China views

Zhoucun Old Street in Zibo

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Time for sightseeing

As mentioned in a previous post, during our stay in Zibo we also did some tourism.
We visited Zhoucun Old Street in Zibo on Sunday afternoon 14 May. Zibo city is divided up into several districts. The “downtown” district is Zhangdian, and the ancient city district is Zhoucun. This district is about a half hour by car from downtown Zibo.

Zhoucun is mostly known for two things: silk and sesame crackers. Along with typical souvenir-type shops, snack shops and ceramic shops, there are many silk shops with beautiful clothing and scarves.
Zhoucun “street” was built during the Mingyongle period; the Yongle Emperor (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424) was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424. The “street” is like Wangfujing in Beijing and Nanjing Road in Shanghai. It has become an iconic market in Zhoucun. The street is divided into two sections, the length is more than 1300 meters, and the width is 8 to 10 meters.
The street was formed in the Song and Yuan Dynasty, the most prosperous in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty. During the Song and Yuan Dynasty it sold more silk, medicinal materials, daily necessities, utensils, etc., the silver industry rose in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

See how the street looks like, the food sold and the many shops. We also visited he sesame cake museum. As it was a Sunday afternoon the street was packed. I was the only foreigner…
I have visited a number of those “old shopping streets” in various cities, often referred to as “gucheng”, old city. They are often much the same but it is always fun to visit as there are some more local specialties to discover.

Chaoguobing

Here it were the sesame crackers and “Chǎo guō bing” (炒锅饼)(“wok pie”), a kind of “noodles” (actually fried pancakes cut in strips) I needed to buy for a friend in Beijing.

Zibo City in Shandong

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

A warm welcome

On 13 May 2023 we were invited by the city government to visit Zibo City in Shandong. We stayed in Qisheng International Hotel, a large complex surrounded by a nice park and some interesting buildings.

I was asked to congratulate the Shandong University Medical Alumni Association during its conference, as Rotating Chairman of the China Belt and Road International Talent Fund under the State Administration for Foreign Experts Affairs.
They organized the BBQ outing in the evening; on Sunday 14 May a visit to pharmaceutical R&D and a visit to Zhoucun Old Shopping Street, see details in next posts.

Industry in Zibo

Zibo City is the old capital of Qi State, famous city of ceramics. As one of China’s earliest pottery production areas as well as one of China’s five largest porcelain capitals, it boasts a ceramic culture of more than 8,000 years.
In the first quarter of this year, Zibo achieved GDP of 105.77 billion yuan ($15.07 billion), a rise of 4.7 percent year-on-year, in part due to the BBQ success.

Industrial projects have been developed in Zibo for more than 100 years since iron ore and coal were discovered in the early 20th century.
The city was once an industrial hub for the chemical industry, with coal, iron, bauxite, silk, ceramics, glass, electricity and machinery the pillars of its economy. The city has faced a drop in demand in its chemical industry, the former mainstay of its economy.
About a decade ago, Zibo faced a series of problems, including resource depletion and environmental pollution, which forced the authorities to transform the local industrial structure.
Since 2018, the city has shut down heavy industrial projects, while introducing sustainable and high-tech ventures. High-tech and innovation enterprises have been introduced.
Zibo has attracted 65 national-level enterprises specializing in innovation and developing competitive products.
A digital economy, smart manufacturing and medical industries have been developed in recent years, which will provide more jobs for young people.

The city has also started a massive cleanup of old buildings.

Pharmaceutical industry base

On 14 May we visited a major pharmaceutical research center, huge and with the most advanced laboratory equipment.

Zibo is the largest pharmaceutical industry base in Shandong Province continually ranking the first in the Province. A complete industrial system including chemical raw materials and preparations, Chinese patent medicines, medical devices and consumables, pharmaceutical equipment, pharmaceutical excipients and pharmaceutical intermediates has been formed. It is focused on the cultivation and development of major industrial clusters including pharmaceuticals, medical devices and pharmaceutical equipment, pharmaceutical packaging materials and pharmaceutical excipients. The industry chain of superior medicine such as cephalosporin, antipyretic and analgesic is strengthened, the Chinese Medicine prevention and treatment, new medicine development as well as the secondary development of Chinese Medicine are reinforced and an RMB 80 billion-level pharmaceutical industry cluster is created. In the medical equipment and pharmaceutical equipment field, the research and development of high-end imaging medical equipment is accelerated, new products such as radiotherapy, in vitro diagnostics, dialysis equipment, biological materials are developed and a RMB 30 billion-level medical equipment and pharmaceutical equipment industrial cluster is created.

More details here.

It is said that the bulk of Aspirin, Caffeine and Ibuprofen production for the world is coming from Zibo, e.g. through Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

A Thousand Hands Guanyin

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Guizhou Maotai Distillery and Maca Maotai

On 28 July 2018 I was invited to give a congratulatory speech for the launch of Maotai Maca, assisting to the performance of A Thousand Hands Guanyin, among other performances.
Location: Vienna Hall, Garden Hotel, Haidian District, Beijing.
CCTV hosts were Shi Jun and Meng Siyu.

There was also a group of senior ladies, all so elegant. And also here I saw their rehearsal were they appeared without makeup or anything. And other dance groups and singers, see below some.
Yeah Gilbert was happy with all the ladies!

