Memoirs of Beijing

It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted some news tidbits.. Here’s my take for this month.  Some might be old but still relatively useful.

New Subway Extensions & Line

Subway Line 8 (lower left):  If you frequent the subway or you’ve been travelling in Beijing, you might have noticed that the connection to subway line 8 is temporarily closed.  This is due to the construction of the extension of 6 stations to the north of South Gate of Forest Park.  Subway line 8 is scheduled to open by the end of the month.

Subway Line 9 (upper right):  I thought that travelling to Beijing West Railway Station will be a breeze but apparently that won’t happen till September 2012.  This month, the new Subway line 9 will open it’s Southern section which will have 9 stations with a length of 10.8 km.  Line 9 will connect to the Fangshan line in Guogongzhang.  Technically, it’s still a standalone line and won’t connect yet to the major lines in the city.

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A public outcry over an injured toddler that was caught on video reached international news that it made me wonder what it was all about.  Having lived in China since 2003, I had seen my fair share of accidents, fights and even a dead guy. 

On Thursday afternoon (October 13), a two year old girl in Foshan, Guangdong province was left bleeding by the side of a road after a hit and run accident.  The girl was initially hit by a car, after several minutes, was then hit by a truck before helped by a 57-year-old lady who dragged her to the sidewalk.  In between the car and the truck, several people passed by the child without helping or doing anything to her.  Chinese media and internet users are crying “lack of morals” of the people who passed by the child.  All I can tell them is, they are  hypocrites.

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Living in Beijing for more than 5 years, I’ve heard and lived through my fair share of new changes implemented by the municipal and national government and establishments.  Some are acceptable and fair while some are stupid and ridiculous.

Here are some new rules or laws implemented in China which I’ll live it up to you to interpret if it’s stupid or good:

-  Internet Security  -

To individuals who like to use free wi-fi in public places, you might as well just leave your gadgets at home as the government ordered your friendly places to install an expensive software to monitor internet usage.  This monitoring software costs RMB 20,000 and the establishments has to foot the bill.  Those who refuse and continues to offer this service will be fined RMB 5,000.

I don’t mind them monitoring our internet usage but if they want to install a software, they should offer it for free.  Moreover, they should at least upgrade their mobile network service as even though it’s supposed to be 3G, the only thing I’m picking up from China Mobile is 2G.  Last week, our engineering team was saying that the telecommunications bureau would like to conduct a survey in our building if the people would like to upgrade from 2G to 4G.  I’m just like, they can’t even make their 3G network run smoothly, now they’re upgrading to 4G?  Geez!  Talk about priorities. 

Also, when will they bring back the sites which they’ve blocked because they want to protect children from pornographic and violent web content?  They have a Chinese version of twitter, youtube and Facebook which practically offers the same thing.  Maybe I should pursue my Chinese studies further to use those sites.

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Circulars are being sent out in the past couple of days to company’s HR as the amendment to China’s individual income tax law was released and will take into effect on 1 September 2011.  Does that mean that I will be paying more taxes?  I hope not.

Key Changes

The key changes for individuals on the IIT law are as follows:

• The monthly standard deduction for Chinese individuals’ income from salaries and wages will increase from RMB 2,000 to RMB 3,500.  Monthly standard deduction for expatriates remains at RMB 4,800.
• Income tax rates applicable to individuals will change from the nine bracket progressive rates to seven bracket progressive rates.  They removed the 15% and 40% rates.

New Tax Bracket

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Planning to travel to Shanghai next month?  Why not try the Beijing-Shanghai high speed railway train that everyone’s been waiting for.  No need to wait a long time at the airport gates nor travel to and from the airport.  The exact date of operation has yet to be announced but news reports are saying that it would either be by the end of June or early July.

The Beijing to Shanghai high speed railway train will be running in two different speeds on this 1,318 kilometer track. 

• Speed: 300 kph.  

