Monday, October 31, 2011

This one via chinaSMACK regarding Yue Yue

even if there is the side-bar link I just copy this one here- also some interesting links inside - please read:

Yueyue: A Tragedy of 3 Seconds & Flawed Heroism

Update: Primary One Admissions

First please see here a link here for your info:
Click here to see all existing DSS schools in Hong Kong (Primary & Secondary)

After attending another interview with my son on Saturday we heard from a mother of one of his classmates following statement:
"Oh he has already been admitted to 2 of the schools + one 2nd interview"
Second interview means that you are 80% in !
The mother then told us she surely registered already for both of the ones her boy has been admitted already. I almost wanted to beat her  - because:
1 kid here is blocking 2 seats (only releasing them in last minute next year) - because in the end he can only go to 1 SCHOOL (as much as my math is good). Under consideration that all the application this family has filed was a favourite place for her son - now you tell me why they are holding an extra of 2 places - for what ?
I am safe to say there are many families doing the same as described before:
Holding several admissions in their hands & not willing to give up some of them until last minute - even they pay several 100 HKD registration fee for each of the schools they have been admitted to.
How to call this ? Show off to friends, relatives & others: My kid is so good - getting 2 admissions already.
Please do not forget: Much more are failing the applications / interviews than being successful - that is why I personally find this kind of behaviour totally unacceptable.

No regulation on this kind of behaviour from Education Dept.
Besides this, the son of the above family is 8 months older than my son - means he is 8 months more mature, which makes a big difference in that age.
When my son will start P1 next year he will be 6 + 2 months - the other boy will be 6 + 9 months - I am very sure this guy is much smarter today in this so-called "interviews" than my son is.
So many things are "over-regulated"in Hong Kong: You can not sit here, you can not sit there, you cannot have a seat outside a restaurant (btw: what happened in Stanley - no more OUTDOORS seating ?) - but this P1 admission no regulation at all ?

Anything ever heard about this in a so-called POLICY ADDRESS - I cannot remember.
Have a nice week ahead !

Friday, October 28, 2011

Primary One Admissions in Hong Kong - Is my son stupid ?

I was thinking a long time about if I really should post this. But I am really up-set with the Hong Kong system how to get your kids into Primary 1.
My son is now 5 and a few months old - he needs a Primary 1 admission for the school year 2012/2013.
Since weeks we are doing applications for so-called DSS schools here in Hong Kong. My son is a mix - I am a "gweilo" - the mother is HK chinese - mother tongue cantonese & very good mandarin + very good english.
My sons first language is english, his mandarin is developing, his cantonese is "playground - level".
He can read english since more than 10 months - surely with some flaws when the words are too complicate or unknown to him. He recently was reading the content of a "Letter of Credit" to me when he was in our office for a visit.
So as all parents in Hong Kong need to suffer the same system I do not want to complain about the procedure - but I want to complain about the system in general for applying Primary 1 admission at so- called DSS schools.
Info here
These schools are in the middle between the real public schools + private (international) schools.
Means monthly fee can be between HKD 1,500 - 5,000 (approximately - do not challenge me on this).
So if you want your kid to get admitted into one of this DSS schools you normally need to do following:
1) Make an application with a lot of copies (HK Id, birth certificate, latest kindergarten reports, some even ask for proof of your address via CLP or Towngas bill) - surely plus application fee between HKD 20 - HKD 150 - non-refundable.
2) In average you can say maximum seats for Primary 1 is no more than 150 per DSS School. Some schools have more than 3,000 applications for this 150 seats.
3) Then your kid needs to go to have an interview in each of the schools you have applied for. Funnily in the peak time interviews in some of the schools are conducted on the same days. My boy had a record of 5 interviews in 3 days !
4) What they are doing in the interviews is completely not clear - what they are asking - and how they are choosing winners & loosers out of a few hundred or thousands is completely a BIG SECRET.
5) And then you have to wait for the result mainly getting admitted for a 2nd interview - if you get this you are already lucky.
6) In between you better file the application for the public - means government schools POA (Primary One Admission) - to at least have a "back-up" if your kid is not successful for the DSS schools you have applied for.
7) The whole process is going over months until you are clear if your kid made it into one of the DSS schools you have applied for or not.

Hong Kong parents can be very ambitious with their kids: In queuing up at one school to get into the interview hall some "drilled 5-year old in a suit with a bow was very noisily calling his Daddy on the mobile and really asked him: "What again was the name of the first astronaut" ?

Another point is following: With so many applications for each DSS school and so little seats for each of them, most have to "fail" - but others will suddenly hold a choice of 3 - 4 different schools to send their kid into. And they are holding back their decisions for a long time which school to choose - means they are blocking with one kid the place for 2 or 3 other kids which can move up on a so called waiting - list.

Why there is not a system synching the results from school to school & asking the parents to make their decisions within a certain (short) period after they were getting the green light from several schools.

In case my son will fail all 10 applications (4 he failed already) we need to wait until next year May to try some "begging" to some of the failed schools as then some seats are getting vacant because parents with multiply choice of schools have stepped out.

Why parents having their kids already in ESF schools (they start one year earlier) are still allowed to participate in "the race" ? I know several cases doing like this.

Also I feel there is still some racist elements in deciding for admissions. Why a school with a curriculum 100% in English needs to conduct interview with the kids also in Cantonese ?

Why some principal of some of this schools even has a more worse english intonation / expression as my son ? And he still get rejected !

The system is completely unbalanced and completely not fair.

Oh yes - please consider we are talking about children 5+ years old - need to go to interviews - like applying for position of CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
Sometimes they just want to play and have fun.
Our adult-driven success - money - hectic - stress-  life - competition - do they really need to adopt to this already that young ? My son has refused inside several interviews (as far as he could really tell us) - just saying "I don't know" - so what is the REAL CRITERIA to get selected for the school ?
They need to be able to read in 2 languages - count - do some maths - talk about science - about economics & the world politics - are we sure this is exactly what a 5 year old plus a few months is really deeply interested in ? I always thought learning reading / counting etc starts with school only ..... surely now in the KINDERGARTEN they can learn already some basics which is good.
But how perfect our kids here in Hong Kong must be to just manage to get a P1 seat ?

