China Newsletter Issue 6 - John & Chris

Chris & John’s Newsletter from China Issue 6 - May 2012

The pool is almost ready!

HELLO AGAIN FROM CHINA

Contents Introduction Visit to Macau & Zhuhai Facts about Zhuhai & Macau Swift Justice in China - John’s Bar Brawl!

Bowling in China & Chinglish Tencent - The Huge Chinese Company nobody has ever heard of!

Electric Bikes Editor’s Comments Traffic Police China v UK English & Chinese to become Official World Languages Teaching Photos Interesting Food (Shenzhen Culinary Delights!)

Living to be a 100!

Interesting Photos Geocaching in Shenzhen & Hong Kong

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INTRODUCTION We need to take an umbrella with us now and John has never ever bought an umbrela until he came to China. This is because in the UK it’s colder and you usually wear a coat. Here it’s way too warm for a coat, so you need protection from the downpoars when they arrive. When it rains it really rains, but not for too long!

In this edition we have featured a contents page on the left included some interesting and topical articles about China, as well as about ourselves.

We now have a 12 months business visa each, so we are not too worried about returning to the UK for the foreseeable future.

We have suffered from long periods of holidays and indecision by the hotels in starting a teaching contract, so have not been earning as much as expected!

It’s starting to get hot outside - Top figure is on our balcony in the shade. Bottom is inside with the Airconditioning on! It can be very sticky outside!

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VISIT TO ZHUHAI & MACAU Chao, our Chinese friend who also translates for us, organised a trip to Zhuhai, which like Shenzhen, is a special Economic Zone set up next to a Protectorate. Shenzhen matches Hong Kong and so Zhuhai matches and is next to Macua.

Macau was a Portugese trading post colony and now a Chinese Protectorate, like Hong Kong.

We had a three hour bus journey to get to Zhuihai and went to a supberb restaurant that Chao remembered from a previous trip here.

Chao then encouraged us to spend the following day in Macau, although his own visa had run out.

The Chinese still need visas for Hong Kong and Macau, even though they are both now under Chinese rule.

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Shenzhen Hong Kong Macau Not a yellow one though!

Chao & Chris Zhuhai Beach

So, we left the following morning and went to the border crossing, where it seemed we were part of thousands in a queue to get over the border. It took almost two hours to clear both sets of customs.

Once there, we were greeted by a line of people flogging their casinos.

It seems Macau is famous for it’s gambling, which doesn’t interest us at all.

So, the first thing we did was get some local currency which turned out to be Hong Kong Dollars! We then got a taxi to get to the start of the open-top tourist bus. This is a must for us in every major city we visit, as you can see so much in such a short time and usually get a commentory in English and several other languages.

Unfortunately the Macau Tourist bus didn’t have a very good system, so

Lots of Weddings Zhuhai Beach Many more than here!

Casino Stalls Macau Opposite Customs

Our Tour Bus

Galaxy Casino & Hotel Page 5

we didn’t learn an aweful lot about the place!

City of Dreams Casino Macau - Really!?

We found this disappointing, but read up about it later on the internet.

I have to say that neither of us was that impressed with Macau and would certainly never go again, unlike Hong Kong where we have visited several times and been on both their tourist buses around Kowloon peninsular and Hong Kong Island, as well as on the Peak Tram up to the top most viewing point.

Once we had finished the tourist bus ride, we got a taxi back to the border crossing and retraced our steps to meet Chao for another lovely meal by the seaside.

Chao did us proud as we had a massive suite with two bathrooms, walk-in-wardrobe, office desk and huge rooms.

Whilst away Chao had rePage 6

Zhuhai Beach

Family on next table celebrate 1st Birthday with big cake and candle

Catamaran from Zhuhai to Shenzhen

searched a much quicker way to get back to Shenzhen the following day and that was to be

by Catamaran - straight to Shenzhen to land an hour later at Shekou Port, near where we lived last September and October.

