When life gives you bad milk, make... bricks?

Remember the tainted milk issue in China? I just saw this article at China Daily which suggests the contaminated milk could be used to make bricks and concrete. This is apparently a cheaper way to dispose of it than treating it as hazardous waste.

It's scary to think that it's too toxic for landfill yet humans were consuming it. Here's hoping China implements strict quality assurance measures/standards for all food and drinks (and toys and cosmetics and clothes...)

Image by mtlin

Beijingaling

With the Olympics around the corner, it's useful to learn to pronounce Beijing correctly - particularly the 'j' sound. This short video explains it well; now we just need the newsreaders and journos to get it right!

One Child Policy to Continue

There has been speculation recently about whether China's family planning policy (commonly known as the One Child Policy) would change or continue. Earlier this month, China's Family Planning Minister announced that the policy would continue for at least another ten years.

While the policy is commonly deemed successful in curbing population growth, there have been massive social, economic, environmental, ethical and other implications and consequences as a result of this policy, directly and indirectly, including

• child abandonment, especially girls
  
• female gendercide
  
• child trafficking
  
• wife trafficking
  
• forced abortions / forced sterilisation
  
• gender imbalance
  
• 4/2/1 dependency ratio
  
• declining birth rate, hence declining population replacement rate
  
• aging population
  
• little emperor syndrome
  
• hugely disproportionate number of marriageable age males without female counterparts
  (this list is just a quick brain-dump and is by no means exhaustive)

The One Child Policy is not a blanket policy imposed on all families. In fact, the current birth rate in China sits at around 1.8 children per family (not down to 1 per family but certainly a shift from the average of 7.5 children per family in 1963). Here is some information about the policy:

• families are allowed to have two children if the first born is a girl or is disabled (resulting in second and third born females being abandoned)
  
• rural families are permitted to have two children
  
• if the mother and father are only children themselves, they are allowed two children
  
• the policy is enforced in different ways in different provinces
  
• ethnic minorities (the 55 different Chinese ethnic groups, ie. non-Han Chinese) may have two and sometimes three children
  
• breaching the policy can result in fines, withdrawal of family allowance, demotion or discharge from jobs, social rejection

I wonder what the Chinese would think of the policies of my nation's Government; we are paid to have children and encouraged to have larger families in an attempt to increase the fertility rate.

Similar/related earlier posts: The right to live, Family planning slogans, Population stuff.

The right to live

There's an article in today's Courier Mail that states that there have been 10 million baby girls in India aborted or victims of gendercide in the past twenty years. It's heartbreaking. TEN MILLION. I don't even know how to comprehend a number that big, especially when it relates to human life.

I don't want this to be a morbid entry, but I share it because awareness and education about these issues need mainstreaming.

As most of us know, the same issues are prevalent in China... still. This presentation was shared at the 2007 UN conference on the status of women. It's focus is on the issues related to female abandonment and preference for boys in China. Some alarming facts are presented, but they need to be made known. Whacked out ratios. Steady patterns. Social insanity. And laws that mean if you abandon a baby girl you are punished, but if you kill her it's ignored.

And the wait to adopt gets longer.

Family planning slogans in China

Three posts in two days. This has to be some kind of record for me.

Those who refuse to use birth control, have a ligation and pay the extra birth fine will be severely punished' - family planning banner in Guangxi

I read an article today that China has decided to update some of its harsh family planning posters and billboards.

Some of the existing slogans on walls and billboards say things like:
'Raise fewer babies but more piggies'
'Houses toppled, cows confiscated, if abortion demand rejected'
'One more baby means one more tomb'
'Better ten graves than one extra birth' (there's a human rights book by this name)

The slogans which have been approved to replace the questionable ones include:
'The mother earth is too tired to sustain more children'
'Both boys and girls are parents' hearts'

While searching for photographs of such posters, I came across this site which shows the population policy propaganda posters over time.

I also learnt about the incredibly sad case of Jin Yani in China, who is suing family planning officials due to the ramifications of a full term forced abortion seven years ago. Ugh.

Chinese Super Ball for Kids!

I found this video on YouTube. It was filmed at Green Lake in Kunming, China. We walked to this lake plenty of times because it was close to where we lived - but I never saw these! I wanna have a go!!

Population stuff

This article (and a similar one here) states that based on the current gender imbalance in China's birth rates, by 2020 there will be 30 million more men in China than women.

Heck, the entire population of Australia is only 20 million.

It also looks as though the forthcoming Year of the Pig could spark a baby boom in China.

Moon Festival

A couple of weeks ago, Aaron and I headed into Brisbane's Chinatown mall in celebration of the mid Autumn festival. This is a traditional Chinese celebration where Moon Cakes are eaten. We watched some traditional Peking Opera (followed by the same girl singing My Heart Will Go On in English), and a range of artists playing traditional asian instruments or doing dances. It would be an understatement to say we were devastated that we didn't get to see a dragon dance (which was in the advertised program but never happened).

Here are some pics - Aaron tried a couple of different mooncakes. He reckons he could eat them at festivals and that's about it, but HECK YEAH he loved a little sweet cake that looked like a hot dog that we bought from the same bakery. Didn't get pics of that unfortunately...