface water at a level II standard.
And that’s it. Yeah, I broke it into a couple more sentences in English.
Instant and only tangentially related update: Blue green algae outbreak in a Guangdong reservoir. Apparently it hasn’t affected local drinking-water supplies, indeed, it’s only on bends of the upper reaches of the reservoir and not in the reservoir area or lower reaches (no, that doesn’t make much sense to me, either). And it’s being dealt with.
Sorry, I’m going to leave it at that. My wife’s cooking smells too good, can’t resist, being dragged away from the computer…