What's in the News

Hmm...the sad thing is that it is not behaviour that surprises me. Disgusts me and makes me want to slap them, yes, but not surprising at all...

I really can't see this being a big deal if it was a gang of Chinese tourists peeing on a motorway in Ireland.

There'd be a bit of smirking and a smatter of banter, but none of this 'this isn't the late Qing Dynasty, laowai!' hysteria that inevitably follows (or is portrayed on Chinasmack and the like)

...

Come to think of it I can't even see this being a big deal if it was a bus of Chinese tourists in China.

This laowai-in-China narrative is getting old

"Police said it could not punish the Danes as there was no regulation against urinating on an elevated road."
 

The g/f showed me that picture yesterday. Even she said that the local authorities were rediculous. Her first comment was, "Look, just like Chinese!"

Something else I noticed about that article was that the fine was only 200yuan! For making an emergency stop on an elevated roadway in a massive bus

The cash fine was small.  The bad part for the driver was 6 points on his license.  One more incident like this and he'll need a new job for 12 months.

The driver, surnamed Bian

大还是小？

Even she said that the local authorities were rediculous. Her first comment was, "Look, just like Chinese!"

Yeah, that was my thought too. Maybe the problem was that they were peeing on the wrong side of the bus, they should have been on the other side peeing into oncoming traffic with the locals?

I hate seeing the driver getting penalized for this. Hope the laowei take up a collection and pay his fine for him.

So the question is whether the Dane should urinate or not?  Am I missing an easy pun, or anything else? Or is that even the question?

Quote

The driver, surnamed Bian

大还是小？

 

Something else I noticed about that article was that the fine was only 200yuan! For making an emergency stop on an elevated roadway in a massive bus

Yeah.  Don't they usually give out awards for that?

China trade a risky business for Australians

Last month Mr Mather was added to the list when he was quietly sentenced to one year's jail followed by deportation.

He was convicted for assault after being found guilty of inflicting a knife injury on one of the intruders and injuring the finger of another when it was jammed in the door.

Wow! Four people barge into your apartment and attack you, but it's only about what you did to them. Dayum.

I know this story isn't that unusual, but it's kind of shocking to me and I failed to properly take in this obvious element until the second reading:

Since November, Mr Mather has spent his days in a bedroom-size Chinese prison cell, shared with 15 men, while the assailants have never been investigated.

HK Milk Formula, Don't Take More Than Two Tins

http://www.lifeofguangzhou.com/node_981/node_989/node_997/node_1006/2013/03/05/1362448883138156.shtml

March 5, 2013

People leaving Hong Kong customs can only carry 1.8 kg (about two tins) of powdered formula, including milk powder and soya milk powder, for infants and children under 36 months.

A regulation has taken effect from March 1 in Hong Kong, limiting bringing baby milk formula to the mainland.

The new Import & Export (General) (Amendment) Regulation 2013 sets limits on the export of baby milk. People leaving Hong Kong customs can only carry 1.8 kg (about two tins) of powdered formula, including milk powder and soya milk powder, for infants and children under 36 months. Offenders will face a fine of up to HK0,000 (,000) and two years in jail.

Within two days after the amendment took effect, the Hong Kong customs detained 45 violators, including 26 Hong Kong residents, 18 Chinese mainlanders and one person with a foreign passport, according to Hong Kong's Information Service Department.

Hong Kong government determined to curb baby milk smuggling after an acute milk shortage reached a peak in 2012. Hong Kong mothers protested that customers from mainland China came to take away a large amount of baby milk, causing milk to fall short of supply and milk prices to skyrocket on the island.

The crush for milk smuggling from Hong Kong to mainland China is due to mainlanders' lack of faith in the Chinese mainland's milk industry. Since 2008, a series of milk scandals broke out in China and among the guilty companies some were household-known brands.

China's largest e-commerce platform Taobao.com has seen the price of baby milk exported from Hong Kong increase . A tin of milk powder now costs RMB275, 20% up since this January, according to sh.eastday.com.

(By Shi Yuanyuan)
Editor:Lynus Tan

So there's an everyday product that people need for their babies and the demand is greater than the supply, so the price rises. The govt restricts the import (meaning sale). Gee, I wonder what will happen next? Total mystery, right?

Retailers couldn't just increase their supply or maybe open a store on the HK side close to the Shenzhen border? Hmmmmm. Curious.

That one had me scratching my head too.

I mean, if you've got droves of customers coming across the border and emptying your shelves, the solution is to get more from your suppliers, raise prices, enjoy profits, etc.  Rationing the amount that can leave the country just seems silly.

If I had the time and cash, I'd rent a shop in the duty-free neutral zone at the HK-Shenzhen border and sell imported powdered milk at crazy prices.



For those who like to keep up with the news of the repulsive, there's been another "eel event" inside China.  Seems this one was self inflicted after the guy watched something in a very kinky film and decided to give it a try. Run a news search for eel if you want all the disgusting details.