April 2007

Thirty Dancing Lions for Renwei Temple Fair

More than 30 dancing lion troupes from ten local villages including Yanbu, Huado, Nanhai and Pantang gathered together on Thursday to celebrate the annual Renwei Temple Fair at Pantang in Guangzhou. More than 100,000 spectators watched the lions pay their noisy respects to the gods, leap about on tall platforms and tour around the villages.

No Smoking in Public Places in Guangzhou

Guangzhou and Jiangmen become Guangdong's first two cities for experimental enforcement of total smoking ban at some public places, Southern Metropolis Daily reports.

It is a part of the campaign of "For No-smoking China", which National Center for Disease Control and Prevention initiated in Beijing recently.

The public places for smoking ban include restaurants, entertainment outlets, schools, supermarkets, and governmental offices.

Some staff members are being trained specially for the operation now.

The monitoring survey to the second-handed smokers in Guangzhou will commence soon.

There are some 1.1 billion smokers around the world, among which Chinese amount to 350 million.

More Foreigners to Attend the 101st Canton Fair
The 101st Canton Fair (Chinese Export Commodities Fair) will be held from April 15 to 30 in Guangzhou and, starting this year, will change its official name to Chinese Import & Export Commodities Fair (CIFCF). 

In addition to overseas buyers and domestic exhibitors, this year's Fair will attract a large number of overseas exhibitors and Chinese buyers.

It is expected the number of foreign visitors during the fair would greatly increase. At present over 10,000 foreign businessmen have booked hotel rooms, airplane tickets or train tickets through travel agencies. Over 4,000 have bought tour packages to visit scenic attractions within Guangdong Province an increase of 20% over the same time of last year.

Over the past 50 years, the Canton Fair has been a window to China's export industry and the participants have been mainly domestic exhibitors and overseas buyers.

At last year's Canton Fair opening ceremony, Premier Wen Jiabao announced that from the 101st session, the official name would be changed to "The Chinese Import and Export Commodities Fair".  The name change also means that starting this year, overseas exhibitors and Chinese buyers will participate in the Fair side by side.

Foreigners on Trial for Smuggling Ivory into China
Hussein Yahya Al-Asri from Yemen went on trial in the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court in south China's Guangdong Province on Monday on charges of smuggling ivory.

Al-Asri, an 27-year-old businessman, was charged after customs discovered 60.73 kilograms valued at 3.5 million yuan (0.45 million U.S. dollars) in his luggage at the Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou on June 7, 2006.

Al-Asri said he tried to tell customs officials he was carrying the ivory but because he couldn't speak Chinese or English, he couldn't make himself understood and failed to declare the 16 pieces of ivory.

He said the ivory was bought from another businessman in Yemen at a cost of 30 U.S. dollars per kilogram and he intended to sell it in China.

"I really didn't know carrying ivory is illegal in China. Had I known this I would never carried the ivory," said Al-Asri.

A verdict is expected later this year, according to local sources.

China established regulations on the trade of endangered wild fauna and flora last September.

China joined the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in 1980 , but some African and Southeast Asia nations have not.

The regulations require the approval of the Chinese government to export or import wildlife or wildlife products for non-commercial purposes, such as scientific research, breeding or exchanges.

Guangzhou Population Approaching Limits
A survey from Guangzhou sounded the alarm that the population of the capital of South China's Guangdong Province is approaching the limit its resources can support. More chances to land a job and better pay for the same kinds of jobs along with better living conditions in big cities have lured a growing number of rural migrants to major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Migrant workers have helped build these cities. They have made great contributions to the cities' economic development. They have taken on most of the vital low-end jobs from construction work to garbage collection, work that local residents are reluctant to do.

But there is a limit to the population a city can accommodate in terms of the limited resources of water and land.

The city population explosions overwhelm the infrastructure.

In the nation's capital, traffic jams, air pollution caused by exhaust emissions from nearly 3 million cars and pressure on water supplies are part of the population crush local government is attempting to deal with.

Experts in Guangzhou have proposed restructuring local industry to taper off the population increase caused by migration. Low-end manufacturing enterprises are a major magnet for farmers- turned- city-workers. Increasing high-tech manufacturing would employ fewer, more highly trained workers.

It is unacceptable to use administrative bans to prevent rural workers from entering cities where resources are becoming strained. But city planners and administrators must have programs in place to avoid population explosions in big cities.

- updated 21 April 2007