Beijing grants 17,600 people new license plates

Because of my recent trip to Beijing, I can attest to the number of cars on the street and how polluted the city really is. At two or three in the afternoon, the streets were jammed almost to a stand still and the subways were still crowded with people. At the end of 2010, Beijing had 4.8 million registered cars, an average of 2,000 new cars hitting the road every day. This past month the capital has instated a new quota of only 240,000 new cars to be registered this year, compared with 800,000 last year. Beijing is limiting the number of cars given a license plate by having a lottery once a month. This past Wednesday, the first lottery took place, granting 17,600 people license plates out of 187,420 qualified applicants. More than 210,000 people had applied but over 22,000 were disqualified. 90% of the plates are given to residents with the rest going to businesses. Many people think the lottery is a fair way to distribute license plates since it gives everyone a chance. Individuals can apply once a month and can only register one car. Beijing officials are trying hard to curb the problem by introducing higher parking fees in downtown areas and enforcing stricter traffic rules.
You’ll think again next time you're in rush hour, imagine 800,000 cars trying to get around your city.

To read more about this topic, click here.

Year of the Rabbit

As all of you know, it is the year 2011, a new year. On December 31st, the western world celebrated new years eve and on January 1st came a brand new year, filled with resolutions, new hopes and ambitions. But over in the eastern hemisphere the new year is yet to come. Chun Jie, or Spring Festival, is the Chinese new year, beginning on February 3rd. It is the most important Chinese holiday and is celebrated the entire first half of the month, from the 1st to the 15th ending with the Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve (Feb. 2nd) is a day where families gather and have a large feast and end the night with firecrackers. Both the eve and new years day is a time of reunion and thanksgiving. Most families will thoroughly clean their house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Red couplets and lanterns are hung on door frames and around the house. Traditionally red envelopes with money inside are passed out during the celebrations.

This year is the year of the Rabbit. The rabbit is the 4th animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. People born in these years are rabbits: 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999. I am very excited as this is my year! Chinese new year is also the most traveled time of the year. People travel back to their hometowns to spend time with family, making traveling during this time insane. I decided to get out of China for Chinese New Year, as I don't have a family here to celebrate with, I am taking a short vacation to the Philippines with some friends.

MADE IN CHINA

While being in China for several months, I've received several packages from friends and family with assorted goodies and letters. I laugh to myself when I look and see the usual 'MADE IN CHINA' stamped on the back of something my friends bought for me in the U.S. then sent to me in China. That phrase, 'MADE IN CHINA', has become second nature to us Americans. Its practically stamped on everything we buy, especially things made in bulk for cheap. But do we really know what it means for China? This fact, that China's presence is growing, was recently pointed out to me in an article I read from the New York Times. This past summer, China passed Japan to become the world's second-largest economy behind the United States. In recent years China has passed Germany, France, Great Britain and now Japan proving that China, who was once an underdog, is growing faster than the rest of the world can keep up with. Experts even go as far to predict that China will pass the United States as the world's biggest economy as early as 2030.

China has roughly the same land mass as the United States but a fifth of the world's population and inadequate resources. Because the majority of China is underdeveloped it has a much lower standard of living also meaning a lot more room to grow. China is now the world's biggest exporter, passing Germany last year, but economists say that China is too dependent on exports and that it needs to consider greater domestic consumption.

Now all of these 1st prizes don't come without consequence. In 2006 China passed the United States to become the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Analysts are on the fence about China's relationship with the green market. Some believe China is reluctant to join in the debate about climate change or how to slow the growth of greenhouse gases. But China also started a program to cut the energy from each unit of economic output by 20% by the end of 2010. (Not sure if they succeeded or not).

Whether or not China decides to fully jump on board going global with the green market, it still has an authoritarian government that can take decisive actions by stimulating the economy, building new projects and investing in specific industries. China is already the primary determiner of the price of virtually every major commodity.

I am happy to say that CWEF is helping to promote and educate China about green products and ways of living. I am currently researching biogas units to install in village households. (A full report is later to come) CWEF has always supported sustainable healthy ways of living that somehow China has looked past or chooses not to acknowledge. My recent trip to Beijing was an eye opening experience of how truly polluted China really is. While driving out to the Great Wall, we could not see the skyline or buildings relatively close by. The driver told us that today was a 'good' day. I feel sorry for the children growing up with all this smoke and pollution and can only hope my lungs will not be too effected the 18 months I am breathing in the China air.

For the full article, "China Passes Japan as Second-Largest Economy" from the New York Times click here.

The Durfey's Come To China!!

I feel so blesssed that my family was able to come visit me for Christmas this year in China. They arrived on the 18th of December and we explored Kunming for a week then headed to Beijing for another week. This was the first time that people fully relied on me here, to be the translator, the navigator, etc. Usually I am with somebody that speaks better Chinese than I do or has been here longer and knows the city better, but not my family, I was it. Having them here also brought me back to reality a little bit, American reality that is. I was reminded of the strange things here in China that don't seem so strange to me anymore. I learned what makes foreigners feel uncomfortable, what they can deal with and what they just don't want to deal with.

My parents did a fantastic job at adjusting to life here in China. They tried different kinds of food, we rode the crowded buses and even exercised on the outside equipment! Most of all it was great to be around people that I knew and that knew me well. I have made lots of great friends here in China, but nobody knows me as well as my family and that is a wonderful thing.

I was most excited about our trip to Beijing. Our week here in Kunming was nice, but I live here so I can't be a tourist, but in Beijing, watch out...the camera was out at all times! Beijing was just as crowded and polluted as I thought it would be and very, very cold! We saw all the great sights, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, etc. My favorite was the Great Wall. Chinese emperors don't mess around when they build something. Everything in Beijing is on a massive scale and the Great Wall was no exception, hence the name. We took a cable car chair ride up and my brother and I took a tobaggon sled down. Can you believe it! They built a slide down from the Great Wall. It reminded me of the game Chutes and Ladders, a big metal chute down the mountain. I even took a piece of the wall home with me :)

I booked us a couple of rooms at a 240 yr old hostel/guesthouse, a short ten minute walk from Tianamen Square. My parents really enjoyed the 'hostel' environment, people from around the world traveling, all in the same boat as you. It was a nice warm oasis from the bustling streets of Beijing. They also really enjoyed watching me bargain at the markets. We went to the famous Pearl Market, that sells everything from scrolls, postcards, clothes, hats to pearls and electronics. We wanted to buy some souvenirs and presents so I turned on my game face and bargained hard with the shop owners. Its a big game you have to play, to try and get the price lower, and I have to say, I did a pretty good job. I never felt like we got taken for our money, plus speaking in the little Chinese that I know helped too.

My brother flew back to the states a few days earlier for work, and my parents and I left Beijing on the 31st. I got back to Kunming around 10 pm, just enough time to get my luggage and head over to a friends house to celebrate the New Year. I can't believe I have been here for a full 6 months already and that it is 2011! 2010 treated me well, I can only hope that 2011 will be filled with more adventures and blessings.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Years. G-ds Blessings!

Snapshots from the Durfey Family in Beijing: