This is Beijing-Beijing English blog

Five hutong home-stay locations opened for business in the Shichahai area of old Beijing yesterday. The five host families had already offered accommodation during the Olympic Games. Another 15 hutong home-stays will open later this year, according to the Xicheng district government, Beijing.

The five hutong home-stays currently only offer overnight accommodation and daytime visits. “At the moment only a few host families can meet the high standards required to serve meals,” said Liu Jun, deputy director of the Xicheng District Tourism Administration.

But Beijing will have 20 hutong home-stay locations by the end of the year, providing both accommodation and meals, Liu told Beijing Times. The first five families to be selected all live in the quintessential “Old Beijing” area of Shichahai. But locations in other areas will be considered, said Liu.

A night in a home stay starts from 100 yuan (US$15), with a family room starting at 400 yuan (US$59). High-class accommodation can range from 1,000 yuan (US$146), to as high as 5,000 yuan (US$731).

Only licensed home stay families will be allowed to offer accommodation to tourists; penalties will be imposed on illegal operators, the tourism administration said.

So far host families have mainly advertised their accommodation on websites. To help attract visitors, Xicheng District Tourism Administration is offering to assist the families in developing promotional plans in cooperation with websites, TV stations and travel agencies.

March and April is the ideal time to see cherry blossom in Beijing, and the ideal site for viewing the beatiful flowers is in Yuyuantan Park (Jade Lake).

 Yuyuantan Park, totaling 137 hectares (338.5 acres), is located on Xisanhuan Road (Xisanhuan Lu), in Haidian District. The park boasts extensive waters and beautiful gardens. Half the footprint is occupied by four lakes: the East and West lakes, the gourd-shaped Bayi Lake and Yinshui Lake.

 Every spring the park hosts a cherry blossom festival to show off the over 2,000 cherry trees of 20 some different types. Many of the trees are gifts from Japan when the two countries re-opened diplomatic relations in the 1970s.

 Those who enjoy being on the water can also hire a boat to cruise the lakes.

 Near the park also lies the China Central TV Tower (the tallest structure in Beijing) and the imposing China Millennium Monument.

 Bus Routes:

 * 323, 368, 374, 394 to Yuyuantan Ximen (West Gate of the park)

* 114, 717 to Yuyuantan Dongmen (East Gate of the park)

* 32, 414, 617 to Yuyuantan Nanmen (South Gate of the park)

* 320, 717, 727, 827, Te 5 to Muxidi

* 1, 4, 40, 52, 68, 212, 337, 613, 728 to Gongzhufen, and then you could walk north to the park

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Slumdog story all too common

It’s really hard to find a good reason, for everyone endowed with an ability to reason, to spend money watching “Slumdog Millionaire”.

Thanks to the articles provided by China Daily in the page “Life” of February 23, 2009, we know now that this Oscar -winning movie shows, of course in the typical highly artistic way of great Western film productions, the most absurd hopes of the underprivileged young workers of the third world.

The movie shows the problems that the poor have to endure in the emerging economies, and judging by its runaway success – succeeds in making them appear normal, acceptable, and even funny.

Nevertheless, it’s really not worth wasting our time, and human sensitivity, to watch “gangsters using a spoon to scoop out the eyes of boys and girls” so they could ‘earn double’ as beggars”.

It’s strange indeed that there are Indians who felt offended by the word “slumdog”. A dog’s life is definitely not that abject.

Cervini in Beijing

Via email

How to leverage a rich culture

“Culture plays a vital role in promoting Sino-African relations,” President Hu Jintao made this comment while on a visit to the Chinese Culture Center in Mauritius on Feb 17.

The Chinese Culture Center, the first cultural facility that the Chinese government opened overseas, has expanded over the past 20 years. Apart from language teaching and introduction of traditional Chinese culture, it has also hosted arts and photo exhibitions, performances and film festivals, which attracted successive presidents and prime ministers. China has opened seven such culture centers overseas, and will open at least five more.

In a global information age, soft sources of power such as culture, political values, and diplomacy are part of what makes a great power. Success depends not only on whose army wins, but also on whose story wins. But China’s soft power still has a long way to go.

China has always had an attractive traditional culture; the problem now is how to make the most effective use of its rich cultural reservoir to influence the outside world.

Meteohoo

on the China Daily website

Protecting rights of farmers

The objectives of doubling the per capita income of rural residents by 2020 are to lift the living standards of the peasants and narrow the income gap between farmers and urbanites.

The government has heard and is responding to the dissatisfaction of the rural population and is acting to formulate laws which will protect the farmers from corrupt land-grabbing local officials. This move would hopefully redress past wrongs and stabilize the rural economy.

With new legislation, farmers will be able to sell their rights attached to their land to reorganize agriculture and rural communities. However, I do see a need to provide unbiased legal and financial services to farmers contemplating the move to sell their land rights.

Another step forward for China.

Cestmoi

on the China Daily website

China hopes to cut the number of its major auto makers from 14 to 10 and increase the market share of domestic-brand vehicles in a consolidation push designed to enhance the competitiveness of a stalling industry.

The plan, which is part of a larger auto industry stimulus package announced earlier, seeks to create two to three powerhouse auto makers with annual sales and production capacity of 2 million units and another four to five car companies with the ability to sell 1 million vehicles every year, two officials from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers told Shanghai Daily yesterday.

None of China’s car companies meets the top criterion now. The one that comes closest is Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, which sold around 1.8 million vehicles last year.

The government also wants to increase the market share of Chinese-brand passenger vehicles to 40 percent from the current 34 percent, the sources added.

Backed by the merger plan and other measures contained in the stimulus package unveiled in mid-January, the government hopes domestic car makers will sell at least 10 million vehicles this year and maintain annual sales growth of 10 percent over the next three years, the sources said.

Last year, the country’s vehicle sales rose 6.7 percent to 9.38 million, the slowest pace since 2000 as the global economic downturn reduced consumer purchasing power and curtailed exports.

The merger push will have the greatest effect on China’s top 10 car makers, a group that accounted for 83 percent of total sales last year and includes state-owned firms such as SAIC, FAW Group Co and Dongfeng Motor Corp and privately owned Geely.

Some consolidation is already under way. The Beijing Automotive Industry Group, the nation’s fifth-biggest car maker, is in discussions to take over Fujian Automotive Group in south China to expand production.

Guangzhou Auto, the Chinese partner of Toyota and Honda, is pursuing the sport utility vehicle specialist Changfeng Automobile Co.

No quick fix

Analysts warned, however, that an immediate surge in industry mergers is not likely despite the government encouragement.

“Mergers and acquisitions still depend on the goals of individual car makers,” said Zhang Xin, an auto analyst at Guotai Jun’an Securities Co.

“It could become complicated if it involves conflicts among local governments” that are reluctant to lose a source of taxation.

The detailed measures have been sent to local governments for their review.

Under the larger stimulus plan, the government is setting up a 10-billion-yuan (US$1.46 billion) fund to help car makers develop new-energy vehicles.

It is offering 5 billion yuan in subsidies to support vehicle purchases in rural areas starting on March 1.

And the sales tax on vehicles with smaller engines is being cut in half to 5 percent.

The car fire “started suddenly” when police stopped the car and came forward to question the passengers inside at around 2:50 p.m. at the crossing of Wangfujing and Chang’an avenues, according to a statement by the Beijing government information office. Police then extinguished the fire.

 The statement said two of the three people, who were inside the car, were hospitalized for non-life threatening injuries.

 Xinhua has confirmed with two separate sources that there were two men and one woman in the vehicle at the time of the incident. One woman and one man were taken to the hospital.

 The information office statement mentioned nothing about the third person.

 The office said earlier that three people “set fire to themselves” while inside the car.

 The statement went on to say, “police found something abnormal about the car” before they stopped it at the southern end of Wangfujing avenue.

 ”The three people came to Beijing for personal petitions,” the Beijing government information office said.

 The car had a non-Beijing license plate. But the people’s identities have not been released.

A passerby surnamed Li said he saw a car stop at south end of Wangfujing at around 3:15 p.m.. “There are signs of a fire on its surface and extinguisher foam around it. People around me say some people set fire to themselves.”

Another witness said he saw that policemen were “possibly trying to intercept the car. The people in the car lit a fire, but it was quickly put out”.

According to a survey conducted by the Social Survey Institute of China (SSIC), to date the overall graduate employment rate is only 36 percent, far short of the target of 70 percent set by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

This year graduates face grim employment prospects. On one hand, official statistics show that the population of Chinese graduates has risen to 6.1 million, and over one million previous graduates have not yet found jobs; on the other hand, the global financial crisis and the slowdown of economy will increase graduates’ employment difficulties.

Recently the Social Survey Institute of China (SSIC) carried out a survey of 1000 graduates from 11 cities across China, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen and so on, which showed that to date only 36 percent of graduates have found jobs, far short of the target of 70 percent set by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

In terms of job satisfaction and happiness, the survey revealed that only 27 percent of graduates who have found jobs expressed themselves satisfied with their jobs. The reasons for dissatisfaction with their present jobs mainly lie in three areas: job content; remuneration package, and interpersonal relationships, reflecting a contradiction between the professional environment of universities and social needs.