Being obedient already during the interview ?
Being a "drilled smart interview expert".
Having parents filling out several pages of questionnaire the school is asking for ? I have seen parents adding several pages to that paper (maybe they think the more they write the better the chances of their kid).

They are just innocent kids !
So how much pressure we need to give them to be successful ?
Do they really understand what is this all good for ? I have deep doubts.

And last not least:
Do they "google" the names of applicants parents esp. if one is a "gweilo" ? Then I have "bad cards" as my real name was released by AP (Associated Press) a few years ago - do they judge on this ?

If you need details about schools procedures please feel free to contact me.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Here we go again: Crazy driving killing again a kid in a very cruel way !

Who knows China & ever been travelling in cities by car or even better on highways or roads knows it:
Chinese driving skills / knowledge are below 0 for 90% of all the drivers. Crazy speeding, crazy lane changing, no distance keeping, aggressive driving in general: THE ROAD IS MINE - DO NOT GET INTO MY WAY !
Penalty system is weak - non - existing, traffic police can be easily bribed - result almost 80,000 dead only by traffic accidents each year - figures rising. So whenever you have to think about traveling in China - if you can take a train - better take a train - dont rely on the crazy drivers.
Here another sad story happened a few days ago -this one is from the shanghaiist
In wake of Yueyue's passing, another child-death tragedy strikes in Sichuan
Luzhou Evening News brings us a report from October 20 that in Luding County, Sichuan Province, Luzhou City, a truck knocked down a five-year-old child returning home from school, causing the child to die on the spot. Luzhou citizens have claimed the accident was actually cold-blooded murder.
The victim, five year old Xiong Maoke, was still in kindergarten. His mother recounted the horror of what happened, eyes red with tears. After school, 11 am, Xiong Maoke and several children left to go home whereupon they were involved in what appeared to be a simple accident.
Zhang Shifen witnessed the accident. "I saw the truck coming, the children were walking by the side of the road, not in the street." Zhang Shifen recalls the truck didn't hit Xiong Maoke directly, but rather cuffed his ear. "He fell, but after being knocked over, immediately stood up again and bent over to pick up his umbrella. "
The next scene left Zhang speechless, "I saw the truck move back a little and then move forward again, Xiong Maoke became wrapped up in the wheel, and then the truck continued forward another 10 meters." Zhang Shifen said she was standing behind the truck, and clearly saw a child under the wheels had been badly mutilated. She shouted at the driver, "What are you doing? Will you stop!" The driver stopped, got out, swore, and turned away.
He then asked, "How much should I pay?"
The driver, Ao Yong, 35, denies he stopped the truck the first time Xiong Maoke was hit. He refuses to talk about his behavior after the accident, but maintains, "I will compensate them (the family members) however much they want."
Police are investigating the incident and are working with the driver and villagers to ascertain what transpired and whether or not it was an accident or something more sinister.
For witnesses and friends of Xiong Maoke's family, this "accident" was a deliberate child murder as brutal and heartless as the death of Yueyue that gripped the nation and the world earlier this week.
In the Yueyue case, the driver who ran her over was infamously quoted as saying "If she is dead, I may pay only about 20,000 yuan ($3,125). But if she is injured, it may cost me hundreds of thousands yuan."

Friday, October 21, 2011

Some deeper thoughts........about MORAL !

this one comes from the ASIA TIMES ONLINE - please read carefully:
SUN WUKONG
Little Yueyue and China's moral road
By Wu Zhong, China Editor
HONG KONG - "What has happened to our morality?" "Where are our hearts of sympathy?" "How come we could ever become even more cruel and hard-hearted than cold-blooded animals?" These were questions being asked by outraged Chinese media and bloggers over a recent incident hit-and-run incident which saw bystanders indifferently walk past a toddler who was struck by a van, only for the child to be hit by a second vehicle.
The incident happened on October 13 in Foshan city in southern Guangdong, the richest province in China, and was captured by a surveillance camera. The footage was aired by the province's Southern Television Guangdong (TVS) and posted last Saturday on the Chinese video site Youku, drawing around 2 million views and thousands of comments on that site alone.

The footage shows a two-and-a-half-year-old girl hit and run over by a large white van while walking down a street in a market district of Foshan. About six minutes later, another passing van runs her over again. During the interval, at least 18 people walk by without helping her. Finally last an elderly trash collector comes to her aid, moving her to a side of the street and calling her mother.
According to Xinhua, doctors say the girl, Yueyue, from a rural migrant workers' family, is brain dead and surviving on life support in a deep coma. Police said the drivers of both vehicles have been arrested. [1]

"I was picking up trash in the hardware market when I saw a child lying in the road. I walked up in a hurry to the girl and heard her groan, " said trash collector Chen Xianmei. "I lifted her up and saw that one of her eyes was closed, that she had tears in her eyes, and she was bleeding from her mouth, nose and the back of her head.

"I wanted to carry her but she was soft and collapsed immediately. I was scared to try again and so I dragged her to the side of the road and shouted for help. But nobody showed up," Chen was quoted in Yangcheng Evening News as saying. Chen asked a few nearby shopkeepers who the girl was and only heard "I don't know" in reply. [2]
The apathy of the bystanders and people in the neighborhood has shocked the public, with media commentators and netizens seething over an incident that raises questions about the morality and conscience of today's China.
"[Ancient Chinese thinker] Mencius said, 'The heart of sympathy is essential to man.' What has made us so apathetic?... Lack of sympathy is a moral disaster facing us all … Let us all ask ourselves if we had passed by the scene, how many of us would have stopped to help the girl?" wrote a commentary on Chongqing Times.

It went on to blame the system for a lack of mechanisms that support good deeds. "Our current system is obviously in an embarrassing status: corruption continues to run wild and evil people enjoy privileges, scandals with charity organizations such as the Red Cross stop people from donating to help the needy. [3] All this certainly shakes up the beliefs of kind-hearted people."

Others have linked the absence of good Samaritans to a previous court ruling in Tianjin. There, a man who said he'd helped an elderly woman who had fell on the street was accused by the old lady and her family of knocking her down. The court ordered the man to pay a huge compensation and his appeal is now awaiting a higher court's ruling.
 
