China: Two steps forward, one step backward

I bought some medicine from a large supermarket chain the other day. It was interesting to see a holographic seal on the packaging and on the medicine lid itself. The seal explained that this was a anti-counterfeit measure - and it featured a unique reference code which you were encouraged to enter onto the manufacturer's website to ensure it was not a fake.

We're used to seeing fake designer fashion brands; watches and DVDs over here - but I must admit, I was not expecting to see fake pharmaceuticals. But then again, it makes sense given the amount of $ involved.

It's a crap world when people try to make a quick buck by faking medicines - medicines which people buy in trust. Joss and I will be thinking twice about the medicines we get from now on that's for sure.

This all came to a head yesterday, of course, with the Chinese courts sentencing Zheng Xiaoyu, their ex-Minister for food & drugs standards, to death by firing squad. All because he took c.£425,000 in backhanders for turning a blind eye to drug accreditation. I don't agree with the death penalty, but his behaviour has sentenced many hundreds of others to death around the world.

There are 4000+ manufacturers of drugs in China - on TV yesterday we were shown scenes of the devastation to lives their practices have caused all around the world ... South America in particular has been deluged with cheap fake drugs stemming from China. One case we saw was of a Peruvian boy taking cough medicine only to end up with brain damage caused by some errant ingredient in the syrup.

Maybe the death penalty was right in this instance.

Anyway, to coincide with the death penalty sentencing, China announced a shake-up in its Drug licensing administration. About time too!

M

From the BBC...

China's drastic solution to drugs scandal
By James Reynolds
BBC News, Harbin


Zheng Xiaoyu was in charge of making sure his country's food and drugs did not kill anyone.

But, on Tuesday morning in Beijing, a court found that he had failed - badly.

He was found guilty of accepting bribes and of lowering safety standards.

For his failure, he will be shot dead.

After the court's verdict was announced, my colleagues and I flew to the northern Chinese city of Harbin.

We met two families who tell us they bought contaminated drugs supplied by the Anhui Huayuan company.

Guo Ping lays out pictures of her daughter Liu Sicheng. They show the girl wearing a white dress and a small tiara.

Last summer the six-year-old caught a cold. So, her mother gave the girl some antibiotics she bought for 10 yuan (75p).

"I gave just a little bit", Guo Ping says, squeezing her fingers together.

On 24 July, after an antibiotic injection, the girl died.

"I think the court's verdict is heavenly justice," Guo Ping says.

Du Haipeng was given antibiotics last year and is now brain damaged

"The man deserves his punishment. This shows that the world still has justice."

Then she begins to cry.

"I dream about my daughter all the time. I see her staring at me, telling me she shouldn't have died. She tells me I must get justice for her. I have to do so. Otherwise I won't be able to face her when I die."

At the end of the room, six-year-old Du Haipeng lies still on a sofa. He was given the antibiotics last year. Now he has severe brain damage.

"When I heard the news of the sentence, I felt very excited," says Du Haipeng's uncle, Wang Guo Biao.

"Our boy took the fake drug approved by this man and his organisation. Our boy will never recover."

For everyone involved in this case, the cost has been high.

The antibiotics have been recalled. The batch has been blamed for 11 deaths.

Last November, the general manager of the Anhui Huayuan drug company, Qiu Zuyi, was found dead. The official Chinese media said that he hanged himself.

China has promised to get rid of its supply of fake and contaminated drugs. It carries out periodic raids, and calls in cameras to take pictures of its hauls.

But the outside world is sceptical. This year alone, there have been reports of contaminated Chinese drugs ending up in Panama, the Dominican Republic, and the United States.

The Chinese Communist Party now realises it has a huge problem - fake drugs made in this country kill people.

The state hopes it can make things better by ordering its old drugs regulator to be shot.

China's solution is as drastic as its problem.

Hong Kong: Incredibly Schizoidial Weather

Weirdest weather (I'm beginning to sound like John Kettley) ... following Sunday's biblical weather, today was THE MOST PERFECT day. Quite outstanding. Perfect.

From the apartment balcony, we even saw some islands on the horizon due south of where we live ... islands that we've not seen before in the near-to 11 months we've lived here now (i'm referring to the islands to the right of the big island in the middle of the picture - taken just after sunset). I wonder if the people living on that island knew we were here before today?

