This is Beijing-Beijing English blog

Chinese authorities have shut down 162 Web sites that had been found providing pornographic and “lewd” content in their audio or video segments, according to a statement released by the country’s online watchdog Monday.

The blocked Web sites had not acquired permits to broadcast audio and video programs issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), said a statement issued by the Special Operation Office for Crackdown on online Porn and Lewd Content.

The Web sites include www.baigujing.com, www.bt990.com and other sites mainly based in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong Provinces.

The Web sites added to a total of 341 audio and video sites that have been blocked by the SARFT and telecommunication authorities since Chinese government launched a nationwide campaign in January to sweep off pornographic and obscene contents on the Internet.

So far, more than a thousand of Web sites have been blocked by the authorities for distributing porn and other lewd materials in texts and pictures.

The SARFT also asked all Web sites not to post TV series online which had not been censored by the administration.

Beijing joined the worldwide relay on Saturday night to switch off lights of major buildings for one hour to highlight concerns about climate change while calling for actions

The iconic “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium and the “Water Cube” National Aquatics Center in northern Beijing, usually illuminated by floodlights, went dark completely at 8:30 p.m. local time (1230GMT).

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The South-to-North Water Transfer Project part at my hometown.

China is launching new tour routes to showcase China’s culture and its tourist treasures in the best way. The nation’s first-batch of 12 officially recommended tour routes were announced on Tuesday by China National Tourism Administration.

 China hopes the new designation will attract more domestic and overseas tourists. The draft plan is now awaiting public comment.

 Among others, the 12 tour routes cover the world famous Silk Road, the Three Gorges, the Great Wall and the Yellow River. Here are the details of the 12 routes:

 1. Silk Road tour route.

This route, focusing on the history of silk across Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Xinjiang, has significant market appeal both at home and abroad.

 2. Shangri-la tour route.

This route is a trip from Kunming to Dali, Lijiang and Diqing in Yunnan Province, spreading into Sichuan and Tibetan areas, and introducing local ethnic culture and unique landscapes. It is another of the hottest trips, also very popular in the overseas market.

 3. Three Gorges tour route.

With attractions like beautiful valleys, spreading waters, views of the dam, and the traditional culture of the region, this route is a classic trip keenly promoted by China.

 4. Qinghai-Tibet railway route.

Qinghai-Tibet railway route rises from eastern Xining to western Lhasa and extends to other areas of Tibet. It leads across a snow-capped plateau attaching Qinghai to Tibet by rail.

 5. Great Wall tour route.

The Great Wall stretches across many provincial regions from Shanhai Pass in the east to Jiayu Pass in the west – not only a symbol of Chinese culture but also a major Chinese tourist resource.

 6. China Grand Canal tour route.

Descending through the eastern part of China, the tour begins in Tongzhou in the north and continues to Hangzhou in the south, spanning Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

 7. “Long March” tour route.

The “Red Army’s Long March” trip is currently the most popular route in revolutionary tourism. The route begins in Ruijin in Jiangxi Province, passing through Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Shaanxi to Yan’an, connecting east, west, south and north China.

 8. Songhu – Yalu rivers tour route

This route runs through three northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, featuring immense forests, clear skies, blue water and snow, and introducing regional culture and frontier customs.

 9. The Yellow River tour route

The trip stretches from Shandong Province in the east to Qinghai in the west, covering the cultural areas of Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, and Shandong in the central plain.

 10. “The middle and lower Yangtze River” tour route

The trip, centering on the cities and world Heritage sites around the middle and lower Yangtze River, features city tours and heritage, and the landscape of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai.

 11. “Beijing-Xi’an-Shanghai-Guilin-Guangzhou” tour route

The trip focuses on the air routes connecting 5 well-known tourist destinations: Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Guilin and Guangzhou. It was the first trip opened to the overseas market and its long-standing reputation justifies its title of the “Classic China” trip.

 12. Seaside holiday resort tour route

The trip covers China’s eastern seaboard cities by air and sea, working from north to south through Dalian, Yantai, Weihai, Qingdao, Rizhao, Lianyungang, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Haikou, and Sanya, and promoting China’s seaside holidays and leisure.

 (China.org.cn by Dong Qingpei, March 26, 2009)

This afternoon, i went to Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications to take a walk. It is very near from our company to get there.

Some photos of this university:

Youtube seems have been blocked in China again. I tried just now, but it is still unavailable.

This kind of things offen occurd in China, lot of  western websites are blocked by the China’s Net Nanny.

Beijing Daxing government rewarded cars to 4 entrepreneurs for attracting local labor. And the cars are Audi A6 and A8. The government said this was to encourage all the entreneurs to help government to solve the local employment issue.

Three of them got the second reward award , and their prizes were Audi A6L2.8. The first award winner got AudiA8L6.0 which worth CNY 860,000 as his prize. The winner was the president of Beijing Zhonghuan Investment Co.,Ltd. There are 1625 employees in this company and 1332 of them come from the local. They will not reduce staff and cut salary this year.

North China’s Hebei Province, the major water supplier to Beijing, has overexploited its groundwater which caused subsidence and formed “20 hopper areas” of more than 40,000 square km, said a local water conservancy official on Saturday.

 ”Water shortage has become a big problem facing the province’s social and economic development,” Li Qinglin, director of Hebei’s water conservancy department, told a forum marking the 17th World Water Day which falls on Sunday.

 ”Water resources in Hebei have dwindled by nearly 50 percent in recent years compared with that in the 1950s,” said Li, adding the province consumes 20.5 billion to 21.5 billion cubic meters water annually but it has only 17 billion cubic meters of surface water, leaving groundwater to supply the margin.

 A water conservancy expert earlier said Hebei has overused 120 billion cubic meters of groundwater in 30 years since 1976.

 The expert who declined to be named estimated that the average per capita water resources in Hebei was only one-seventh of the national average.

 Southwestern Chongqing Municipality has a relatively better prospect, which sees its average per capita water two-thirds of the national average, according to local government statistics.

 Chongqing has 1,802 cubic meters of water per person.

 While meeting its own needs, Hebei Province supplies water to neighboring Beijing and Tianjin, where three big reservoirs are backed by water from Hebei.

 Li urged the government to take measures to reduce water consumption for the sake of sustainable economic and social development.”

Daily commuting takes Beijingers 70 minutes on average, which is 16 minutes more than 20 years ago, according to an official survey released on Thursday.

The Beijing Statistics Bureau surveyed 1,500 local residents to determine the commuting time.

The survey showed that travel time has extended, either because people live further from their workplace or because traffic is heavier.

Beijing’s rush hour traffic is among the heaviest in the world’s biggest cities, as the number of people who commute by car has increased.

The city registered an average of 1,302 new drivers per day last year, according to the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, whose latest figures also showed there were 5.2 million drivers and 3.56 million vehicles on road in the city as of Feb. 14.