China today

Surviving virusland

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

The new Coronavirus

As reported earlier, Houston we have a problem. The reaction of the authorities is debatable. For sure, Wuhan government made a horrible mess. Millions of people left Wuhan to other parts of China and other countries before the government started acting instead of shutting down the news about it. The consequences could be rather disastrous for months to come. Surviving virusland will be a challenge.

The most shocking for me was the (in)famous New Year’s Eve Gala on 24 January, on all Chinese channels.

OK, my Chinese is too poor to appreciate any of this stuff but kitsch à la chinoise it is for sure. You get dizzy from all the overloaded effects and colors and whatever.
But for me it was like having a great party on a sinking ship, as nothing was wrong. Little or no mention at all about poor Wuhan. Nobody in the audience had a mask. Oh great. Al while they were placing in quarantine 20 to 30 million people, for a start. Separating families, making it impossible for people to get back home. A total disregard for the suffering of the people.

Of course the tone was, China is GREAT, everybody is HAPPY.
During the CCTV Gala the show switched to one of Wuhan’s main hospitals now to get an update from the nurses there who are spending their Chinese New Year night taking care of the many people infected with the coronavirus. According to the presenter, the switch was “very last minute.”. For the rest of the Gala, no word no indication.

Beijing restaurants and shops

Gradually Beijing restaurants and shops were closing for the Spring Festival exodus. Then it became worse with the new restrictions. Beijing is not yet isolated as Wuhan, trains and flight still operate while many people have difficulties to return to Beijing, where they live and work. One goes away for a few days, you take the minimum with you. Then you can’t go back. Where to stay, how to pay, missing your medicines, clothes, and all. Wonderful start of the New Year.

On 23 January I still had a nice lunch at LAD (Lily’s American Diner). they were to stay open.

Then I started to go to my favorite restaurants to order a lot and take home doggy bag to eat at home. Groovy Schiller’s Bar & Restaurant was one (pretty full), Legend Beer another (was very empty already, later closed). Morel’s Restaurant was closed and not sure when it will open.
Most of my usual shops were closed (but might reopen soon), such as Jenny Lou and April Gourmet. Got a lot from Jinkelong that was operating normally and was well stocked. Using my bicycle as a pick-up truck.
The pictures talk for themselves…

Home sweet home! As recommended I try to stay home as much as possible, cooking (I actually love it) and watch my old VHS and VCD movies.

Controls and masks

Some people managed to come back to Beijing by train. See the checking on arrival in Beijing West station.
Masks and alcohol (disinfectant) are all sold out. I have enough as I keep them … against pollution.
Some people invented new “masks”, see the pics. I thought it was a joke till people were spotted in Guangzhou using them. How they managed to breathe beats me.

Outlook

How long will this mess last? No idea. I personally worry, reading recent reports, that we might continue to feel the impact till early May (actually another long holiday…).
The reason for the somber outlook is the history of the facts.
See this in-depth analysis of the new virus:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30183-5/fulltext

It mentions: “In December, 2019, a series of pneumonia cases of unknown cause emerged in Wuhan, Hubei, China, with clinical presentations greatly resembling viral pneumonia.” So while it started so early (first case was on 8 December 2019), authorities failed to act and the epidemic was allowed to spread for a period of more than forty days before any decisive action taken. As a result, thousands of people from Wuhan flew to Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Japan before the city was locked down. Wuhan Mayor reported 5 million have left the city, many to Henan and other Chinese provinces. So, specialists think many new cases could emerge in the next weeks and months.

As the virus spreads, anger floods Chinese social media. The sheer volume of criticism of the government, and the sometimes clever ways that critics dodge censors, are testing Beijing’s ability to control the narrative.
The Chinese government will never learn its lessons from killing so-called rumors and systematic cover-ups of “problems”.
As SCMP wrote on 26 January: “What is clear is that China’s initial mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak means that thousands have been infected, over a hundred have died, and the economy, already weakened by debt and the trade war, will take another hit. But perhaps the most tragic part of this story is that there is little reason to hope that next time will be different. The survival of the one-party state depends on secrecy, media suppression and constraints on civil liberties.”