M

China: two steps forward, three steps backward

For a country hurtling full speed towards the Twenty Second Century, China is still backward in so many ways.

Living in HK, you get exposed to quite a few 'interesting' stories relating to what's happening in the mainland - here's one that caught my eye recently:

Corpse Brides: 6 Women Killed And Sold As Brides

BEIJING: A man in Hebei killed six women and sold their bodies as brides to those wishing to hold "spirit weddings" for their dear departed.

The tradition for holding "spirit weddings" which are weddings for dead people has existed since the Ming Dynasty. According to the tradition, a dead man or divorcee is matched with a dead woman; so that they (dead man or divorcee) will not be alone in the afterlife.

For such a wedding, the family of the "bridegroom" will need to pay a big sum of money to the family of the "bride". That's why there is a group of people in Hebei who "professionally" and actively dig tombs, steal dead bodies and sell them. There are also a group of people who work as "matchmakers" for the deceased.

M

Biblical weather

It's funny how one's mind plays tricks.

Six or seven months of nice warm weather (albeit with a few grey days and a couple of cold days where it dipped below 15 degrees), and I'd forgotten what it was like last summer.

Boy the heat and humidity this weekend was near-to unbearable ... 36 degrees and 93% humidity yesterday morning (according to the thermometer in the car and HK observatory readings). So hot, we had to come back from the beach.

Lucky we did!

Absolutely UNREAL electrical rainstorm happened about 1 hour after we arrived home. We could see the rain-band coming ... people rushing off the beach below us as it approached from the right hand side of the bay to the left. And (poor guys) an outside wedding was getting washed out too.

In fact it rained so hard you could not see a hand at the end of your arm. And according to the HK observatory real-time lightning radar (very cool ... click here) yesterday in Hong Kong there were 4027 cloud to land lightning strikes and 1649 cloud to cloud strikes.

Billy and I sat on the balcony with our hands over our ears (thunder was booming round the hills). All a bit surreal -- I was attempting to teach him to play chess (hard work with a 6 year old best of times) but my talk of Kings and Queens and Knights was illuminated and mood-enhanced by the atmospherics.

DOH! I've realised it's difficult to teach someone to play chess -- easy enough to relay the moves the pieces have, but difficult to explain the nuances of check and check mate etc. I'll get a book to help me (there are plenty of "teach your kids to pay chess books") & I have seen a children's chess set that has the moves the individual pieces can make engraved in the base of each piece.

After the storm it felt slightly cooler, but still humid. The hills behind us boasted some new waterfalls and across the bay we saw the thickest rainbow we've ever seen -- even more marvelous was the fact it was near-vertical ... a perpendicular colour shaft reaching directly upwards. Cool!

M

Billy's sixth birthday

Joss is away in London this week, so we seem to have been celebrating Billy's birthday for days before the actual day.

He wanted a "ferrari and fast car" themed birthday ... Joss went to Shenzen (China mainland) and managed to get him a Ferrari F1 driver's outfit (and herself several designer loookey-likeeeey outfits in the process too!). And she commissioned a cake to be made in the shape of a sports car.

As usual with us, the party entertainer dropped out the day before the party (I swear, I'm going start a kid's party entertainment business up when we get back to the UK .... they make a fortune and, for the most part they're a) rubbish and b) wholly unreliable) ... where was I? Oh yes, so step in 'ANDY COMIC'.

He was an entertainer we saw way back in December -- at the event in Stanley where Father Xmas arrived via helicopter and drove off in an E-Type (only in HK) -- anyway, he was great ... had the kids running round and in stitches. Not sure about how appropriate the rubber-glove-on-head-trick and how-many-ping-pong-balls-can-you-stuff-in-your-gob act are for 5-6 year olds, but they loved it. I overheard Billy talking to his Grandma about it yesterday: "yes Grandma, it was really funny, he blew his head off and only his eyes were left".

God only knows what they think we do out here!

Post-entertainment was the usual sugar-hyped maniacal mayhem you'd expect.

Thanks to all who sent presents and/or cards!

M

Plastic Seoul

Just back from a quick trip over to Seoul, South Korea (only a few KM away from the North - which I hope to be able to visit one day ... heard some funny, interesting and rather depressing stories about the Northern side ... mostly relating to the border frontier - just a line apparently ... will leave them for another day).

