CCBC Celebrates Air China
Air China received the Outstanding Enterprise Award-Bronze Prize at the 34th Canada China Business Council (CCBC) annual meeting in Montreal, Canada for its continuous efforts to improve products and services and contributions to relations between China and Canada. Mr. Xu Junhong, Air China Vancouver Office GM, received the “2011-2012 Outstanding Enterprise Award” plaque from Zhang Junsai, the Chinese Ambassador to Canada, in front of Canadian Governor General David Johnston and more than 300 guests from the business sectors of both countries.
CCBC is a non-governmental, nonprofit business association founded by Chinese and Canadian enterprises in 1978. It aims to develop deeper understanding of China-Canada trade, investment issues and establish business contacts. In 2008, it launched the biennial Outstanding Enterprise Award to recognize member companies that have promoted economic and trade relations between China and Canada. Prize winners are selected by an independent judging panel composed of experienced experts based on a set of stringent scoring rules.
Air China’s Vancouver Office has continuously improved its services on the China-Canada route. The Premium Business Class was launched in 2011 to meet the demand of high-end customers and enhance Air China’s competitiveness. Air China is also the first Mainland China carrier that has been granted Canada’s TWOV/CTT status. Additionally, the Office supports local communities by participating in activities organized by local associations and chambers of commerce. It has cooperated with the BC Provincial Tourism Board to take advantage of local tourism resources, and has promoted and developed Canadian travel packages. The Office has also worked with the Canada Chamber of Commerce to promote Air China’s Program for Small and Medium Enterprises.
Air China and the Vancouver Office’s achievements are widely recognized by partners and travelers.
– aero news network
Kungfu Master Fights Off Real Estate Thugs
Hats off to Master Shen and his son. The ruthless strongarm tactics of some developers have people around the country up-in-arms.
 Shen Jianzhong and his son used kung fu to drive away thugs hired by developers who want the family’s land in Bazhou, China. (Los Angeles Times / December 29, 2012) |
The men who barged through Shen Jianzhong’s door probably thought it was a routine assignment: Break in and beat Shen’s family into submission. Forced evictions to make way for real estate development are an everyday occurrence in China, and the family may have seemed no different from any in that situation.
It was only after they forced open the door, threw Shen’s wife to the ground and began to beat her that they learned the 38-year-old Shen and his 18-year-old son are kung fu masters.
“I take Bruce Lee very seriously,” said Shen in a telephone interview a month after the incident. Shen says he does not recall exactly what happened during the fight, but an eight-minute video of the aftermath shows seven of the hired hands piled in a motionless heap in Shen’s doorway. Blood pools around the cheek of one; another lies halfway through the doorway, crumpled on the curb. Survivors mill about unsteadily on the street, glaring at the camera.
The video, shot by Shen’s wife, has attracted nearly a million views and many admiring comments since it was posted online Oct. 30. It has turned Shen into a minor folk hero in China, where many villagers have been forced out of their homes by da shou (“beating hands” in Chinese) who work for real estate developers.
– latimes
Hourly Monitoring of Pollution in Major Chinese Cities
China plans to release hourly air pollution monitoring data in 74 of its biggest cities starting on New Year’s Day, state media said on Sunday, in a sign of increasing responsiveness to quality-of-life concerns among prosperous urban people.
Choking pollution and murky grey skies in Chinese cities is a top gripe among both Chinese and expatriates. Microscopic pollutant particles in the air have killed about 8,600 people prematurely this year and cost $1 billion in economic losses in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi’an, according to a study by Beijing University and Greenpeace that measured the pollutant levels of PM2.5, or particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter.
The new monitoring will include not only PM2.5, but also sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and carbon monoxide, the Xinhua news agency said, citing a Friday announcement by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Data will be collected from 496 monitoring stations, it said.
First Beijing, then other cities have become more public about their air quality data since the U.S. embassy in Beijing began publishing hourly data from a pollution monitor installed on embassy grounds in Beijing.
– Reuters
Canadian Writer Sets His Sleuth Stories in Hong Kong and Macau
Ian Hamilton burst onto the Canadian crime fiction scene in 2011 with The Water Rat of Wanchai. The novel introduced readers to Ava Lee, a jet-setting – and crime-solving – forensic accountant. Since then, he’s published three more Ava Lee novels, the most recent of which, The Red Pole of Macau, was published in September. With another instalment arriving just after Christmas – and Hamilton about to enter the U.S. market for the first time – Postmedia’s Mark Medley recently spoke to the Burlington, Ont., author about exotic locales, the evolution of his characters and what comes next.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Catching+with+Hamilton/7756648/story.html#ixzz2GUvvoPmr
China Third Tourist Destination
Going by trends, tourism travel to China should surpass the US by 2015 and vie for the top spot within a decade. In terms of international tourism receipts, China was 4th with US$48.5 billion in 2011 behind the US, Spain, and France. In 2010, if receipts for mainland China, Macao, and Hong Kong are added together, the figure approached totals for the US. (Figures were not available for Macao in 2011).
—————————
Topping the United Nations World Trade Organisation (UNWTO) Tourism Highlights 2012 list was France with 79 million tourist arrivals, followed by United States (62 million), China (58 million), Spain (57 million), Italy (46 million), Turkey (29.3 million), United Kingdom (29.2 million), Germany (28.4 million), Malaysia (24.7 million), and Mexico (23.4 million).
– thestar online (Malaysia)