Virusland is back

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

The new coronavirus

There we go again, virusland is back, a repeat of SARS that brought chaos and headaches right in the middle of the preparations for the 2008 Olympics. Orders from our then big boss Wang Qishan (then Beijing mayor): “I don’t want to know about it. Do respect the deadlines for building the stadia at any cost!”. And so we did, the rest is history.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was first “discovered” in Asia in February 2003. The outbreak lasted approximately six months as the disease spread to more than two dozen countries in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia before it was stopped in July 2003.More details, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome

According to Wikipedia SARS started in November 2002 and in late 2017, Chinese scientists traced the virus through the intermediary of civets to cave-dwelling horseshoe bats in Yunnan province.

Wild animals as food

Because some Chinese ignore warnings not to eat exotic wild animals (often illegal), a continent is being shut down with immense economic losses and canceling family reunions. Great. The coronavirus is paralyzing China and no one knows for how long and at what economic cost, considering the losses in tourism, hotels, F&B, Spring Festival markets, manufacturing, trade, education…

It is now pretty certain the new virus comes from a market in Wuhan where also wild animals were being traded. The Huanan Seafood Market has a thriving wildlife trade, selling animals from foxes to wolf puppies, giant salamanders to peacocks and porcupines.

Xenophobic chatter about mainland Chinese and their eating habits has spread across the world since the first cases of the novel coronavirus. From SCMP article. Pic was all over the Chinese media.

Some say “Old habits are difficult to break. Not that long ago millions starved to death in China. At that time people were grateful to have anything  to eat.”. I don’t see it this way at all. It is the belief that “special meat” can bring exceptional effects for health (often sexual power). The more exotic. the better. E.g. dog meat supposed to be good in winter, bringing “warm” to the body. Bats (fruit bats in particular) are special for blood circulation and in case of strokes; also strong aphrodisiac; snake (especially the bile) for the lungs. I do not see the connection as such with the history of famines: I would then rather look at vegetables of all kinds where everything can be used. Vietnam has similar attitudes. It is also often to show off to say “I can afford this”. Or “I dare to eat”.

This needs to change

People seem to overlook that there is a need to stop the dangerous animal trade, not even to mention the issue of eating cats and dogs.

Remember? SARS-CoV is thought to be an animal virus from an animal reservoir, as mentioned above, that spread to other animals and first infected humans in the Guangdong province in 2002. China then banned in principle the sale of civet cats and other. The government should fire the Wuhan hygiene inspection team and others who turned a blind eye to the wildlife trade and let it happen again. The customs is so rigid for the import of food (e.g. French cheese and many other) while not dealing with local illegal animal trade.

Let’s hope that the draconian measures from the authorities will avoid worse. The government has ordered now to shut down all wild animal markets and closely monitor farms where those are also bred.

See https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3047716/china-bans-wildlife-trade-killer-wuhan-coronavirus-spreads

But will those measures last? Temporary restrictions will not solve the underlying problem, animal rights activist says.

DIYmask_airport.mp4

Chinese creative mask (not recommended)(click to open the video clip)

Another article calling for action on the matter:

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3047495/china-coronavirus-beijing-should-close-down-live-animal-food

China coronavirus: Beijing should close down live-animal food markets to stop similar diseases emerging in future. As long as markets exist that sell exotic animals for food, the likelihood of other new diseases emerging will remain.

Human flesh search engine

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

What is that?

A human flesh search engine is a term invented in China, see the Wikipedia definition. “It relies on voluntary crowd sourcing: Web users gather together to share information, conduct investigations, and perform other actions concerning people or events of common interest.”

Without really thinking much, I launched such a search, unaware of what would happen.

It all started when I was looking with a Chinese friend at a picture, taken in 1981, of me and my Chinese secretary, Mr. Chen Jilun, at the door of the ACEC office in Beijing Hotel West Wing Room 5109.

We worked together till 1988 when I left for Hongkong. We kept in touch till 1995 (I guess) but then we lost contact as I moved from Beijing to Shanghai.

How to find my Monsieur Chen?

In those times there was no e-mail, no mobiles as today. He had been working for what was at that time a well-known company, “Friendship Company”, that was the sole supplier of staff for foreign companies. Obviously long gone and out of existence.

So I had no idea how to search. Then my friend said, let me try Douyin (the Chinese TikTok). So she posted the 1981 picture along with a recent picture of me and explaining a foreigner was looking for his old friend Mr. Chen Jilun, who was originally from Henan but living in Beijing.
See here the Douyin video:

190710 douyinvideo

I also gave her some more old pictures:

Then it went all wild. We had close to one million hits. People asked questions. Henan Radio and TV called me. My friend was panicking with the success.