Apart from its likeness to Japan, (architecture & alcohol), what amazed me most about Korea was how stunningly perfectly featured (facially) most of the young women are.

Absolutely beautiful looking baby-doll anime-manga-type big eyed faces.

I remarked on this to a Korean colleague. He explained how commonplace plastic surgery was ... 10% of Korean people under 30 have had plastic surgery undertaken!

Typically, as a graduation present, boys are given a car whilst girls are given smaller eyelids.

Here's what Time magazine has to say about it all. I think it's all a bit sad.

It wasn't too many generations ago that South Korean kids had no control over their looks. Their hair, for example, was considered a gift from their parents—never to be cut. But today, kids drop into the plastic surgeon's office after school, and when they get home their folks can barely recognize them.

As in the rest of Asia, South Korea's primary cosmetic obsession is with the eyes. Having bigger eyes is every girl's dream, and it can now be realized through a simple $800 operation, in which a small incision or suture is made above the eye to create an artificial double lid. Teenagers as young as 14 are doing it, and eye jobs have become a favorite high school graduation gift from proud parents.

Park Sang Mi's parents were against plastic surgery until her older sister came home one day with bigger eyes. Park followed suit last year, her parents approved, and she took a part-time job at Baskin Robbins to help them foot the bill. "Now I know nobody will laugh at me for being ugly," Park says gratefully. Park, now 20, doesn't have plans to return to the clinic immediately, but wants liposuction performed on her thighs some day. Meanwhile, she's considering her friends' advice to trash her old photographs.

South Korea is even more competitive than it is conservative. And with so many young people having themselves remade, parents are afraid their children will fall behind, not just academically but aesthetically. "Parents make their kids get plastic surgery," says Dr. Shim Hyung Bo, a plastic surgeon practicing in Seoul, "just like they make them study. They realize looks are important for success." Which means that in today's Korea, getting your eyes done can be easier than getting the keys to dad's car.

Not good eh? I'm just pleased I'm naturally facally-perfect.

m

Swims like a breeze block

One of the good things about living here is the proximity to the beaches and the fact we have a couple of great swimming pools (inside + outside) on the complex just a few seconds walk away.

The boys go swimming pretty much every day & have proper lessons once a week.

Thanks to this, Billy is now swimming very well indeed and Archie has just recently stopped wearing armbands in the pool.

New Duncan Goodhews in the making we hope.

M

My poor Lotus

Talking to people about the new car has kicked up the fact that we sadly had to leave the Lotus back in the UK. Couple that with the fact a new Lotus dealership has just opened in HK and I'm feeling really sad about it.

It'd cost something like £3000-£4000 to export/import it to HK.

Hope the car's OK. Won't be of course. Just could not bring myself to selling it before we left the UK. So much a part of me. Really stupid to get like that about a car - especially one as temperamental as a Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious!

So about this time last year, we were looking for a home for the car. It transpired an elderly lady near where Mum & Dad live had an empty garage and, for the price of a bottle of sherry every three months or so, was prepared to give it a home.

On the day we left UK, my Bro-in-Law drove the car down to Hampshire and parked it up all snug and secure in the garage - there to live for 2 years + .... or so we thought.

Fast forward a few months and the 90 year old lady announces she's doing a loft conversion and needs the garage to decant everything in her loft!

So we need to find a home for the Elise and fast. Manic phonecalls everywhere (thanks Vicky!) and Spencer thankfully tells me he'll give the car a home and, what's more, he's got one of these special environmentally-controlled tents for cars such as this.

Cool. THANK YOU SPENCER!

So Vicky & Kevin take time out during their house move to hire a trailer and travel cross-country to dump the car with Spencer et. al.

A belated thanks guys!

And I love the headline of the email from Spencer that came with the photo of the car in the tent. "Packet of crisps with free Elise inside".

M

A car called 'Dash'

Not quite the Ferrari; the Mini Moke or the golden Rolls Royce I imagined we might own in Hong Kong one day, never-the-less today we bought the 1995 convertible Golf 2.0 pictured above. Quite cute.

Billy's christened it 'Dash'. Joss blurted 'Tessa' after a friend we know.

