China

By Larry Habegger | Permalink | No Comments | June 24th, 2003 | Trackback

The World Health Organization (WHO) removed Beijing and Hong Kong from its list of SARS-effected areas because the disease is no longer spreading in either place. Twenty days had passed since the last confirmed cases, an indication that the disease is under control. Authorities will remain vigilant, however, to ensure that the disease doesnÂ’t make a comeback, as it did in Toronto after the Canadian city was deemed free of SARS. The only remaining places now on WHOÂ’s list of SARS-effected areas are Taiwan and Toronto.

Sometimes the wrong souvenir can get you in trouble. A traveler wearing a novelty t-shirt he bought in China was arrested after he got into an altercation with locals in a restaurant in Nanjing. The t-shirt had “Ten Warnings for Chinese” printed in Chinese on the back, with various admonitions that the Chinese found offensive. The traveler was allowed to leave the police station after an hour when he promised not to wear the shirt again. The residents of Nanjing may be more sensitive than most, because in the 1990s the city was the site of large anti-foreigner demonstrations after a fight between foreign exchange students and college staff. This recent incident is reminiscent of a case in Tibet a few years ago when a foreigner was arrested by Chinese police for wearing a Phil Silvers t-shirt. The police thought the image of Silvers was a picture of the Dalai Lama.

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China

By Larry Habegger | Permalink | No Comments | June 18th, 2003 | Trackback

Beijing is now the only place in the world where the World Health Organization (WHO) advises avoiding all but essential travel because of SARS.

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China

By Larry Habegger | Permalink | No Comments | June 10th, 2003 | Trackback

The Yellow River is at its lowest level in 50 years and millions in northern China face water shortages this summer. Chinese officials reported that more than half the watersheds of China’s seven major rivers are contaminated, with pollution levels in the Yellow River at or beyond China’s worst measurement. Only a quarter of China’s household sewage is treated, and virtually all of that is in cities, so rural water pollution is endemic and serious. Officials acknowledge that the air is polluted in two-thirds of China’s cities.

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China

By Larry Habegger | Permalink | No Comments | June 3rd, 2003 | Trackback

For the first time in more than 50 years, foreigners will soon be able to stay anywhere they wish in Beijing. A trial plan began May 28 to lift dwelling restrictions that force foreigners to stay in government-approved hotels or apartments. The formal lifting of restrictions is scheduled for Oct. 1, with the only exclusion being “non-open areas or military areas.”

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