Three days later she sent me a WeChat. “We found him!”. She sent me his mobile number. I called and he was already expecting my call…

I found Monsieur Chen

We were both so happy to make contact again.
He explained that actually six people in China had identified him and called him, and he authorized to pass on his number.

We had dinner!

As I suggested, we met for dinner in Morel’s Restaurant on Sunday 14 July. I asked my friend who did the Douyin to join us too.

Mr. Chen still looked much the same, while he is a few years older than me. He brought me a nice present, of course from Henan! See the short video:

190714 chenjilun3

We had a lively chat and will keep in touch, through WeChat, of course.

Human flesh search engine

Douyin hits

Many people that connected through Douyin wanted to see our reunion, so we posted several videos of our dinner, and a picture with chef Renaat Morel. See the Douyin overview with the numbers (units are w = 10,000).

Hypospadias surgeries need support

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Our Club as a pioneer

Hypospadias surgeries need support but funding is still far away. Here a short introduction. We welcome any suggestion from individuals, companies and organizations.
Rotary in China has always strived to be a pioneer in tackling health and social issues, when Chinese society was still reluctant or unable to deal with the issues, sometimes for reasons of stigma, indifference and lack of public and private interest.
Once government and society take the right measures, Rotary then leaves it to the local entities to continue the good work.
One of those major programs started time ago is GOL, the Gift of Life.

Gift of Life (GOL)

Children’s heart surgery program (congenital heart disease) for underprivileged children. More than 400 surgeries have been done since 2000 by our Club.
Donation of a medical bus to Zhengzhou No. 7 Hospital, Henan and a medical van to Hebei Children’s hospital for screening countryside children. Since 2011, the GOL outreach program has screened more than 1800 children in Henan province on average a year and provided over 800 surgeries of which more than 50 surgeries received financial sponsorship from the Rotary Club. In 2013 using the cardiac sonogram equipment and medical van donated, the Hebei Shijiazhuang Children’s Hospital screened 3055 children in 42 counties and identified 564 children who needed surgery. In 2014, Hebei has screened even more children and diagnosed more children with heart defects that need surgeries.

Hypospadias and its stigma

Hypospadias surgeries need support, see here an insight into the disease, what it is and the situation in Hebei Province in particular.
Please note the content of the presentation is graphic and not suitable for sensitive souls. It is one of the reasons the disease suffers from the stigma – people don’t want to even talk about it..

Hypospadias_GOL

Hypospadias forms a male organ that not only doesn’t work well but also doesn’t look normal.
See also: Hypospadias – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypospadias

What is Hypospadias

Rising Incidences of Hypospadias Defects

  • About 50,000 boys are born each year with hypospadias defects.
  • The rate is 1/300 and rising.
  • Chinese boys are often inflicted with the more severe type III or IV of the defects.

Those children:

  • Wet their pants and have to urinate squatting down.
  • Can’t marry or procreate.

As a result, many are,

  • Abandoned by parents.
  • Growing up they are often marginalized or ridiculed.
  • Have low self-esteem and many committed suicide.

Causes for the rising epidemics are:

  • Environmental factors including rampant use of pesticide, DDT and hormone.
  • Over 3000 boys are born with defect each year in Hebei, a major agricultural province.

Current Situation,

  • Multiple and specialized surgeries are required.
  • 70% of the first surgery cost is covered by the rural co-op health plan but only 30% of the second or further surgeries is covered.
  • No charity or foundations cover this type of defects because of cultural inhibitions.
  • Inexperienced or sub-standard surgeries make worse an already difficult phenomena.
  • Surgeries are best performed between age 18 months to 3 years of age, before they start schooling.
  • Treatment often involves multiple surgeries and can cause complications,

Hebei Shijiazhuang Pediatric Hospital will include hypospadias in the GOL outreach program by:

  • Sending pediatric urologist surgeons to the rural areas to examine children with the defects.
  • Educating families about seeking medical treatment and from experts.
  • Providing clinical training to rural county surgeons.

Our Rotary Club of Beijing is now looking how it can assist in the matter.