So "Tessa Dash" the Golf it is. Wonder what Tessa will think?

More trips to Big Wave Bay here we come (when the weather settles down that is!).

M x

Udaipur, Rajasthan

Udaipur was fascinating - we were only there for a few days ... could (and should) have easily stayed there for a week or so!

Some history:

Udaipur was the capital of the Rajput kingdom of Mewar, ruled by Ranawats of the Sisodia clan. The ancient capital of Mewar was Chittor or Chittorgarh, located on the Banas River northeast of Udaipur. Legend has it that Maharana Udai Singh came upon a hermit while hunting in the foothills of the Aravalli Range. The hermit blessed the king and asked him to build a palace on the spot and it would be well protected. Udai Singh established a residence there. In 1568 the Mughal emperor Akbar captured Chittor, and Udai Singh moved the capital to the site of his residence, which became the city of Udaipur. As the Mughal empire weakened, the Sisodia ranas, and later maharanas, reasserted their independence and recaptured most part of Mewar except the fort of Chittor. Udaipur remained the capital of the state, which became a princely state of British India in 1818. After India's Independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Udaipur acceded to the Government of India, and Mewar was integrated into India's Rajasthan state.

If you've not already been there, you must go see one it day!

M

Oberoi Udaivilas Udaipur 1

The Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur, nesting on the side of Pichola lake is, undoubtedly the most luxurious hotel either of us have ever stayed. Ever will stay probably.

Heaven!

Their website (worth a visit).

M

Udaipur Oberoi Udaivilas 2

Udaipur palace 1

The City Palace stands on the bank of lake Pichola .. in fact, it's a massive series of palaces built at different times commencing 1559. The balconies of the palace provide panoramic views of "Jag Niwas" (Now the famous Taj Lake palace hotel - we had a wonderful evening there), on one side and on the other the city of Udaipur.

M

Udaipur palace 2

The palace was gorgeous.

Our driver was sooooo proud of his car!

M

Udaipur: Joss shopping and not shopping!

We (Joss) went carpet shopping and every rug in India got pulled out of the shelves for us.

Word must have got out we were buying -- got hassled on the streets thereafter!

M

Udaipur: Random selection of pictures taken from the lake

The 'Venice of India' -- we took a punt round the lake. Very romantic!

Delhi: Humayun's tomb

An earlier and smaller version of the Taj, Joss & I fell in love with this tomb. Extremely peaceful.

This tomb, which as built by emperor Humanyun's wife, took eight years to complete. The emperor's wife Begai Begum was buried in the tomb and the structure is first of its kind built in the center of a well-planned garden. The combination of white marble and red sand stone was a great influence on later Mughal architecture. It is generally regarded as a prototype of the famed Taj Mahal of Agra.

Built in AD 1565 and designed by Presian architect, Mirza Ghyas, Humayun's Tomb shows a marked shift from the persian tradition of using coloured tiles for ornamentation. Located in the midst of a large square garden, screened by high walls, with gateways to the south and west, the tomb is a square tower surrounded by a magnificent marble dome. The dome stands 140 feet high from the base of the terrace and is topped with a copper pinnacle.

M

Delhi: baha'i house of worship

For some reason, I'd always wanted to see this temple (or 'House of Worship'). We made a special trip to it on our last afternoon in Delhi.

Bit of an anti-climax as it was far too busy to get inside (queues went on for hours - can get 150,000 vistors in a day ... more people have visited this temple than they have the Eifel Tower or Taj Mahal!), but rather beautiful from the outside. Resembles a Lotus Leaf.

Wiki on the Baha'i Faith:

The Bahá'í Faith is the religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th century Persia. There are around six million Bahá'ís in more than 200 countries around the world.

According to Bahá'í teachings, religious history is seen as an evolving educational process for mankind, through God's messengers, which are termed Manifestations of God. Bahá'u'lláh is seen as the most recent, pivotal, but not final of these individuals. He claimed to be the expected redeemer and teacher prophesied in Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and other religions and that his mission was to establish a firm basis for unity throughout the world, and inaugurate an age of peace and justice, which Bahá'ís expect will inevitably arise.

Only 6 million of them, but must be a pretty wealthly lot to have built edifices like this one!

Official website here.



M