News You Might Have Missed: Duped by the Dry Cleaners, Adopt a Pet and Bear Bile Blues
Beijing always seems to keep us on our toes, one way or another. This week we question how clean our dry-cleaned clothes are, wonder why we would want to get deliveries at a subway station and lament the fate of cats, dogs and bears.
If you’ve brought clothes to the dry cleaners it’s probably because they require a certain level of care. This may not actually be what they are receiving. Chinese reporters recently went undercover at laundry chains Fornet and Pu Lande to see what happens to the clothes after you’ve dropped them off. Their discoveries included: delicate and special instruction clothing was not handled properly, dirty water was used in washing machines, special cleaning products turned out to be plain soap and fading from improper washing was covered up with dye.
Your options for subway ordering continue to grow. Last year a pilot program allowed commuters to order with their phones at subway and bus-stop ads. Now purchases from 360buy.com can be picked up at 20 subway station kiosks on Lines 5 and 10. The service is expected to expand to Renjoy trailers at Line 4 stations shortly.
Apple continues to be mired in lawsuits with Proview over the use of the iPad trademark in China. While they’re trying to sort out that mess, Facebook is taking some precautionary measures should they ever be allowed back in the country. The social networking company has registered names like "thefacebook," "facebook" and "F" as well as any Chinese name that sounds like or means “Facebook.”
Pet lovers will be sad to hear about a recent fire at a Xicheng district animal shelter. 30 animals died in the fire and more than 100 have now been left without a home. The shelter’s well-known owner and animal protector, Ding Shiying, is looking for people to adopt the cats and dogs. She also welcomes donated pet supplies and food. (Interested parties can visit the temporary shelter at 24 Longtoujing Jie, Bei Hai Park North Gate (66173634) 北海公园北门龙头井街24号 邮编100009 丁世英 电话.)
If you had any pangs of guilt over your TCM medicine that contains bear bile, you may now rest easily. This week the president of the China Association of TCM responded to activists over the use of the animal substance, which is purported to be good for eye sight and protect the heart and liver, especially for heavy drinkers. The process of draining bile from the bears' gall bladder is apparently an easy, pain-free procedure and immediately after the bears are well enough “to go out and play" on the farm. We can only assume he means pain-free for the workers because a permanent hole in our side doesn't sound very enjoyable.