Beijing Rotary Club early 2017

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Some activities of Beijing Rotary Club early 2017

See the pics with their respective dates, Beijing Rotary Club early 2017 has been pretty busy and this is only a limited overview of our activities.

Lunch 24 January in Kempinski: speaker Bernhard Weber

The European Chamber Nanjing Chapter Chair Mr. Bernhard Weber gave a sneak view on the upcoming Local Position paper, which he will launch on 21 February. The Nanjing Chapter was founded in 2004, and currently has almost 100 member companies based in Nanjing, Changzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Zhenjiang and Xuzhou. The chapter is devoted to helping its members address their concerns to the local authorities at both senior and working levels through various meetings and events. While the Thirteenth Five-Year Economic and Social Development Plan of Jiangsu (FYP) attempts to further much of the success that Jiangsu has experienced in recent years, it includes several components that concern European business. These concerns fall into one of two general categories: content and implementation. The Nanjing Chapter holds serious concerns about how the FYP will be transformed from words into actions, having grown accustomed to hearing promises and grand plans in the past, but seeing limited action actually taken. The FYP therefore provides an opportunity for the government to demonstrate their resolve to further open up to the world, allow market forces to act freely and provide fair and equal enforcement of the law.

Dinner 31 January in Opposite House: a social get-together in Sureño Restaurant

See the pics.

Lunch 14 February in Kempinski

See the pics
Rtn Sven announced the mentoring and training initiative for our Rotaractors.

Lunch 21 February in Kempinski: speaker Joerg Wuttke, president European Chamber

On 7th March, 2017, the European Chamber of Commerce in China will release a major study on the China Manufacturing 2025 (CM2025) industrial policy initiative that officially commenced in 2015. Titled China Manufacturing 2025: Trying to Plan What the Market Should Decide, the report provides a detailed examination of the focus and goals of the initiative for upgrading China’s industrial base and moving to the forefront in ten industries that the Chinese authorities have identified as future drivers of the economy. It also evaluates the initiative’s ramifications for European business, both in China, Europe and third-country markets. Recommendations for adjusting and responding to the initiative are also provided for the Chinese Government, European Union authorities and Member States’ governments, and European business.
It is available here: http://www.europeanchamber.com.cn/en/european-chamber-publications

Lunch 14 March in Kempinski: Gilbert introducing his book

Gilbert is the founder and president of a Beijing-based management consulting company that provides strategy guidance to foreign and Chinese clients. He was deeply involved in the building of the 2008 Olympic venues and as a result got the highest decorations from the Chinese government.
His talk focused on how the idea of his book “Toxic Capitalism” was born, on the challenges of researching and compiling data and then on his experience with publishing.
Toxic Capitalism – The orgy of consumerism and waste: Are we the last generation on earth?
Gilbert elaborated on the theme by shedding light on consumerism and the consequences of too much waste.
Living in China since 1980 Gilbert became alarmed by the dramatic pollution levels in Beijing and the trends of overconsumption and waste around the world.
As an engineer he delved into the data to better understand the seriousness of the situation, the reasons why it had come to all that and what we can do about it.

Lunch 28 March in Kempinski

Speaker Dr. Michal Meidan, Asia Analyst, Energy Aspects (London), on oil and gas market in China.
Over the past decade, as China’s crude oil imports surged from 2.5 mb/d in 2005 to 6.7 mb/d in 2015, the country has become increasingly concerned with the economic and strategic vulnerabilities associated with import dependence. Beijing has sought to hedge against supply disruptions and ensure a steady flow of oil supplies by supporting its national oil companies’ (NOCs) investments in oil and gas fields overseas, as well as by offering loans to producer countries which are repaid with oil. Often, the two have gone hand in hand: Chinese policy banks have awarded credit lines to recipient countries that they have used for infrastructure development in return for exports of crude to China. Similarly, the NOCs, which had limited access to capital during their initial outbound investments in the late 1990s and early 2000s, developed new project financing structures whereby the loans to finance their upstream investments were secured by equity from these assets.
As a result, by 2015, Chinese NOCs’ participation in overseas production reached 1.7 mb/d, and oil-backed loans generated an additional estimated 1.4-1.6 mb/d of crude that is available to Chinese traders. To be sure, not all these barrels make their way directly back to China, and China’s upstream investments are under a number of different contract structures, leading to varying volumes of oil supplies made available to them, but from Beijing’s perspective, its supply situation is looking less precarious.