As a matter of interest the map on the right, shows Dongguan (Top Middle of map) and Huizhou (Top Right) where we first lived on our arrival in China. We spent the

first few days in Dongguan and about 6 weeks in Huizhou.

We have been in Shenzhen (Bottom Middle, above Hong Kong) since Mid-October.

(Provincial Capital) Shenzhen Hong Kong

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FACTS ABOUT ZHUHAI & MACAU

Zhuhai Fishing Girl Statue

and Macau to the south.

Zhuhai was one of the original Special Economic Zones established in the 1980s. Zhuhai is also one of China’s premier tourist destinations, being called the Chinese Riviera.

Zhuhai - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Literal meaning : Pearl Sea Area: Total 1,653 km2 (638 sq mi).

Water: 690 km2 (270 sq mi) Population (2010) • Total 1,560,229 • Density 940/km2 (2,400/ sq mi) GDP - Total ¥ 99.2 billion (2008) - Per capita ¥ 67,591 (2008) (Aprox ¥10 = £1)

Zhuhai is a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of Guangdong province in the People’s Republic of China. Located in the Pearl River Delta, Zhuhai borders Jiangmen to the northwest, Zhongshan to the north, Page 8

Macau, also spelled Macao is one of the two special administrative regions of the People’s Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong.

Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta across from Hong-Kong which is to the east, bordering Guangdong province to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east and south.

The territory’s economy is heavily dependent on gambling and tourism, but also includes manufacturing.

Macau is a former Portuguese colony, and is both the first and last European colony in China.

Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on 20 December 1999.

The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operates with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer.

Under the policy of “one country, two systems”, the PRC’s Central People’s Government is responsible for the territory’s defense and foreign affairs, while Macau maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy, and immigration policy.

Macau participates in many international organizations and events that do not require members to possess national sovereignty.

According to The World Fact book, Macau has the second highest life expectancy in the world.

Macau was first lent by the Chinese empire as an trading port in the 16th century, and had to administer the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty.

In 1887, Macau became a colony of the Portuguese empire and its sovereignty transferred to the Portuguese.

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SWIFT JUSTICE IN CHINA AFTER JOHN’S BAR BRAWL! Chinese Justice for drunken hoodlums as seen first hand!

Kingway Outdoor Bar/Restaurant On Tuesday 20th March, we had met friends in the Kingway Bar/Restaurant, but they left at around midnight and Chris & I stayed for one more beer, or perhaps two!

Rowy Table A crowd of about 10 were on a nearby table. They were fighting amonst themselves and smashing plates. The guy´s girl friend had started it by shouting and smashing stuff up.

Her boyfriend then started pushing two of the staff over and he hit the security guard, followed by more shouting and pulling his girl around. He then threw his money all over, then picked it up! When he marched off he came past the other Page 10

A small section of Kingway Outdoor Bar on another evening

side of the tea trolley and I shouted a very rude word at him. I should have really kept my mouth shut, but I hate bullies.

He grabbed a jug of tea to throw over me and missed, splashing my trousers as I ducked out of the way. So, he then came round the tea trolley and attacked me. I got the better of him and had him restrained on the floor, waiting for security.

Three onto One Then, two of his mates jumped on me and smashed a plastic chair over my back The main guy was VERY muscular and he obviously worked out! I had him beat

and that’s why the other two jumped on me. Fortunately, they ran off when the police arrived otherwise I don’t know what would have happened. I was keeping them at arms length with a chair!

The Ex-Soldier/ Thug

I then got a standing ovation from many of the other customers, who came up with drinks and good wishes!

The Police Arrive

There was one Police car outside and one motorbike.

Unfortunately, we had to They asked me to get in leave all the drinks peothe front of the car with the ple were giving us to go thug sat right behind me! off with police, or we could have made a lot of new So, when I refused they Chinese friends! asked me to get on the back of the motorbike! I refused The Police arrested one of and pointed to the car and the guys – The main hoodmotioned for them to send lum that first attacked the another car for Chris and I, staff and myself - he had which eventually came. no shirt left. The other two were allowed to get away in We were at the police staa taxi - They had no shirts tion until 5:30 am that on either! I guess that I night. The guy was still had so man-handled them, drunk in the police cell that I tore the shirts off the hours later! We had to go backs of all three! identify him, along with Page 11

the security guard and the waitress.