However, a commentary on Guangzhou-based Information Times says it is unfair to blame the law. "Everyone saw clearly that the girl was run over by vans. No passers-by could possibly be wronged by her parents. Despite the circumstances, still no one would even just make an emergency call. We believe all viewers of the footage have passed down their judgment on those passers-by."
"The trash-collecting lady has given us a most vivid lesson. How have our people have become so apathetic? It is evident that we must strengthen our morals."
A signed article in the China Youth Daily wrote that fears of liability are not an adequate excuse for not helping, and that this case exposes a decline of humanity in Chinese society.

The Foshan incident is by no means an isolated case of moral decline.

On September 2, an 88-year-old man collapsed in Hubei in central China, his face striking the pavement. No one came to his aid though he law on a crowded street for about 90 minutes, and he ended up choking to death on the blood from his nose. [4]
 
Several days ago at a high school in Changchun in northeast China, basketball-playing students began fight. One of them phoned his parents for help. Their parents, local rich business people, rushed to the scene with dozens of men armed with big knives. The mother shouted: "Let's hit them. Afterwards I'll pay for their medical treatment." One of the students was stabbed more than a dozen times and later died in hospital.
"What great hatred had the parents towards that student? Why did they want his death? What happened to the traditional Chinese virtue of 'extend my love of my children to others' children'?" said a commentary on Chongqing Times.

Netizens are now calling for a good Samaritan law that would protect people who intervene in such incidents from legal repercussions. But legislation may not be enough. For instance, it offers no solution cases such as Changchun stabbing.
For more meaningful results, society has to take a hard look at the spread of money worship in the past three decade. It is money that has eaten away at people's sympathy and caused moral decline in Chinese society.
Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai, now trying to restore Mao-style ideological education in his jurisdiction, earlier said, "Our younger generations seem to know only about making money. This will put our country in jeopardy."

But what can the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) do now Pandora's box has been opened? Whether the blood of little Yueyue is the last shed to awaken the conscience of Chinese society is a question to be answered by the CCP, its government and the whole of Chinese society.
Notes
1. Apathy toward injured child sparks public outcry in China, Xinhua, Oct 17, 2011. click here
2. Mother testifies to good character of rescuer, China Daily, Oct 18, 2011. click here
3. China's state-run NGOs in graft spotlight, Asia times Online, Aug 3, 2011.click here
4. Death in Hubei sparks debate on ethics, China Daily, September 5. click here

RIP YUE YUE - 21.10.2011

please read the below - Yue Yue has passed away in the early morning hours of Friday 21.10.2011:
quote
A toddler who was twice run over by vans and then ignored by passers-by on a busy market street in southern China has died a week after the accident and after days of bitter soul-searching in the country.
Surveillance camera footage of people walking past two-year-old girl Wang Yue, nicknamed Yue Yue, as she lay bleeding and unconscious sparked a wave of condemnation and soul-searching on China's hugely popular social networking sites.
A rubbish collector who finally moved the girl to the side of the street in the southern Chinese city of Foshan was hailed as a national hero, but the incident also led many online commentators to question the state of Chinese morality.
A nurse in the intensive care unit of the Guangzhou Military District General Hospital confirmed that the two-year-old girl, Wang Yue, died early today.
"Yue Yue died of systemic organ failure," a spokesman from the hospital treating her told AFP, adding that no expense had been spared to try to save the girl, whose parents are migrant workers.
Doctors had earlier said Yue Yue, who had been in a coma since the October 13 incident, was unlikely to survive.
The death of Yue Yue was one of the most popular topics on China's weibos -- microblogging sites similar to Twitter -- today as people expressed sorrow and anger over the incident.
"Farewell to little Yue Yue. There are no cars in heaven," wrote one microblogger on Sina's weibo.
"Yue Yue was consumed for a week by the fake kindness of netizens... All the wishes are fake and only the 18 passers-by are real. Farewell, and do not be born in China in your next life," another weibo user wrote.

Police have detained the drivers of both vehicles involved in the incident.

The plight of Yueyue came to symbolise what many Chinese see as a decay in public morals after decades of headlong pursuit of economic growth.
AP/AFP
unquote

CHILD KIDNAPPINGS IN ANHUI - LIVING WITH DEAD HEARTS

HERE WE GO ABOUT SOME MORE DIRT FROM CHINA & IT SEEMS NOBODY CARES !
This comes from chinaSMACK - I will put a link to that blog on the sidebar asap..
quote
by on

Interview with the driver No. 1

Believe it or not: Before the driver who hit & overrun little Yue Yue in Foshan, turned himself into police he had an interview with a local radio station - here the translation - a translation of the "mind-set"of this guy, everybody with at least some common sense can do by themselves:
quote
·         Reporter(R): Are you the one who ran over Yueyue?

·         Accident driver (A): I didn’t want that happen either. I’m just a driver.

·         R: Why did you call her father?

·         A: When the accident happened, I was on the phone.

·         R: Why didn’t you stop after running into something? Did you know you had hit somebody?

·         A: I knew I’ve run into a person. I was scared. If you hit somebody, you would ran away too.

·         R: Don’t you have any conscience? Why didn’t you save her?

·         A: I was too scared. I am just a driver.

·         R: How many years have you been driving? Don’t you know hit-and-run is a very severe crime?

·         A: I’ve been driving for 2 years. Who never makes a mistake? As you can see, that kid walked and looked around. If she walked more carefully, how would I run into her?

·         R: Was there any heavy goods on the truck?

·         A: Yes, that’s why I stepped on the gas.

·         R: Now how do you like to deal with this accident?

·         A: I want to offer them some money. But I don’t want to show up.

·  
·         Later reporter called the accident driver again:

·         R: Do you want to turn yourself in now?

·         A: No. I’ve asked my friend to send my wife and kids over here from Guangxi. I’ll find a job in the construction site where no one knows me.

·         R: You want to hide yourself for the rest of your life?

·         A: I’m scared. I didn’t mean to (run over the girl.) Everybody makes mistake. I have a wife and a 14 year-old kid. Without me, they can’t survive.

·         R: One should be responsible for his own fault. You have kid too, don’t you know how Yueyue’s parent feel?

·         A: so what?

·
·         R: How is your feeling now?

·         A: sad..haha

·         R : At this point, you still laugh?

