Ten Chinese things which raised an eyebrow this week 31/01/2013
Happy New Year!
Today sees us welcome the Chinese New Year, “The Year of the Horse”, so EP brings you a special version of Ten Asian Things which raised an eyebrow this week
- It seems everything is now “made in China” as a scientific study of the smog over Los Angeles shows it has originated from air pollution across the Pacific Ocean...
- ...but not to worry, officials in the Province of Guangdong are on the case! In the same week in which residents in some areas of China are warned to remain indoors to avoid the smog, an emergency plan to tackle pollution has been imposed which dictates who can or can’t drive depending on the last number of their licence plate. So, that’s that sorted then!
- In 2007, after a month long whirlwind romance, a young Chinese woman married an American man called “John”. Fast forward 7 years and she’s been left reeling to find she can’t divorce him because she can't find him (“John” having skipped town a mere month after they tied the knot!)
- Cecil Chao Sze-tsung, a Chinese billionaire, has offered an award of HK$1 billion to any man who can “turn” his lesbian daughter straight
- Never one’s to do anything “typical”, thousands of applicants for the position of flight attendant with China Southern Airlines were made to take part in a Flight Attendant Beauty Pageant as part of the recruitment process
- With an increase in consumption of 136% in only 5 years, China has overtaken both France and Italy to become the world’s number one consumer of red wine
- Farmers in the village of Jianshe have built a 2 meter wall of cash with the New Year’s bonus pay-out received from their local Co-op
- Luxury hotels are clamouring to have their ratings lowered to maintain lucrative Government contracts after a ban was levied on official’s charging “expenses” in five-star venues
- Chinese students are taking the concept of “cramming for an exam” one step further with some alarming methods of staying awake including homemade nooses to wake them up by choking should they inadvertently nod off
- If you’re wondering what’s to be expected in “The Year of the Horse”, believers in the Chinese form of geomancy are anticipating conflict, volcanic eruptions, power outages and explosions in the summer! In good news though, “companies trading in wood-based products will flourish on the stock market”