In all this, I still cannot understand why the poMy Witness? lice only arrested ONE of the three! Also, why they In the police reception area ignored the crowd at the a guy who I thought was door. I think that they had a witness started touch- decided they only need one ing my hairy arms and we to get it sorted out! had an arm wrestle, which I won. Later he showed So, I went outside to see me his rock hard stomach what they wanted and the and invited me to punch it, same guy just kept saying which I did. I said he could “Sorry”. This was the only do the same with mine and word of English any of the I think he was quite sur- group spoke. I traced on prised at how hard it was the wall how old I was, just and I didn’t flinch! to let him know they had tried to beat up an old age The Crowd Outside the pensioner! LOL :-) Police Station!

Translator In the middle of all this, a group of 6 or 7 men ap- We then had a translator peared at the Police Station arrive from the Immigradoors looking in at me. It tion Office and we went was the guys friends from into a room. There were the bar. One was mouth- the following people: ing sorry and putting his hands together and bowing - A Policeman slightly, which seems to be - The Immigration Translawhat they do as an act of tor contrition. The Police just - Another police official in ignored them when I point- plain clothes ed them out.

- A big guy to their right Page 12

- The guy to their left from reception who I had assumed was a witness

The Brother who I thought was MY witness!

Part way through I wondered who the bigger guy was. It turned out he was a friend of the thug! I told the Policeman to get rid of him and he was shown out. ance. I suggested 5,000 RNB for the restaurant/ Later, when I realised that security guard and 5,000 they hadn’t asked the “wit- RNB for me. The brother ness” any questions, I was informed and he said asked the Immigration guy “NO”! to find out who HE was.

The answer came back that Private Prosecution! it was the thug’s brother!

Out HE went!!

On the way to the other room, the police official What a nerve coming into said in English that I would my interview! Also, how now have to get a solicitor incompetent of the police and prosecute privately. I to let them both in! got rather angry at that stage and threatened them Mitigation Process? with the western press and exposing the complete inWe were then told that we competence of the police in were moving to another allowing the opposition in room and I was asked to to my meeting. I also said take part in a Mitigation that I was also trying to be a Procedure, whatever that witness for what happened was. I quickly sussed out it and the beating up of the was about them buying us staff and security guard. It off to save a court appear- seemed strange that this Page 13

was not happening. I was then asked to step outside whilst they discussed my threat.

Invited to Make Statements!

They came back and invited me in to make a statement with a police officer.

Chris was also called up after all this time sitting in reception, to make HIS statement to another officer. We duly had them both amended and printed. We signed all pages and put our fingerprints in red on top of each signature. That was it! It was now OFFICIALLY recorded and no longer a hint of a solicitor!

Private Hospital Chao Helped via Mobile Phone

Check Up at Hospital

I then went to a private hospital to have an X-Ray on my ribs in the very late afternoon and a CTR scan on my kidney. The X-Ray cost 60 RNB and the scan 360 RNB. All OK - Just badly bruised where they smashed a chair one my back.

I got some pain killer costing 67 RNB. The Lift Home whole bill in this rather efficient private hospital Chris and I then asked for a was just under 500 RNB = lift from the Police and we about £50! That included were dropped off near our the doctors. flat and the Immigration Translator was taken home Fights! after us. We called in to the local takeaway and had I haven’t had a fight in a one more beer as a night- bar for over 15 years - That cap. I then slept for most was in the UK, in the East of the day.

End of London. I always Page 14

Private Hospital Reception Nobody there!

won after my early teens.

But it’s difficult fighting THREE! I suppose that as the last one was 15 years ago, that means that the next time will be when I am 80!