·         A: It’s a bitter smile. You have no idea how much pressure I’m under now. One word-’scared’. I would hide until I couldn’t anymore. I know sometime it take more than a few decades to catch a murder. I’m over 30 year-old now. In 30 years, I might have died. This whole thing would have been forgotten. I know how to deal with the cops. I would shy away from the big cities, just stay in the suburbs and don’t make big money.

·         R: Seeing your kid, wouldn’t that remind you of the little girl you ran over?

·         A: Why should I? She wasn’t even my kid.

·        
·         R : How would you like to compensate the losses of Yueyue’s family?
A: I also have losses myself. I didn’t get my salary. I told my boss there was some emergency in my family and just quit the job
unquote

He said he has some losses himself because he didnt get his salary: His salary maybe RMB 1,500 - approx USD 240 !
Actually the excuse to quit a job "some emergency in the family" is a very popular excuse in China.
Not only if you are a driver just killed a 2 year old girl.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Some more thoughts about the little girl

Blog picture changed to the photo of Yue Yue in the hospital. Here some more words just getting out of the net right now:
quote from DAILY MAIL UK:
Hopes fade for little Yue Yue: Doctors confirm girl, two, ignored by 18 people after being run over is brain dead
A critically injured Chinese toddler left to die in the street after she was run over twice is brain dead, doctors said today.

The parents of two-year-old Yue Yue – which translates as Little Joy in Chinese - may now face the agonising decision about when to turn off the life support machine keeping their daughter alive.

The Chinese Government's state news agency Xinhua quoted doctors as saying Yue Yue 'is in a deep coma and clinically brain dead'.
It appears her condition has deteriorated, despite showing signs of some recovery earlier this week.

'We cannot give any information,' said a hospital spokesman this morning.

Her parents, who are poor migrant workers, have been keeping millions informed about their daughter's condition via a specially created website.

Yesterday they posted that Yue Yue was showing signs of recovery and said medication had been reduced.

Reports claimed her heart beat had stabilised and she had regained the ability to take weak breaths and some feeling in her arms.

But as of Wednesday evening Beijing time, no update had been posted.

There were initial reports this morning that Yue Yue had died, but these appear to be unfounded.
The shocking incident was caught on CCTV and has stunned millions in China, with many saying their society – which has enjoyed 30 years of rapid development – is rotten and immoral.

It also sparked global outrage after more than a dozen people can be seen in the footage walking or driving past the stricken girl as she lay in the street in Foshan city, Guandong province.

The case is quickly becoming a political issue and it is feared Communist Party officials have called for tighter controls over the reporting about the incident for fear of a public backlash.

President Hu Jintao is in his final year of office and his main policy and slogan has been to build a 'harmonious society'.
But millions are using Yue Yue's tragedy to highlight all that is wrong with modern China and claim their society is anything but harmonious.
Public anger is festering over rampant corruption in politics and business, lack of the rule of law, pollution that is seeing cancer rates soar and the widening rich-poor gap, with many of the 'spoilt' siblings of the political elite – so called princelings – being singled out for extra criticism.

Both drivers who ran over Yue Yue have been arrested, but claimed not to have seen the little girl in the 'dark' street.

Chinese media reports that one of the men had allegedly just broken up with his girlfriend and was on his mobile phone when he hit the girl.

The Shanghaiist claims one driver called Yue Yue's father to offer him money just before he was arrested.

It claims he said: 'You saw that girl on the CCTV footage, she didn't see where she was going, you know.

'I was on the phone when it happened, I didn't mean it.

'When I realised I had knocked her down, I thought I'd go down to see how she was.

'Then when I saw that she was already bleeding, I decided to just step on the gas pedal and escape seeing that nobody was around me.'

Authorities in Foshan presented Chen Xianmei, a rubbish collector who went to Yue Yue's aid, with $1,570 as a reward.

Another company in the city has also offered to donate $7,500 to her family and rescuer.

Many people in China are hesitant to help people who appear to be in distress over fears they will be blamed.

High-profile law suits have ended with good Samaritans ordered to pay hefty fines to individuals they sought to help.

The incident has also sparked a series of soul-searching articles in Chinese newspapers, including the Guangzho Daily and People's Daily Online.
UNQUOTE

AND THEN BE AWARE OF THIS:


  • Concern Communist Party officials have called for tighter controls over reporting the incident for fear of a public backlash.


  • Personal comment:
    Yes it is a very tragic accident ! Many questions:
    1)
    Why the first driver did not stop after hitting the girl first and at least try to help ? How shameful his action just to drive away and hurt the girl again ? He was talking on the mobile ............?
    Anyhow in prison you do not need a mobile anymore !
    2)
    Why nobody call the police / ambulance - as this is a very narrow alley - a lot of people (even not on the CCTV) have already watched the first hit !
    3)
    All the passers-by nobody even dare to call an ambulance or move the girl away from the driving lane ? All shall rot in HELL ! What would they think if it was their own kid ?
    4)
    The 2nd truck - what kind of driving is this ? You just roll over a body down there on the street ?
    5)
    All this is making the government so nervous that they are trying to minimize reporting about that "incident". It would be better to use this case for "education purposes" which seems urgently needed for a big part of China's population !

    Wednesday, October 19, 2011

    Chinese toddler run over and ignored 'to remain in vegetative state' - SOME MORE NOTES HERE

    Chinese toddler run over and ignored 'to remain in vegetative state'
    By , Beijing
    2:00PM BST 18 Oct 2011
    Video footage of the incident involving 2-year-old Wang Yue – known by her pet family name Yueyue – caused outrage in China and around the world on Tuesday, prompting questions about whether China's economic miracle had left a moral vacuum in its wake.
    The girl, who was eventually scooped up and rescued by the nineteenth passer-by remains in a critical condition in the intensive care unit of Guangzhou military hospital in China's industrial heartland of Guangdong.
    The hospital's head of neurosurgery, quoted by the local Guangzhou Daily newspaper, said that Yueyue had suffered massive head injuries and was in a coma, only able to breathe with the aid of a ventilator.
    Wang Weiming, head of the neurosurgery department at the general hospital of Guangzhou military region, said Yueyue had shown no improvement and was very unlikely to recover her mental faculties.
    "The patient largely fits the criteria of brain death," he added, "but her limbs are relatively sensible to a pain reflex, so she cannot be determined as brain-dead.

