Beijing News

China Hearsay has an interesting piece discussing a recent China Daily/Xinhua story on the jurisdiction of divorce settlements between Chinese nationals and foreigners.

According to the China Daily article: "Chinese nationals married to foreigners will have to settle any marital conflicts according to the law of the country where they live most of the time under proposals that went before Chinese lawmakers Monday" -- a motion that clears up (somewhat) a long-standing ambiguity about how divorce settlement laws are applied in these instances. Or, as ChinaHearsay puts it, "The point is that this sort of thing tends to be messy, and judges here do not like dealing with foreign-related family law issues."

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The Global Times and other Chinese media outlets have announced free measles (ma(2) zhen(3), 痲疹) shots for kids from September 11-20 for "children from 8 months old to 14 years old at 535 vaccination sites and 178 hospitals" due to an anticipated outbreak this fall.

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It seems we've just gotten over the melamine milk scandal that killed six infants and caused serious illness to 300,000 more, when we stumble upon another piece of disturbing news. 

The Daily Mailreported that a number of female babies in Hubei have developed premature puberty. The babies, ages 4 to 15 months, have hormone levels comparable to an adult woman and have formed breasts. At present, the only thing linking each case is the use of infant formula produced by Chinese company Synutra. Synutra maintains their formula has nothing to do with the defects and thus far authorities have refused to run tests on the formula.

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The "Yellow Fever" line is an oldie but a goody, and it's often been said that behind every  stereotype exist a gain of truth. A regular contributor to beijingkids, Dinah Chong Watkins, gave her two cents as to why she believes expatriate men prefer Chinese women in her recent China Daily column.

If that piques your interest, then click here and here for more of the same, but different. 

I recently received an email from Oakwood Apartments and to be honest, at first I wasn't sure whether to believe it.

According to Oakwood: On June 12th, Assistant Front Office Manager, Tracy Cui, received a phone call from a rather distressed resident. It seemed his wife was going into labor, "right now!" In true superhero style, she was quick to respond, rushing up to the couple's apartment to help in any way she could. Ms. Cui then proceeded to assist the father deliver a healthy 3.85kg baby boy named Luca.

Ms. Cui, when not fielding calls at the front desk of Oakwood, must be a miracle worker because the delivery lasted a mere 10 minutes.

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The entrance to Dandelion School for migrant school children in Daxing, south Beijing. All images Dan Edwards.

Gongyi Xiqiao is a frontier outpost on Beijing's southern fringe, a cluster of highrise apartment blocks grouped around the last Line 4 subway stop before the city dissipates into dusty outlying villages. Take a cab ride twenty minutes further south and you reach a low-rise strip of shops along a pitted two-lane road. Only an incongruously colourful iron gate fronting a disused factory distinguishes the street from thousands of others skirting the capital. Welcome to Dandelion, Beijing’s sole officially recognized high school for the children of migrant workers.

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Our Sunday morning family outing took an unexpected twist yesterday as we were trying to catch a cab on Ping’an Dadao just east of Nanluoguxiang.

A young boy, about ten years old, was standing in the middle of the lane trying to hail a taxi. The driver screeched to a sudden stop to avoid hitting him, and then sped off as soon as he got around. Other cars were doing the same, honking angrily as they circumvented the scene.  By now, the usual crowd of gawkers had gathered to stare in befuddlement.

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 Students all over China will be taking the Gaokao, an intense, three-day college entrance examination, beginning today.  This annual test decides whether high school graduates will secure a spot in a top Chinese university. This year, 80,241 students will take the exam in Beijing, according to the China Daily. To make Gaokao run smoothly, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education is encouraging residents to take public transportation to ensure that students arrive on time for their exam.

Read the full China Daily article here.

To read more about Gaokao, check out this earlier beijingkids post. 

After a spate of school killings and violent attacks across China, local authorities have clamped down on International Children's Day celebrations. Long lines at your local Pizza Hut are still expected, but there are noticeably less large scale activities than in previous years.

 

 

Check out these interesting articles from local newspapers:

Children's Day garden party to take no chances

After deadly attacks, security tightened at schools ahead of Int'l Children's Day

More security at schools for Children's Day

The 3rd edition of the Expat Show Beijing will take place on 26-28th March 2010 at the China World Trade Center. Around 150 exhibitors will present their services and products during the three day exhibition.

For this third edition we will set up 4 new animations to enjoy your visit:
• Food Festival
• Travel in Asia
• Live Performance
• The Kid Show

The Entrance is FREE to all the visitors. So be sure to note the dates in your calendar and register directly on the website to win great prizes, including: vouchers for famous Beijing restaurants, a weekend in Sanya, Beijing Guide, massages at Dragonfly and Spa de Feng, hotels rooms and much more.

Check www.expatshowbeijing.com or call us at 5869 9752 for more information.