Back to Kingway!

on Saturday to “Mediate” with the guy by whatever that means!? The Immigration guy called and said that the police had wanted it to take place before the weekend and so we advised that we would attend at 8 pm on Thursday evening.

As Chao couldn’t get it sorted out as nobody on the switchboard knew who the officer was, I asked the immigration guy to arrange it, as he had the officer’s mobile phone number, which we were NOT allowed to have.

Well, the mediation was interesting. You tell the official at the Police Station how much damages you want.

The security guard claimed 350 RMB. The bar/restaurant claimed 2,875 for all the breakages and the dine and dash, as nobody had paid for their meal, for a table of 10! So, I claimed 5,000 RMB which is what I The Mediation told his brother on Tuesday Procedure but it was declined. It also Chao, our Chinese friend turns out that if you hit anagreed to go back with us yone over 60 in China then This will NOT stop us going to that same bar/restaurant again, but it WILL stop me commenting! I told the police all I said was “WHY?” The guy was too drunk to remember and wouldn’t know the infamous English word I used to insult him with anyway!

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you can automatically go to ture and that was it. Took 3 jail for 10-15 days and pay hours though! compensation and then get a criminal record.

I kept thinking that it would have been a lot easier with The thug stood up and THREE thugs locked up, but bowed, then gave a nice lit- I guess the police simplify tle speech to say how sor- things by only having one ry he was and that it had “Fall Guy” and making him happened because he was collect the money from his drunk. friends!

When the official said we had to sign a contract that didn’t allow any further claims, I doubled my claim to 10,000. I ended up with 7,000 RMB. The guy didn’t like it, but the official told the guy to pay or he faced jail! He told us that he was poor and could only manage 5,000 to 6,000 RNB! 7,000 RNB is a lot out here, only £700 to us, but it would pay two months rent for us here!

We signed the papers and a friend of his came back with a bundle of 100 RNBs to the tune of 10,000 RNB and it was dished out to everyone. We signed and fingerprinted each signaPage 16

The Photo of the Ex-Soldier Outside in the police compound, the thug asked the police official if he could make me delete the photo I had on my iPhone. We had shown him it earlier when we said he went to a gym, so could afford the fine!

He obviously didn’t like us having his photo. They also wanted to know if we had backups! Of course you can’t delete it, as it’s downloaded from my Ixus camera and in iTunes as it was not taken on the iPhone camera. He didn’t believe me as he said he could on his fake iPhone, so we walked off. The photo ap-

pears in this article!

Rudeness Outside

Chao, our Chinese friend with us as translator).

We went to the bank the Also outside in the com- following day! pound, he was rude to the security guard who was Postscript offering him some advice and told him to mind his The thug had just come out own business. Later, right of the army and apparentoutside, the thug and the ly is now a security guard, guy who had brought the yet he hit a fellow security money came up behind guard! The army may exus and twice the thug ut- plain why he was so well tered the word “GO!” in defined! We had said if he English, which we thought could afford a gym then he was rather rude, so we just could afford a fine! He deignored him. Our opinion nied using a gym. is that he was only conciliatory for the police official Conclusion and he will no doubt get into trouble again if he gets So, the whole process took so drunk next time! I think from Tuesday overnight to it is just his ilk!

Thursday evening to complete!

Celebration Parts of the process were totally inefficient and biWe then caught a taxi and zarre, whilst other parts went back to the same bar/ were efficient! restaurant for a meal and some beers! The security The whole episode though, guard and waitress both was a great insight into how came to say hello. For three the Chinese very swiftly of us, the bill was 108 RNB deal with drunk & disorder= £11!!! (Three, as we had lies.

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BOWLING IN SHENZHEN

Well, the Bowling Alleys here seem to be the same, but John’s hands are way too big!!!

We took a photo of the balls and their balls start at 7 Lb and the heaviest is 13 Lbs! The holes though are not meant for big fingers and in the whole bowling alley we only found one ball that fitted John’s fingers but it was a 10 Lb medium weight ball!