    The girl's parents, who owned a small stall in the wholesale market in nearby Foshan, where the incident happened, were maintaining a rotating vigil at their daughter's bedside, hoping against hope that she might recover.
    The girl's mother, named as Mrs Qu, said she had moved to Foshan in 2003 to start up the shop and had rented an apartment nearby.
    The middle class couple said they had been inundated with calls of support and offers of donations for their daughter's medical care, but had declined the offers, saying they were "much appreciated" but not needed.
    The distraught parents have avoided voicing their feelings over the incident, saying they wanted only to focus on Yueyue's recovery, but her grandfather, named as Mr Wang, admitted to a local newspaper that he "hated those cold-blooded passers-by".
    He added that he had recognised at least one of the passersby. "I wanted to beat him, but at last I held myself back," he was quoted as saying in the Southern Metropolis Daily.
    The story of Yueyue has both touched and angered millions of people in China and around the world.
    In China, the TV report of the incident was viewed more than 2 million times on the internet within 24 hours and on Sina Weibo – China's version of Twitter – it attracted 4.4 million comments in the same period, organised under the hashtag "Please end the cold-heartedness."
    By last night the story appeared to have sparked a national campaign on Sina Weibo under the banner "Please Stop Apathy" which was the number one trending topic, with thousands of posts calling for a return to moral consciousness in China.
    "Little Yueyue's tragedy should not be repeated, the morality should not disappear, our hearts must still have a conscience. From today, offer to help those who need your help, because caring for others is just help yourself," said the call for change.
    The public discussion reached even the pages of People's Daily, the mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party that usually remains aloof from such mass debates when they erupt on China's vibrant internet discussion boards.
    "Although saving people constantly brings 'trouble,' nonetheless, ignoring the dying or even helping with evil acts by negligence is ripping apart society's ethical baseline and dissolving any sense of conscience deep in the souls of the public," wrote a senior columnist, Li Hongbing.
    The one person who attracted universal praise for her warmheartedness was Yueyue's rescuer, 58-year-old Chen Xianmei who was said to work as a domestic helper by day and supplement her income by collecting rubbish for recycling at night.
    Yueyue's parents were photographed meeting the woman, bowing down in a ritual 'kowtow' – a public expression of gratitude that she had stopped to help their daughter when so many others had walked on by.
    The woman said she had thought about the risk of malicious prosecution when she intervened to help Yueyue – the reason widely given in China why 18 others did not stop to help – adding that she responded instinctively.
    She told reporters she had found Yueyue with one eye shut and the other eye open looking at her and had rushed around searching for her mother. "I didn't think I was getting into any trouble. I didn't think so much. I just wanted to help her," she said, before returning to work.

    SHAME ON YOU CHINA:
    How can you lead the world when you can’t even stop to pick up a little girl as she lays dieing on the road !

    Tuesday, October 18, 2011

    SOME MORE INFO ABOUT THE CASE FROM BELOW POST

    Mother testifies to good character of rescuer

    Updated: 2011-10-18 07:23
    By Li Wenfang (China Daily)
    The parents of Yue Yue, a girl who had been run over by two vehicles, kneel down on Sunday to thank Chen Xianmei, who have moved their daughter to a safe place. [Provided to China Daily]

    GUANGZHOU - Despite critics' disparagements of the woman who rescued a 2-year-old girl this past week in Foshan, Guangdong province, the girl's mother said she believes the rescuer is a good person.


    "I don't have enough words to thank her with," the mother, who would identify herself only as Qu, said at the hospital on Monday.

    Her praise was for Chen Xianmei, a 57-year-old woman who moved Qu's daughter Yue Yue to the side of a road after the girl had been run over by a van and a truck in a hardware market this past Thursday. Before Chen came to the rescue, 18 people had walked past Yue Yue without helping her.

    A number of shopkeepers close to the accident scene denied that they had witnessed what had happened. Chen was the first person to offer help.

    The rescuer hails from Qingyuan, Guangdong province, and lives with her son in Foshan, cooking meals at a small company in the morning and picking up rags in the afternoon.

    According to Qu, Chen would occasionally remove refuse from the shop Qu runs in the hardware market.

    "Every time she saw used cartons or plastic bottles, she would ask me, 'Do you still want them or not?' before she collected them," Qu said. "She is a good person. There is no doubt about that."

    Learning of the case, the public has poured out its anger on the passers-by who ignored the girl while praising Chen for being the only person at the accident scene who gave evidence of possessing a conscience.

    Recalling the accident, Chen said: "I was picking up trash in the hardware market when I saw a child lying in the road. I walked up in a hurry to the girl and heard her groan. I lifted her up and saw that one of her eyes was closed, that she had tears in her eyes, and she was bleeding from her mouth, nose and the back of her head.

    "I wanted to carry her but she was soft and collapsed immediately. I was scared to try again and so I dragged her to the side of the road and shouted for help. But nobody showed up," Chen was quoted in Yangcheng Evening News as saying.Chen asked a few nearby shopkeepers who the girl was and only heard "I don't know" in reply.

    Chen said she was not afraid of being wrongfully blamed for the accident. "When I see old people who fall down, I help them," she said. "Somebody has to help. The most important thing is to save a life. She was just a little child. It was dark, but I could definitely see her."

    Since the rescue, Chen said she has been bewildered by the number of requests for media interviews she has received. She also heard that critics have accused her of helping the girl merely out of a desire for publicity.

    Her daughter-in-law, who declined to state her full name, said those comments have been disappointing.

    "Is it really so difficult to be a good person?" she said.

    Qu said she puts no stock in what the critics are saying.

    "I am truly grateful," she said. "She is really kind, not the type of person who enjoys publicity."

    Speaking of the indifferent passers-by, Qu said: "I won't judge them. Let them make their own judgment. If they are married and have children, they will know. But I bear no grudge and refuse to be disappointed by society. Many kind people have come to help."

    Qu said she plans to stay by her daughter's side at the hospital where the girl is undergoing treatment.

    "I didn't care for my child very well, and it's my fault," she said. "But Yue Yue can't leave her mother and her mom won't leave her."