• No. of trains daily:  63 pairs of trains
• Travel time:  4 hours and 48 minutes
• Ticket costs:  RMB 555 for coach class,  RMB 935 for business class and RMB 1,750 for first class

• No. of trains daily:  27 pairs of trains
• Travel time:  approximately 8 hours
• Ticket costs:  RMB 410 for coach class and RMB 650 for first class

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Do you like Double Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit?  Ready to test your wits with the best and the brightest expats and locals alike?  Would you like to win some prizes while you enjoy the test of wits?  If you answer yes on all of the questions, then you better haul yourself to one of the weekly quiz nights at your favorite bars and pubs. 

You don’t win any monetary prizes but you’ll be guaranteed a night of fun!  You get to win some free beers or bottles of booze and you will also increase your knowledge.  I remember when I was young, I love to learn more about geography, science, arts, music, history and recent events.  The pub quiz is one of the best ways to reminisce your past and enjoy your life in Beijing.

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An 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit the east coast of Honshu, Japan at 2:46pm today (Japan time) and was felt all the way here in Beijing.  The feeling was similar to the Sichuan earthquake a couple of months back but nothing serious. 

After lunch as I head back to the office, I noticed people coming down from their offices.  I wondered what it was as they’re mostly from tenants in the high floor.  Apparently, they felt a little dizzy and some shaking which prompted them to evacuate their offices.  As I’m writing this blog, some of them are still downstairs waiting for confirmation while some just went back to their work.  I hope there are no casualties in Japan nor a tsunami to occur.

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Chinese New Year holiday is a bit quiet for Beijing standards.  My Harbin experience went down the drain as I wasn’t able to get a train ticket back and I’ve been a prat for making plans without taking into consideration my travel buddy who also would like to go there.  Anyway, did you know that…

WIDOW YEAR

As I was having lunch with my friend last month, I was telling her about my friend who’s getting married.  She then mentioned that this year is not a good year to get married. 

The reason?  This year is a Widow Year.

Chinese has a superstition that if the Chinese New Year falls after the start of Spring which happened in early February, the year is considered as a bad year for marriage.  You wouldn’t want to be a widow don’t you?

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I thought China would be able to subsidize the fuel costs for drivers but apparently not.  With fuel prices soaring to at least $70 a barrel, the transport sector is clamoring for an increase.  Compared to the Philippines where each increase in the transport cost will result to strike, China just lay down the law and expect everyone to follow.

Last Wednesday, November 25, the long awaited increase for taxi operators was implemented.  Flag down rate remains at RMB 10 between 6am to 11pm and RMB 11 between 11pm to 6am.  However, if you go beyond the flag down rate, you’ll be charged an additional RMB 1 on top of the metered rate.  This RMB 1 will come out of your pocket and cannot be reimbursed.

I’ve taken the taxi several times since Wednesday and it’s a hit and miss.  Some taxi drivers will ask for RMB 1 more while others doesn’t seem to mind.  So, if you ride a taxi and your taxi fare is beyond RMB 10, don’t argue with the driver if they ask you to pay one kuai more.

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I can’t exactly remember the first solar eclipse that I’ve witnessed.  All I know was I was still either in primary or secondary school.  I also remember using a film negative to look at the eclipse without harming my eyes.

When I was riding the bus last week, I can’t help but noticed an ad showing people how to view a solar eclipse.  It’s like, is there going to be one, and when is it?  I remember my colleague mentioned in passing that there would be one soon.  I just can’t remember when exactly it is.

China is no stranger to solar eclipse or lunar eclipse.  They even had one last year but since this country is so big, only a few were able to witness it.  However, this year’s total solar eclipse will traverse through several provinces and can be witnessed in totality by millions of people.

If the ad itself is hyping people up to watch this event here in Beijing where we would only see a partial eclipse, what more in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Chongqing, Wuxi, Ningbo, Three Gorges Dam area, and Suzhou where there will be a total solar eclipse.

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