This probably explained why we were not so good!

Well, that’s our excuse and we are sticking with it!

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BOWLING IN SHENZHEN & CHINGLISH

This Check-Out is only for Elderly Pregnant Cashiers!!

We think this means keep off the grass!!

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Tencent - The Huge Chinese Company nobody has ever heard of!

It’s very successful in China... but it’s made few attempts to expand beyond its borders.

We have MSN, Skype etc and the Chinese have QQ where half the population are hooked up. That’s a massive 721 million people!

There is QQ Mail and QQ Zone.

QQ Zone is like Facebook, but as Facebook is banned in China it makes one wonder why! Is it to help promote their own version?

The HQ is here in Shenzhen and when I was teaching the CRM Software Company I could see their building which always had a green Page 20

laser at night moving out from the top of the building and moving from left to right. Very impressive.

Tencent Timeline •Tencent founded in November 1998 - compared to others; •The firm became China's first profitable internet company in 2001; •Become publically listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 16 June 2004; •QQ IM, one of Tencent's key products, boasted 721 million users at the end of 2011 with a concurrent people of 145.4 million users - which makes it the world's largest online community; •Tencent has research campuses in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and more than 50% of its employees work in research and development; •Tencent began to build a new cloud computing centre in Shenzhen in December 2011 - a centre the firm says is the

"largest in South China" and will serve "hundreds of millions" of users; •Tencent spent $502.7m on acquisitions and investments in 2011; •In 2011, Tencent brings in $4.5 billion in revenue - an increase of 45% on 2010 and its $1.9 billion operating profit increased by 24% on the previous year; •March 2012: Tencent launches platform for targeted advertising in a similar vein to Facebook.

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ELECTRIC BIKES

Of all the things that have changed in China over the past 30 years, transportation has undergone one of the most obvious of transformations. Where city streets once swarmed with bicycles, they are now full of automobiles.

Cars clog intersection and expressways. Their exhaust clouds the sky and the air is full of the sound of horns. But zipping through the congestion is the vanguard of another transportation revolution: vehicles that use no gas, emit no exhaust and are so quiet they can surprise the unwary pedestrian.

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In China, electric bicycles are leaving cars in the dust. Last year, Chinese bought 21 million e-bikes, compared with 9.4 million autos. While China now has about 25 million cars on the road, it has four times as many e-bikes. Thanks to government encouragement and a population well versed in riding two wheels to work, the country has become the world’s leading market for the cheap, green vehicles, helping to offset some of the harmful effects of the country’s automobile boom. Indeed,

Very Practical

basically pedal-powered machines with an electric boost are common in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, but e-scooters with heavier motors and top speeds of around 30 mph, fast enough to rival mopeds, are growing in popularity.

as engineers around the world scramble to create eco-friendly, plug-in electric cars, China is already ahead of the game.

The e-bike boom owes much to Chinese policy.

The government made developing e-bikes an official technology goal in 1991. Major Chinese Says Frank Jamerson, cities have extensive bia former GM engineer cycle lanes, which means turned electric-vehicle riders can avoid the analyst: “What’s hap- worst of rush-hour conpening in China is sort of gestion. In cities such as a clue to what the future will be.”

Right now the future buzzes along at a sedate pace. Government regulations limit the top speed of e-bikes to about 12 mph. But manufacturers are building bigger and bigger machines with speed regulators that are easily removed. E-bikes that are

Notice the child in the back!

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Odd Job Men At work

Shanghai, local governments have drastically raised licensing fees on gas-powered scooters in recent years, effectively driving hoards of consumers to e-bike manufacturers.

The relative simplicity of the machines and their components has encouraged a huge number of ebike companies to open in China. In 2006 there were 2,700 licensed manufacturers, and countless additional smaller shops.

Rising to the top of the heap is not easy. Leading manufacturer Xinri (the name means “new day”) Page 24

was founded in 1999 by Zhang Chongshun, an auto parts factory executive who recognized the potential of the field.