    Yue Yue, who remains in a critical condition, underwent a special test of her brainstem on Monday. The results of that will show whether she is brain dead, said Wang Weimin, director of the neurosurgery department of the General Hospital of the Guangzhou Military Command of the People's Liberation Army. The hospital said the test results will be made public on Tuesday.

    Yue Yue's mother wrote on her micro blog that her daughter's four limbs have shown signs of having feeling and a doctor said her progress has been much better than expected.

    Meanwhile, the civilization office of Foshan's Nanhai district presented 10,000 yuan ($1,570) to Chen on Monday as a reward for her kind deed, said Guo Yu, director of the office.

    "I feel indignant and disappointed about the passers-by, who should reflect on what their behavior says about themselves," he said. "It wasn't that difficult to help the girl, and Chen Xianmei did it out of her heart and conscience."

    Charity groups have received donations for the girl and Chen, Guo said.

    As for the drivers who hit Yue Yue, one has been caught by the police and the other has turned himself in, Wang Zhen'an, chief of the Foshan traffic police, said on Monday.

    Tan Xuezhen and Xue Yutong contributed to this story.

    Very, very sad !

    Only watch this below YouTube clip if you have strong nerves - here the story first - my only question is:
    WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS KIND OF PEOPLE ?

    Watch how a poor Chinese child gets run over and then run over again by two separate vehicles and people do nothing to help her. Unbelievable behavior.

    Footage is taken from a surveillance camera presented on local TV shows Yue Yue was walking in a hardware market in Foshan, Guangdong province, on Thursday, about 100 meters away from her home, when she was run over by a van at 5:26 pm.

    The girl was then run over by a light-duty truck. The riders of four electric bicycles, a tricycle and three passers-by all chose to ignore her and no one at a shop close to the scene came to her aid.

    Seven minutes after she was first hit by the van, a 57-year-old rag collector noticed the girl and moved her to the curb. The woman then tried talking to the shopkeeper but received no response. When she ran from shop to shop for the identity of the girl, the rag collector was told by a number of shopkeepers to mind her own business.

    She then walked into the street and a few seconds later, the girl's mother appears and rushes away with the girl.

    The girl received emergency surgery in Foshan before being transferred to the General Hospital of the Guangzhou Military Command of the People's Liberation Army in Guangzhou on the same day.

    The incident is the latest example of passers-by acting indifferently to victims injured in crimes. In this case, some blamed the parents for letting the girl walk on the street alone. More criticized the phenomenon of people passing by without helping, caused at least in part by previous extortion attempts from the injured and their families who have sometimes tried to blame the person helping.

    -------------- 16 / 10 / 2011 News Update --------------

    Chinese authorities have supposedly have caught the first driver (the second is no worse in my opinion). "If she is dead, I may pay only about 20,000 yuan ($3,125). But if she is injured, it may cost me hundreds of thousands yuan," said the driver over the phone to the media, before he gave himself up to the police.

    The girl has been pronounced "brain dead" by doctors and remains on life support in intensive care.

    "She couldn't breathe on her own," said Wen Qiang, deputy director of the ICU department.

    The most optimistic estimate is that the girl will remain in a vegetative state on life support.
    -------------- 17 / 10 / 2011 News Update --------------

    Police have detained both drivers.

    -------------- 17 / 10 / 2011 News Update --------------

    Unconfirmed reports that the toddler died on 16 / 10 / 2011:
    "...doctors said the girl died yesterday from severe brain injuries she had suffered in the accident."

    http://www.shanghaidaily.org/article/?id=484913&type=National

    http://english.sina.com/china/p/2011/1016/405462.html

    http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/videos/2-year-old-chinese-girl-ran-over-by-van...

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8830790/Chinese-toddler-...

    Sunday, October 16, 2011

    GONG "Master Builder" MANCHESTER uk 2010

    Here comes your weekend music - some chaos perfectly matching this week in our beloved Hong Kong

    Thursday, October 13, 2011

    DONALD TSANG POLICY ADDRESS 12.10.2011

    Today Donald Tsang delivered his last POLICY ADDRESS. Not too many things to mention in my opinion. Some sweets for the elderly, some promises to provide more "shoe-box-flats"too families with low income. No concrete measures to stop property tycoons to manipulate the first & second hand market - I am sure Donald Tsang tried his best - but sometimes the best is not good enough. Unfortunately what will be his successor will not be better.............
    You can read the whole text here.
    And this is the final word on the page called "highlights":
    Core Values
    We love Hong Kong and treasure equality, justice, integrity, the rule of law, freedom, pluralism and inclusiveness as the core values of Hong Kong. This ensures the success of "One Country, Two Systems

    Monday, October 3, 2011

    CHINA REP OFFICE NEWS

    Here is some up-date for all who are running so-called "Representative Office"in China. Some new rules implemented this year in March - please read below & be careful if you are running a RO - do not do anything illegal in China - this can become very expensive in all ways of the meaning ! Yes - I am late with this - but better late than never .............
    quote