A Thousand Hands Guanyin

The Thousand Hand Bodhisattva dance, also called “A Thousand Hands Guanyin” is a beautifully synchronized flow of movement. The group of dancers who take on this incredible dance are all deaf or with a hearing impairment. The performers are supported by the trainer who uses sign language to help the dancers feel the rhythm and remain in perfect time.
This dance describes the legend that Bodhisattva Guan Yin has one thousand hands. Thousand Hand Guan Yin dance became one of the most popular Chinese dance in the world.
Guan Yin is the bodhisattva of compassion, revered by Buddhists as the Goddess of Mercy. The name Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin which means “Observing the Sounds (or Cries) of the World”.

 

It was interesting to see all the dancers during their rehearsal with their trainer, in their simple clothes and no makeup. Then see the later on…
Really impressive to see it up close.

Binzhou City sightseeing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Donkey meat

As mentioned on my other website (https://blog.strategy4china.com/2020/11/binzhou-advanced-technology-high-school/), we had another visit to Binzhou with our team of UWEE, we also were doing some Binzhou City sightseeing, the food and more.
In the evening of 1 September 2020 we drove to Huimin County. Our local friends wanted us to taste again donkey meat.

The donkey meat restaurant was in Weiji town, Weifu road (Huimin County under Binzhou City), named “SiheYuan Xian Lv Yan”

It is close to Wei’s Manor, built in the late Qing Dynasty, looks like a large castle. We visited it in September 2018 during a previous stay, along with our other foreign expert, Harvey, and we had dinner in the same restaurant.

See the variety of dishes. We also bought some donkey meat to take home to Beijing.
See also the other posts about the food in Binzhou:

Lamb dinner: https://blog.strategy4china.com/2020/11/schools-in-shandong-binzhou/
A sumptuous banquet: https://blog.strategy4china.com/2020/11/trip-to-shandong-binzhou/

Binzhou by night

Returning from our donkey adventure we stopped in a popular spot in the city.
Dasha and others wanted to taste the typical desert that was served by a street vendor, called “baobing”, made of shaved ice. The topping is made from fruit and condensed milk. Traditionally, you’ll find fruit like mango, strawberry, lychee, and coconut on baobing, as well as sweet red beans. Many vendors will lay out a huge spread of toppings, so customers can choose whatever they like, see the picture.
The degustation then was a bit disturbed when the chengguan came and all the tricycles had to flee the scene.

People were watching close by some impromptu performances by groups of singers and many were taking pictures with the city lights as the background.

New Beijing Workers Stadium

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Confusion

Few people seem to be aware we will have a new Beijing Workers Stadium, expected to be delivered by December 2022, to be ready for the July 2023 Opening Ceremonies for the 2023 Asian Cup Games. Many were confused why the old stadium was being demolished starting on 5 August 2020.

See how the Stadium looked like and the razing that took a few days only. They used water cannons to reduce the dust.
Well, blame the usual lack of communication by the Beijing Government. Some even say the secrecy is due to the fact the area is “owned by the military”.
The new stadium will be at the same location but with improvements to meet the needs of world-class professional football field.
However it is a fact there is a total lack of clarity how the area will be transformed as it is the location of many restaurants, discos, KTV and other outlets.
Also unclear is what will happen with the Gongti Indoor Stadium: they just started building a big fence around it.
I first reported on it here.

As far as I know most if not all of the venues will be closed at some point. That would also include Legend Beer, among others. It is said “The Workers Stadium will also become an open urban public space for mass sports and cultural activities and a new vitality center of the city.”

A long history and end of life

I have so many stories about that stadium. It was also my training ground to prepare for my marathons, having the complete stadium with its running track only for myself.

The main structure of the Workers Stadium had reached its service life.
It was designed by the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design and Research and was completed and put into use in 1959. It was the largest comprehensive stadium in the eastern part of Beijing. It had a standard football field, a 400-meter rubber track among others. The main building was 64,000 sqm. it was the venue for the first National Games and other large-scale sports events.

According to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources, the main building of the Stadium was a concrete structure with a design life of 50 years. Since the 1990s, three structural reinforcements and one facility renovation have been carried out. Among them, in order to host the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the Workers’ Stadium has undergone comprehensive structural reinforcement in accordance with the 7-degree seismic fortification standard (the Beijing area is an 8-degree seismic fortification area) – the service life is 12 years. At present, the main structure of the Beijing Workers Stadium had reached the end of its service life, and there are potential safety hazards and obsolete facilities and equipment.

By 2018, the National Construction Engineering Quality Supervision and Inspection Center conducted a house inspection and appraisal of the construction. The conclusion was the overall structural safety and seismic resistance of the building seriously did not meet the relevant national standards. It also did not meet the requirements of the Asian Cup and other major international professional football matches. Therefore, it was urgent to upgrade.

The new stadium

After the transformation of the new Beijing Workers Stadium, the elliptical shape of the main building will remain basically unchanged, and it will meet the needs of the internal circular passage while maintaining the proportion of the facade.
At the same time, the reconstruction will keep the original characteristic elements of the construction body basically unchanged, and protect and restore the important characteristic elements, such as flagpoles, gate posts, sculptures, and architectural decoration components.

See a few pictures showing the future stadium and the surrounding area. While some may be “artist rendering” most of the existing structures in the area seem to be gone except for the two main buildings of former “Gongti Yibai”.

You can also see the large new underground facilities with the connection to the new subway lines (should be Line 3 and Line 17, all currently under construction).
See also a view on the new facility being built by CSCEC on the East side of the Stadium: “China Philharmonic Orchestra Concert Hall and Rehearsal Facilities”.
Nobody talks about this…
And a lot is going on also in the South East corner of the Gongti area. No idea what is coming there.

Sources, among other:
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2020/08/20/760571.html
https://xw.qq.com/cmsid/20200807A0GC8Z00?ADTAG=amp

I keep you posted!