In its first year Xinri built less than 1,000 bikes; last year it churned out 1.6 million.

Xinri’s Zhang puts in thousands of miles on the road a year, visiting as many as six cities a day to investigate local market conditions. But ultimately what makes Xinri successful is that electric bikes have hit a sweet spot in the Chinese economy. As Chinese grow richer, they want more convenient means of transportation.

But not everyone can afford a car. “Motorcycles are too dangerous, cars are too expensive, pub-

Odd Job Men Waiting for work

lic transportation is too crowded and pedal bikes leave you too tired,” says Hu Guang, Xinri’s deputy general manager. “So people buy e-bikes.”

The company’s ads show Jackie Chan riding an ebike alongside a model in a glamorous European capital. Reality is much more mundane. E-bikes are commonly used by migrant laborers who schlep across town from their quarters in the suburbs to work sites across town, with their drills and saws strapped to

Odd Job Man Waiting for work

their bike racks. Police stations are often fronted by a row of blue and white patrol e-bikes. Delivery workers from McDonald’s and KFC haul plastic cases stuffed with Big Macs and fried chicken to office parks. “At first, I picked an e-bike because I couldn’t stand the sickening smell of gas from my scooter,” says Zhang Dengming, 50, a construction supervisor in Shanghai.

“But after a while, I realized that e-bikes are actually much safer than motorcycles, and better for the environment. Although e-bikes are generally slower than gas scooters, I find them fast enough for my daily commutes. Their price, which is typically just Page 25

over 2,000 renminbi ($290) is also more acceptable, so I don’t feel as bad when they get stolen.”

to take off. In the U.S., where bikes are still overwhelmingly used for recreation rather than transportation, e-bike sales are expected to break 200,000 this year, or about 1% of China’s sales.(See 10 things to do in Shanghai.)

E-bikes weren’t always so popular on the mainland. Early models were even slower than today’s; range was limLast year Chinese bought ited and batteries died about 90% of the 23 mil- in less than a year. Now lion e-bikes sold world- they can travel as far as wide. Experts say that 100 km on a full charge, next regions to likely more than enough for embrace e-bikes are Southeast Asia, where gas-powered scooters are popular, and India, where rising incomes mean personal transportation is starting to be in reach of hundreds of millions.

Japan has seen steady annual sales of about 300,000 for several years, and in the cycle-crazy Netherlands e-bikes are beginning Page 26

Delivery Man at Work!

Odd Job Men Waiting for work

a day’s riding. But batteries remain the weak point. Most e-bikes rely on lead-acid batteries, cheap century-old technology unsuitable for the growing demands of daily commuting. “The battery is the key limiting factor,” says Jonathan Weinert, a transportation expert who wrote his doctoral dissertation on electric bikes in China.

turer of pedal bicycles but a small player in the Chinese e-bike market, has made headway in northern Europe selling high-end e-bikes that use lith-ion batteries.

“To the extent that the electric bike industry can help get battery costs down, test the technology and get it in the market, that may lead” the development of electric vehicles with more than two wheels, Weinert says.

Chinese market leaders like Xinri and Yadea have partnered with top schools like Tsinghua and Peking universities to improve battery techWhile lead-acid batteries nology. And like a slew are improving, Weinart of other Chinese compasays that electric bikes nies, some e-bike makwill create a larger mar- ers are already working ket for lithium-ion bat- on electric cars. Yadea teries — a newer, lighter technology whose development is key for the future of electric vehicles. Already Giant, the Odd Job Men world’s largest manufacWaiting for work Page 27

plans to create electric cars for special uses such as shuttling sightseers at tourist destinations.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Xinri provided eFood bikes andFast an electric car Man for use Delivery by police at the atstadium.

Work!

Bird’s Nest

on electric bikes,” says Jamerson. “That means a hundred million potential customers” for electric cars. When he worked at GM, which filed for bankruptcy on June 1, Jamerson said he once suggested the company give away an electric bike with every new car, just to get customers used to the idea of a means of transportation you plug in every night.