    China RO Changes in March – The Full Implications

    Op-Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis
    Jan. 14 – China has dramatically changed its regulations concerning the operation of representative offices (ROs) in the country and these alterations are due to take effect from March 1 this year. They will alter the operational and financial effectiveness of using ROs in China considerably.
    ROs make up some 50 percent of all foreign presence in China and the implications to them of these changes are immediate and profound. SMEs in particular operating ROs in China will need to assess their operational usefulness in light of these developments, and consider making plans for alternative structures. In this piece we highlight the complete picture concerning these developments and provide suggestions and tips for handling and adapting to this far-reaching regulatory upheaval.
    What the regulations say
    The Chinese State Council issued new regulations that change the administration of resident representative offices of foreign enterprises in China. The new regulations require ROs of foreign enterprises to provide audited accounting information on a regular basis, prohibit them from conducting profitable activities, and specify the relative penalties for foreign enterprises that violate the rules. The “Regulations on the Administration of Registration of Resident Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprises” issued on November 19, 2010 will take effect on March 1, 2011; replacing the previous regulations that have been in force since 1983. The most noticeable changes in the new provision are listed below:
    • The RO should submit an annual report between March 1 and June 30 every year providing information on the legal status and standing information of the foreign enterprise, ongoing business activities of the RO, and payment balance audited by their accounting agencies. The registration authorities will issue an RMB10,000 to RMB30,000 penalty if the RO fails to provide such reports on time, and an RMB20,000 to RMB200,000 penalty if the report includes false information. Fraud may also lead to license revocation;
    • The RO cannot engage in any profit activities except for those activities which China has agreed on in international agreements or treaties. The activities ROs can be involved in include market research, display and publicity activities that relate to company products or services, contact activities that relate to company product or service sales, domestic procurement and investment. ROs will be subject to penalties of RMB50,000 to RMB200,000 for each profit activity involvement, and RMB10,000 to RMB100,000 for exceeding the permitted business scope mentioned above;
    • Foreign enterprises should announce to the public through media designated by the authorities when they establish new ROs or make any changes to them; the Chinese registration authorities will also make announcements when they revoke the license of an RO or cancel an RO establishment. ROs that fail to make such announcements may pay an RMB10,000 to RMB30,000 penalty
    The new regulations reveal special concern over the degree of business undertaken by ROs as well as their valid financial records. They call for the availability of RO accounting books and forbid ROs from using the accounts of other enterprises, organizations or individuals. The impact of this is to effectively clamp down on the use of RO for quasi trading purposes. ROs that are undertaking trading activities and covertly importing, exporting, or selling products or services through the use of subsidiary accounts held by third parties or overseas will find themselves seriously impacted by these regulations. This year’s annual audit (2010 accounts, due for filing in April) will specifically address these activities. The way out of this predicament is to arrange for professional advice to get through the audit, close the RO down, and replace it with a FICE or a WFOE. If not, and trading activities continue, foreign investors breaking these regulations will find themselves subject to fines, penalties, and license revocation.
    Additional increases in tax liabilities
    Representative offices are also no longer exempt from corporate income tax in China. A circular issued by the State Administration of Taxation, Guoshuifa [2010] No. 18, issued on February 20, 2010, explicitly stipulates that ROs must pay corporate income tax on their taxable income, as well as sales tax and VAT, and will be required to assess CIT liability using either the cost plus method or actual revenue method. Under each method, the deemed profit margin shall be no less than 15 percent, an increase from the previous deemed profit margin of 10 percent. The effective date of these measures was January 1, 2010. This means that all of last year’s business activities are subject to this rule and that your annual audit – soon due – will specifically abide by these regulations. If your RO hasn’t previously paid tax, this year you may well be subject to a rude awakening and a substantial bill.
    To deal with these new tax requirements, ROs should obtain the pertinent business registration documents (or the relevant department approval) from their local tax authorities. If the content of tax registration changes or there is an early termination of business activities, tax collection should be in accordance with law and relevant provisions of the declaration. ROs must provide valid accounting records in accordance with the relevant laws, administrative regulations, and the State Council’s new regulations as stated above. The new circular mentions that tax authorities have the right to penalize ROs providing incomplete or incorrect records. ROs should also perform the principles of actual functions in matching with potential risks, and accurately calculate their taxable income. If your RO has not already changed its accounting system, nor been paying CIT during 2010, the annual audit in April will come as a shock. ROs in such a position are urged to seek immediate professional advice to deal with this situation.
    RO annual audits
    Representative offices in China may also find themselves having to comply with China’s transfer pricing regulations for the first time in the upcoming annual audit period. China audits ROs (and all other foreign invested enterprises) each year on a calendar year basis, with a four month window to submit accounts for examination. This means that all ROs and other foreign investments must now start to prepare their accounts for the year 2010 and to have these fully prepared and audited by a third party CPA firm for submission no later than the end of April 2011. What is different about the circumstances for standard representative office audits this time around is that for the first time, China requires ROs to follow the principle of proportionate functions and risks when calculating its taxable income. This means that ROs should comply in transactions with its overseas head office on the arm’s length principle, under which relevant incomes, costs and expenditures should be accounted for at fair prices.
    We suspect that for 2010 audits, of particular interest will be the chief representative’s salary as declared in China. Many CRs are resident in China, but maintain their salary payments as two separate incomes, one in China, the other back home. The Chinese authorities may well question this, as residency in China means the Chinese tax authorities possess the right to levy income tax on the full salary paid, regardless of whether that was met in China or not. Such circumstances may also lead to a reassessment of the total salary paid and declared in China, together with an upward assessment of both the individual income tax amount due in addition to the business tax payable by the representative office. If expatriate staff are engaging in such tactics, it is preferable for this issue to be addressed prior to the audit submission as tax treatments do exist that may assist with avoiding state imposed recalculations of tax due.
    Other examinations concerning transfer pricing may come into effect if the representative office has any licensing or other agreements with its own parent; these may be subject to the “fair price” rule and again recalculated upwards. On these issues, China’s double tax agreements may well be worth studying for potential alleviation. Chief representatives of China ROs, together with other foreign employees splitting salary payments between China and home, may wish to take advice over this issue in addition of other potential areas of transfer pricing concern for representative offices. Solving such issues can take time, and with audits due to be filed by April, it is better to bring these matters to the attention of professional advisors at the pre-audit submission stage than face questioning and potentially additional tax imposition by the tax authorities once audit is submitted and found to be questionable. Negotiations after audit submission have little chance of success at this level, we recommend dealing with the issue, understanding any potential liabilities and discussing solutions some time prior to submission of the official audit.
    Upgrading your RO
