News You Might Have Missed: Scandalous Sales and More Train Trouble
China may be feeling good about itself as other countries deal with riots and debt, but they still have some problems of their own to handle. The Palace Museum is racking up scandal like the US does debt, and the Beijing-Shanghai train is nearing its own point of transportation insolvency. And let’s not even get started on mental health services.
China’s getting cheeky. Even as the London riots have spread to other major English cities, Xinhua and various Chinese news agencies have decided to sneer at the UK for not being able to keep its citizens under control. Expect the schadenfreude to continue as the countdown to the London 2012 Olympics begins in earnest. Having set a high standard in hosting and stage-managing a successful Games, Beijing was already looking forward to watching London attempt to match their awesome display, and the UK's current unrest is only serving to boost China's ego.
Still, finger-pointing is finding plenty of targets at home. The Palace Museum (aka Forbidden City) was already facing scandals over thefts and a broken plate cover-up, and now they’re hotly denying that they turned a profit on some letters from the Song dynasty – selling them for three times the price they acquired it for.
Another group that needs to work on their PR is the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail. After getting off to a rough start in July, employees are now causing controversy for smoking on the smoke-free train; their behavior is causing non-smoking passengers to fret about whether the smoke alarms even work, while nicotine-craving passengers are simply peeved at the hypocrisy.
There are additional rumors that the train may be slowing down, again. Earlier this year, the top speed was slashed from 350km/hr to 300 km/hr. The next move may drop all train speeds as low as 250km/hr, lengthening the trip by several hours. If the slowdown comes to pass, it will almost certainly have been prompted by safety concerns, particularly after the Wenzhou crash, which has negatively affected ridership numbers and seriously shaken passenger confidence. Just look at the guy in the photo above – Helmet Man is certainly not taking any chances with train safety.
If the train isn’t at the top of your travel list anymore, maybe you should look into getting an RV. The recreational vehicle industry expects sales of motor homes to start booming in China as it lures the newly wealthy into its grasp. Since most Chinese are probably new to the idea of the road trip, we thought we'd give a few helpful pointers.
Parents, if you hear any of the following complaints from your kids …
- 还没到啊？还有多远啊？(“Are we there yet? How much further is it?”)
- 我饿了。我要喝水。真无聊！(“I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. I’m so bored!”)
- 我要尿尿。(“I really need to pee!”)
… feel free to respond with these time-honored phrases:
- 回去算了。(“Don’t make me turn this car around.”)
- 别闹了。(“Quiet down! Don’t make me come back there.”)
- 想挨打吗？(“Sounds like someone’s asking for a slap.”)
- 不要你了哦。(“I’m going to leave you on the side of the road.”)
If all that was too much, here’s some news that’s light on the reading: a video of a man bringing Zhongguancun traffic to a halt by threatening to take his own life.
Photo: WantChinaTimes.com