His bosses thought he was joking.

When the electric revolution finally comes, China’s e-bike makers could have the last laugh.

Electric cars will require more powerful recharging stations than the standard wall outlets used to juice up bikes.

But when four-wheeled technology becomes road-ready, it will find a willing customer base in China.

“The Chinese have a hundred million people Page 28

Electric Scooter

EDITOR’S COMMENT ON TRAFFIC POLICE IN CHINA V UK From previous issues and this article above it can be seen that not much notice is ever taken of traffic signs. They also weave in and out of lanes on motorways. But, you don’t see any police pulling anyone over about anything!

In the UK it seems to me that the police are too heavy handed.

In China we have only seen 2 minor accicdents in 9 months.

On the Pavement!

With Gas!

On the Crossing!

With Gas!

I think it’s time the British Police with only 60 millon people learnt to back off the same as China does and China has 1.4 BILLION people!

Delivery Man at Work!

Going the wrong way!

All are Travelling the wrong way against the traffic!!

All are Travelling the wrong way against the traffic!!

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English & Chinese to become Official World Languages After much deliberation, the General Assembly of the United Nations has passed a resolution calling all governments to adopt English and Chinese as official languages. All countries will be expected to teach young children in either English or Chinese by 2018.

Some countries argued that only Chinese should be the official language because it was the language of the future, but opponents claimed that the difficulty in learning Chinese characters would present too much of an obstacle, and that English was needed as an easier alternative.

There was also much debate about whether British English or American English should be the world standard. The main concern was to try and decide which of the two is easier to learn. Those in favor of American English argued that American spelling is simpler and more rational, so would be easier for young children.

However, after a great deal of research and a heated discussion that went as far as the Security Council, it was decided to adopt the variant of British English used in rural areas of South West England, particularly in Dorset. This means that instead of learning ‘I am . . ., You are . . ., He is . . .’ everybody will learn the simpler ‘I be . . ., You be . . ., He be . . .’ It was felt that this would provide a much easier alternative for those who find learning Chinese characters too difficult.

All United Nations documents and international treaties will use this variant of English from 2015 and Thomas Hardy novels will become recommended reading for UN officials and international lawyers.

For a discussion about this news story, go to the ‘Language Teaching Professsionals’ Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/LanguageTeachingProfessionals If you like the news story, please support us by clicking on ‘like’ at the top of the Language Teaching Professionals page.

Reported by David Paul You should find the above interesting! Chris sent it to me as a genuine article. On logging on I looked below the article.

Had us fooled at first, especially about the West Country English!

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Then we read .....

Teaching photos

-

Invitation to a Corporate Student’s Home for Dinner

For the Hotels

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INTERESTING FOOD

Shenzhen Culinary Delights!

Sweetcorn!

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INTERESTING FOOD

Shenzhen Culinary Delights!

Page 33

LIVING TO BE 100!

Ecuador Vilcabamba in Ecuador is called "Valley of the Hundred Years' ". There are numerous people that live a lot of years, and many of them live more than 100 years.

preventing problems with the blood flow and arterial calcification, - the stable and warm climate there does not burden the circulation - the simple, high-fibercontaining food of corn and potato products there might be a reason, too.

China

In China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, there is a small town called "Bama" and there are also a lot of people who lived more Biologically the great part of than 100 years. the old people there seem 20 or even 30 years young- The reasons for their loner than old people of the gevity are quite similar to worldwide average. They the three points you mendo not suffer from diabetes, tioned in your post. cancer, osteoporosis or fur- There are also another two ther illnesses. Until today reasons which are also quite no resident of this zone has important: died from a heart attack, 1. The old people there like yet. to do manual labor and it's Some secret of their vital- a good excercise for them. ity: - water values there are 2. Most of them are poor or with high mineral contents at least not rich but they are Page 34

IS THIS INTERESTING FOR YOU? see them all! I also agree about chemicals in foods.