    As we have seen, the future of the RO as a cheap way to set up a China presence and do business in the country is now coming to an end. Increased tax burdens, an inability to offset expenses against these, and restrictions on activities, staff and size are all taking a toll. Operating an RO as a trading company by using third party bank accounts will also come under scrutiny, and if caught, will inevitably lead to fines over unpaid income tax. Given that RO as a cheap option to conduct business in China are about to become extinct, what are the alternatives? Fortunately, China offers a way out. If you require your China operations to directly buy and sell, have its own import/export license, and legitimately trade in China – then you will need to change your current RO structure to that of a foreign invested commercial enterprise (FICE) or wholly foreign owned enterprise (WFOE) in order not to fall foul of the new regulatory and tax changes concerning the use of an RO.
    Why change now?
    There are five main reasons:
    1. China is now clamping down on the use of ROs for trading activities and has issued directives effectively banning this
    2. ROs are now more expensive to operate than a FICE or WFOE as they cannot offset operational trading costs against CIT
    3. The alternative structures of FICE and WFOE are now relatively inexpensive to set up
    4. To close an RO requires an audit. 2010 audits are due and ROs have to submit audits for the year’s activities in any event. You can use your annual audit as the base for your RO closure and move to a FICE/WFOE structure without the need to go through a second audit for closure
    5. FICE and WFOE also have tax advantages, especially as concerns the ability to reclaim and offset VAT, and book profits/losses, which ROs are not able to do
    What do I need to do?
    There are two procedures to carry out, which can be handled concurrently. First of all, the existing RO needs to go through its annual audit. This is a statutory obligation and you must go through this process. Audits need to be submitted by the end of April (sometimes an extension can be granted). At this juncture, the RO needs to settle up all taxes and all liabilities assessed. This can be carried out not just for the statutory requirement, but also with a view to closing the RO. Such closures also require an audit to be submitted as part of the closure process, using the annual audit to do this means you don’t have to be audited twice. The full closure procedure may take some time (up to 12 months) to complete, however, acceptance by the government of the closure audit then triggers the termination of the RO license, closure of bank accounts and so on, which then releases the foreign investor from ongoing tax and operational liabilities for the RO. This procedure can usually be enacted within three to four months from start to finish. It means it is effectively possible to get out of your RO structure and liabilities by April 2011 if you act now.
    Concurrently with this, a new structure needs to be put in place. Whether this is a FICE or a WFOE depends upon the nature of the business activities, and whether you wish to expand them beyond the previous activities of the original RO structure.
    Foreign invested commercial enterprises
    These are typically used for the following business activities:
    • Import-export and distribution
    • Retailing: selling goods and related services to individuals from a fixed location, in addition to TV, telephone, mail order, internet and vending machines,
    • Wholesaling: selling goods and related services to companies and industry, trade or other organizations
    • Agencies, brokerages: representative transactions on the basis of provisions
    • Franchising
    Wholly foreign owned enterprises in the services industry
    These are typically used for the following business activities:
    • Consulting, other professional services
    • Quality control, after sales services, product design, technical support, sampling (although minimum amount regulations apply)
    It should be noted that some industries are off limits (such as publishing) and others may require additional licenses to fully complete your administrative obligations. In certain circumstances, both a FICE or a service WFOE may be suitable; your chosen professional services firm will be able to advise you on the differences between the two as applicable to your specific situation.
    WFOEs may also be used for manufacturing. In which case, what is now an RO may be upgraded to a fully-fledged manufacturing unit, lessening dependence upon Chinese suppliers and placing the entire manufacturing and sales operations under your control. Registered capital requirements are higher for manufacturing WFOEs than for services WFOEs, but may provide an option for some RO operations wishing to take advantage of the ability to sell directly to the China market. The trend is there – China is moving to a more consumer based economy and the government is committed to providing cheap credit and loans to domestic consumers to ensure this happens. Aside from services, the sale of products to the newly created class of Chinese domestic consumers is now very much a growth area and foreign investors should consider enhancing what is now an RO into either a FICE, a service WFOE, or a fully-fledged manufacturing and sales WFOE. The choices are all there. Your professional services firm will be able to advise on the suitable structure for you depending upon your specific needs. Your business strategy – what you want to accomplish – should determine the business structure.
    It should be noted that the establishment of both a FICE and a WFOE are rather more complex than an RO, and should not be treated (as many consultants regrettably do) as pure licensing applications. As most FICE/WFOE will be involved in trade of some sort, considerations over VAT, customs and other issues that can affect the financial obligations of the business must be taken into consideration. These will add more to the legally required “minimum registered capital” and should be worked out in advance in order for you to both plan your business financing properly and to make it as tax efficient as possible. However, the minimum registered capital requirements are far less than they used to be. Essentially what now needs to be injected is the operational working capital – something that should be easy to evaluate for ROs that have already been operational. Upgrading from an RO to a FICE/WFOE in any event is a procedure of increasing operational efficiency, attention to detail should also be taken when structuring the new corporation to maximize financial and tax effectiveness upon the regulatory need to upgrade.
    The structuring and application of the new FICE/WFOE can be combined at the same time as the RO closure. Staff and other assets may then be moved over to the new structure – possibly without even having to leave your premises (although a new lease in the name of the new company will need to be arranged). For other ROs, moving to a more appropriate FICE/WFOE structure provides a new lease of life to your China operations, as it permits legitimate trading, is now less expensive to run, and gives options over the accessibility of a vastly superior scope of business activities.
    A new era for China investors
    Although these changes may come as an unwelcome shock to some foreign businesses in China, in reality they move the legal basis for conducting trade activities in China to a more secure legal footing. FICE and WFOEs are legal persons in China; RO never were. In this case alone, protecting your China business by having it secure under China’s corporate laws is a more solid platform for protecting your interests and activities than a Representative Office. There are additional benefits in tax treatments; RO could never make a loss, whereas a limited liability company can do so. It makes far better sense to book expenses against income, again a capability RO never possessed.
    The timing too, is right. As China shifts to a consumer economy, opportunities exist for foreign invested companies to take advantage of China’s new wealth creation and particpate in a new “golden era” of Chinese consumerism. There may never have been a better time to establish a FICE or WFOE in China. While old habits die hard, the RO is now largely outmoded, ineffective and unsuitable for most China investors. Upgrading your RO to a properly financed and licensed legal entity is a natural progression to take at this stage of SME corporate development in the PRC.
    unquote

    80% of the existing RO offices in China are operating in some kind of grey zone: Surely they conduct business & profits but all remote controlled by their HQ for example in Hong Kong. I know some competitors running RO in Shanghai they all have the same Hong Kong office address in Wyndham Street (no normal company can afford office rents there) - it is just an accounting company there doing the audit there for the HK IRD and the adress is used to issue invoices to oversea customers - even this invoices are typed in the Shanghai office on the Hong Kong letterhead. All this companies have no export rights in China - so normally at least some part of their shipping documents like Bill of Lading or Air Way Bill always shows another company name (mainly the name of the manufacturer). Careful if you deal with this kind of companies. One day they maybe suddenly are not there anymore.........