Racing to the top in Beijing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

As mentioned earlier (with the wrong number of steps, now corrected), 600 climbed Beijing’s tallest building as part of the Vertical World Circuit. We prefer to call the building “World Trade Center 3”:


The WTC3 seen from my home in Beijing on a clear day and a close-up.

Germany’s Thomas Dold came first, sprinting up the 82 flights – and 2,041 steps – to the observation deck of the China World Summit Wing hotel in nine minutes 55 seconds.
The event was co-hosted by the Shangri-La hotels group and the International Skyrunning Federation.

130804 eightwonders
Picture from SCMP.

See the original article:
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1294215/600-climb-beijings-tallest-building-part-vertical-world-circuit
The rankings of the tallest building in China is changing.
At 632 meters and 121 floors, the Shanghai Tower (Pudong district) is now the world’s second-tallest building.
When completed in 2014, the building will have retail and office space, and a luxury hotel. It was designed by the U.S. architectural firm Gensler. It replaces the Shanghai World Financial Center (completed in 2007) as China’s tallest building.

Rules of etiquette for Chinese citizens traveling abroad

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

If you want to know what Chinese tend to do wrong (both at home and abroad), this list published by China Daily gives you the picture:

What to do
The following are the rules of etiquette for Chinese citizens traveling abroad as issued by Chinese government:
1. Keep the environment clean. Wrap up your chewing gum before you discard it. Don’t spit on the floor. Don’t litter. Don’t smoke except in designated areas.
2. Observe public order. Don’t yell or shout. While in a line, stay in your line. Don’t talk loudly in public places.
3. Preserve the environment. Stay off public lawns and refrain from picking flowers or fruits. Leave the animals alone and don’t feed them.
4. Protect historical sites and cultural relics. Don’t carve or scrawl on them. Don’t touch or climb on the relics and heed the restrictions when taking photos around them.
5. Be careful with the use of public facilities. Don’t smear or break objects in hotel rooms. Don’t vandalize or damage public facilities. Don’t attempt to make off with public belongings. Conserve water and electricity by using them efficiently. Don’t waste food.
6. Be respectful to the people around you. Don’t try to snap photos with foreigners without their permission. Don’t sneeze into the face of others. Don’t occupy public facilities for too long. Respect the work of service staff. Respect the local religious customs.
7. Be courteous to others. Dress appropriately and don’t go bare-chested or naked while in public areas. Be considerate toward the elderly, people who are ill or disabled. Follow the rule: “Ladies first”. Never use vulgar language.
8. Take part in healthy entertainment. Stay away from pornography, gambling and drugs.

The list came with an article published 1 August 2013: “Chinese tourists told to polish up on etiquette”:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2013-08/01/content_16859651.htm

More than 1.55 million Chinese students study overseas and the number of Chinese outbound tourists was nearly 83.2 million in 2012.
A poll conducted by US-based e-commerce site Living Social in 2012 found Chinese to be the second-worst tourists in the world, second only to the US respondents themselves.
“It’s embarrassing to see warnings against littering, spitting on the ground or smoking in non-smoking areas only in Chinese characters at some places of interests abroad,” said a tour guide from from a travel agency based in Shanghai.
“In addition to the quality and lack of moral restraint of some Chinese tourists, travel agencies and improper hype by the media also contribute to the obnoxious image of Chinese tourists abroad”.
Never mind what they do in China, right?!

InterNations Beijing: Book Reading Club

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Learn more about Internations: http://www.internations.org/
And also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/internationsbeijing

“Let’s talk about books”: The Beijing Group currently has 46 members, 19 nationalities.
The Second Meeting – treasure sharing! was held at The Woodhouse, a nice cafe next to the book store “Page One” in the Sanlitun Village South (OK, they changed name but I never remember the new one!).

Thanks to Lily and Jing for the pics
Most of us introduced a favorite book. I went for “Why Men Marry Bitches” (by Sherry Argov), a book I think is so correct about how men think. It does not work as well for Chinese men but I used it several times to coach Chinese ladies trying to figure out how to deal with their (mostly) foreign boyfriends. A Chinese translation exists but the English version is probably best as some of the terms must be hard to translate correctly.
I just feel pity I have so many books waiting to be read. Time is short…

The Chinese are studying English?

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

So, this is what we read in the newspapers. Kids 4 years old going to English lessons. Youngsters going on summer camps in the USA. Before the Olympics the great majority of the Beijingers had learned “basic English”, according to China Daily.
According to some Chinese, there are also too many foreigners in China, a complete joke – China is one of the countries in the world with the lowest amount of foreigners relative to the population. How many are we in China? According to the authorities who are known to have either no clue or good at giving unreliable information, we are less than one million. So, make the % calculation yourself. Of course all foreigners are concentrated in Sanlitun, giving the impression we are so many.
China is way behind in adapting to the international scene, as nearly nobody speaks English. Most PhDs returning from UK and USA after many years still cannot write a decent e-mail. Public signs are often wrong, at least they provide good entertainment. They could ask a foreigner to help check it (for free) but that would be loss of face I guess. Or maybe they simply can’t find anybody. I could suggest to them to place an ad in The Beijinger.
Chinese love to laugh with us speaking poor Chinese, or laughing with foreigners using T-shirts that carry real silly Chinese characters. Well, we have our turn too.

Chinese TV is a good example to show their advanced status of ignorance.
Here you need to stand on your head to see what they tried to say. Actually nobody is supposed to read any of the English stuff around. They print it just to look exotic, like on real estate ads. Or like the facial tissues I use. “Mind Act Upon Mind” it declares. I use it to wipe my forehead but my mind has till now not responded. I keep on trying.
Not to be surprised by the number of websites that show all the funny English signs, some also from Japan (another great country for its international language capabilities). One among many is http://www.engrish.com/.

The saga of the Changsha building continues

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Seems the building permits have not been completed yet for the “sky City” according to the SCMP.
The building would be made of “prefab” steel modules built off site, would be able to accommodate 30,000 people with flats, a school, hotel, hospital and offices, as well as an 8,000 sqm garden. Broad Group said that 3,000 workers would do assembly work at the construction site for three months while 20,000 would finish manufacturing in four months in factories.
Super high-rise buildings usually take years to build using conventional techniques. The Burj Khalifa took 47 months to build.
If you watch the movie clip (see earlier post) showing how they build that other highrise then you understand how exciting and puzzling the whole story becomes. If it would go ahead, that would be a revolution in construction. Of course, all “if”.