But, nobody seems to have mentioned smoking, drug and alcohol abuse shortening life? Perhaps that's obvious though! not very demanding in their My parents both lived till life and that's why they al- 82, so I hope I get way past ways feel quite happy and that age! relaxed.

What's clear is that I couldn't go live in either place and Editor’s Comment pick up with what the locals Interesting facts and inter- do, as it would be such a esting for me! culture shock!

In my case I like to keep So, maybe I am not desyoung at heart by doing tined to live that long! something different and exciting now I am retired.

I am in China for a year and South American next year I hope.

Maybe whilst I am in China I can go to Bama in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, but there are also so many places to visit in China that have been recommended and I cannot go

Above: Chris’s Gran in 2004, aged 90. Gran died aged 96 in April 2011, just before her 97th birthday.

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All

INTERESTING PHOTOS

Chopstick Solution For Toilet Door!

Pep Talks in the Park, a Car Park & Restaurant.

All three photos below show companies taking their staff away from their environment, to give them a pep talk!

Whereever we go, we see this regularly!

Chopstick Solution For Toilet Plunger!

Like my Grandkids They start young!

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CIVIC CENTRE SHENZHEN & LIANHUASHAN PARK

Another Restaurant throws Rubbish Out This time into their back alley!

Top & Bottom: BUSY TIME IN ONE OF THE SHENZHEN METROS!

Modern Rickshaw!

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GEOCACHING IN SHENZHEN & HONG KONG When we arrived in Shenzhen, we looked for Geocaches so we could download them to our Magellan GPS device.

There were 648 results within 50 miles of where we live now.

Unfortunately the majority were in Hong Kong, which is just over the river. As you have to go through two sets of customs, even though Hong kong has been part of China for 15 years, it takes a long time extra to look for any Geocaches in Hong Kong.

In Shenzhen there are probably about 30 now, so that means that the rest are in Hong Kong. I have looked for 4 in Hong Kong on recent visits. One was in the middle of where some guys were repairing a garden and it was fenced off. I looked for three more in Kowloon Park and found none! So, we have found nothing in Hong Kong!

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Contracst that to our successes in Shenzhen, where we have discovered some lovely parks and seaside walks, overlooking Hong Kong New Territories and the long road bridge.

Last week we walked 6.3 miles (about 10 Km) looking for 6 and found 5!

We had a beautiful walk in this park and as it was a Bank Holiday there were thousands of Muggles, (Taken after Harry Potter name for people who may be looking at what you are doing) but we were very careful! We had three lots of different people come to us try and watch what we were doing!

The first a young lady asked what we were looking for, so I told her what Geocaching was and gave her the site address, so she could look for herself. We waited till she went to start looking again.

The coordinates are somewhat out, so we also used "GeoSense" as someone else did in another log.

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Then we had a group of people looking over the railings at us, so we took a photo of them and waited till they went.

The next lot were walking down the road looking at me filling in the log. Again we waited and once they went put the cache back in it's original position.

It may be that the Chinese are naturally nosey and wanted to know what we were doing!

Ingenious cache. We found three altogether this afternoon.

What a great day!

The Game What is geocaching?

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.

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Link for more details here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEOCACHING! With the flip of a proverbial switch, the idea of geocaching flickered to life 12 years ago. On May 2, 2000, at an order from the U.S. President, Selective Availability (the intentional degradation of the GPS signal available to civilians) was turned off. Civilian GPS devices instantly became 10 times more accurate. The original geocache was placed one day later. It was hidden in the U.S. state of Oregon on May 3, 2000.

ing.com, or one of the Geocaching.com smartphone apps to embark on adventures to more than 1.7 million active geocaches hidden around the world.

The geocaching community has ballooned from that original small group of GPS enthusiasts to more than five million people.

In the geocaching community, we refer to the demise of Selective Availability as the “flipping of the great blue switch.� Although there never was a literal switch, the results are undeniable. Geocaching spread around the globe.

Now you can use GeocachPage 41