In addition, about 71 percent of graduates interviewed said that it is very hard to find a job during this grim financial crisis, and 56 percent felt very worried about employment prospects.

 According to the survey, replying to the question about an ideal career, 28 percent of graduates preferred national government departments. Next came state-owned enterprises, research units and universities. Graduates who chose private enterprise or decided to start their own businesses account for the smallest proportion.

Hosting a successful World Expo in 2010 is always going to be a tall order. It becomes even more formidable after the splendid Beijing Olympics last August. Now, the world economic crisis has made this “economic and technological Olympics” even more arduous.

To call it an arduous and exciting task reflects the Chinese perception of a crisis, which brings both danger and opportunity.

A triumphant expo would bring much-needed hope and confidence to China and the world to combat sweeping economic woes, which are spreading like wildfires from the developed world into developing countries.

In this sense, the Shanghai Expo could be a great platform for countries and corporations to prove what they are capable of in times of great difficulties. This is indeed challenging and exciting.

Also exciting is the fact that the Shanghai Expo is likely to be the largest of its kind in history, regardless of the economic hardships.

Already 231 countries and international organizations had promised by Feb 4 to attend the extravaganza.

And so far no organization has backed out of its commitment. This will help fulfill China’s pledge to attract 200 countries and international organizations.

The enthusiasm from the participating countries and organizations demonstrates their belief in the importance of fighting the economic disaster together. It also shows their optimism in China and Shanghai, respectively among the fastest growing countries and cities in the world.

The Chinese government has thrown its full weight behind the expo since the very beginning.

It has been keeping its word on offering $100 million to developing countries in assisting them to take part.

China is also building 11 joint pavilions named after Africa, South Pacific, Caribbean Community, South America, Asia, Europe, United Nations and International Organizations to make it easier for more countries and organizations to attend.

Excitement aside, the challenges facing the expo, only 14 months away, are many and not easy.

It won’t be easy to get all the countries, which promised to attend, to finally sign the contracts, in the wake of the financial crisis. The major concern now seems to be the United States, which prohibits government financing of such exhibitions. Private fund-raising has also met great hurdles.

So it is likely that the largest economic and technological power on earth may attend the expo with a reduced budget or even miss the event, as it did in Hanover, Germany, in 2000 and Zaragosa, Spain, last year.

Other countries might also have to scale back their commitments in order to appease public opinion.

The number of international travelers, expected to account for 5 percent of the estimated 70 million visitors during the six-month long party, may also be down.

Declining occupancy at five-star hotels in major Chinese cities is perhaps a portent.

China and host city Shanghai will also need to be cost conscious amid the many social and economic challenges they face.

World Expos have created many miracles in history. Now it is Shanghai’s turn.

Repair to the Golden Water Bridges in front of Tian’anmen, or the Gate of Heavenly Peace facing Tian’anmen Square in the south, began Wednesday, less than eight months ahead of the 60th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

The repair work is scheduled to be completed before May 1 and then the bridges will open to visitors, according to the management committee in the Tian’anmen area.

The repair is made in accordance with a plan approved by the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage on Nov. 6, 2008.

A public bidding posted on the administration’s website said the total budget for the renovation project is 946,400 yuan (about 139,000 U.S. dollars).

Baidu Inc., which operates China’s most popular Internet search engine, said Thursday its unaudited net profit in the fourth quarter of 2008 soared 31.3 percent year-on-year to 288.7 million yuan (US$42.3 million).

Total business revenue for the quarter increased 58 percent to 902.1 million yuan (US$132.2 million), the Beijing-based company said in a statement.

China Central Television (CCTV) is planning to start a national online TV station, the country’s broadcasting authority said on Wednesday.

The move is seen as part of CCTV’s efforts to expand its influence in the cyberspace where video-sharing websites such as YouTube are gaining increasing popularity.

CCTV.com, the website of CCTV, which already provides VOD (video on demand) service, is researching “well-known video websites at home and abroad”, and is working on a plan to launch a national online TV station, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) said in a statement posted on its website, without providing a timetable.

The broadcaster will also start building a video-sharing platform globally, the statement said.

CCTV is also considering forming a strategic partnership with China Mobile, the country’s top mobile phone carrier, it said.

China had 173 million online video viewers by the end of last year, according to Beijing-based research house Analysys International.

The online video market peaked during the Olympics when many people turned to the Internet to watch the games. CCTV.com, which enjoyed the exclusive rights to broadcast Olympics online, was the biggest beneficiary.