Answers to a UK Biology/Chinese GCSE question.

Saw this on Facebook:

The picture shows a page of actual GCSE revision questions.  The topic is Biology.  Question 2 asks:

'You see a website advertising a cure for blindness using stem cell therapy in a clinic in China.  Outline reasons why people should be cautious about going there for treatment.'



Well this is rich, considering the high volume of criticisms and outrage aimed at our very own National Health Service! 

But better the devil you know than the devil you don't, right?? ;-)



I can think of some responses to this question.  I wonder how many marks I would receive (and how far I could push the examiner's sense of humour):

Answer one: your waistline might expand with the amount of health food offered to you as part of your after-treatment.

Answer two: But you might be end up being fed rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner at the hospital.  If you don't like rice then you've got a problem.

Answer three: Even worse, they could be feeding you mantou breakfast, lunch and dinner and then you will be well and truly stuffed.  Say gooodbye to your waistline.

Answer four: Everyone will have to use Google Translate to communicate with one another, which could lead to all kinds of disasters.

Answer five: They don't have Twitter or Facebook over there! How would you survive??!




Well? Did I pass?? XD

Daily Mail's coverage of news from China

Anyone notice that the Daily Mail newspaper website is covering a lot more news from China lately? A sign of new world order perhaps, although the stories making the front page are often bizarre or about human cruelty.  Today they are showcasing a video of some man being publicly executed by the police.  Other reports have included two Chinese wedding couples brawling in the French Provence lavender field; the discovery of a newborn baby found dead in a river and a graduate who parked a very expensive car in the middle of a busy road.

One reader who made a comment in the story about the graduate used a word that sums all this up: this is 'Chinotrash' (as opposed to Eurotrash). 

Lets hope that a TV series doesn't get made *blush*.    
 

Zero-hour contracts and the story of the magic rice.

 Image from dreamstime.com.

你有沒有吃過神 仙飯 ?

"Have you ever eaten magic rice?"

I was asked this several times by my elderly relatives.  Magic rice (神 仙飯, Sun Sin Fan) was a common way to manipulate the rice rations given to each family.  This was in the time when China was undergoing radical reforms under the name of the People's Republic.  Food was scarce, as were many material items.  With Grandparents, adults and children to feed, the allocation of rice might not have been enough.  So, people made magic rice.

By soaking uncooked rice in water until the grains double up in size - or until they break apart - the ration of rice can be made to look bigger, and thus can be shared in greater quantities.  The rice will have lost its nutrients; it is watery and will have degraded some.  After eating one full bowl a person will soon feel hungry again; but at a time of extreme poverty, it is all that one can wish for: an illusion.  One full bowl of rice.

Focus now on modern day Britain, and the rise of zero-hour contracts.  Here, people are employed as and when.  No job stability and no legal rights.  Accounts of feeling pressured and worthless are many.   Fears run rife that exploitation will be commonplace.  

 - But it is a time of hard austerity, what can anyone do?

Desperate times call for desperate measures - this phrase I have heard before.  Just that I would have never had associated it with a place like Britain.  

Like my elderly relatives, it seems we need an illusion now.  One full bowl of rice - jobs for everyone and pay: it is all that we can wish for!           

  

                 

               

Chocolate Week in the UK - an interesting observation!

Apparently here it is Chocolate Week this week in the UK (8th-14th October) - HOW in the WORLD do I not know this???????

Anyway, a friend of mine shared this interesting tongue-in-cheek report from Columbia University - that chocolate consumption could improve intellect, not only in individuals, but in whole populations as well.  Therefore, could there be a link between eating chocolate and the number of Nobel Laureates per capita?

Here's what they found:

   
Well, according to the graph the Swiss are doing quite well - not surprising, since they produce the best chocolate in the world...

What is Belgium doing in the middle?? Belgium chocolate (those little seashell ones) is good!

And, I'm sorry, I have tried chocolate from the U.S. - apart from Reese's the rest is awful...

U.K. aren't doing too badly - although without Kraft's takeover of Cadbury it Gouda been better - Kraft - cheese - Gouda? Get it??

But wait! Is that China we see? Way down the bottom???

If an important-enough person has seen this, massive amounts of Swiss chocolate will be making its way East.

Meaning that there might be a price rise...

And maybe even rationing!

*Gasp*

Time to raid the stores!

Sources:

Chocolate Week U.K.
The New England Journal of Medicine

Jeremy Clarkson

While rushing around the shop today, I was stopped dead in my tracks by the newspaper stand by the till.  There on the front page of The Sun was a big picture of Jeremy Clarkson, the outspoken English broadcaster and motor journalist, with a short sentence next to it stating that he has poked fun about 'dead Chinese'.  The dead Chinese in question are the 23 Chinese workers who drowned while collecting cockles on Morecambe bay in 2004.  Giving his opinion about synchronised swimming Clarkson stated that is this nothing more than "Chinese women in hats, upside down, in a bit of water".  He added: "You can see that sort of thing on Morecambe beach.  For free".


Talk about hitting a nerve! Those people came to the UK in the belief that they were going to get a better life for themselves and their families.  But this was not to be: having been tricked out their money and passports they were forced by gangs into slave labour.  With very little pay they were being bungled around the country in vans to do back-breaking work.  Their presence in the UK only became known on that terrible night in Morecambe.  What is so funny about a vulnerable person's terrible suffering for some broken dream at the hands of their captors? What is so funny about drowning to death?

The backlash against Clarkson's comments has already begun: A representative of Morecambe's town council has described it as "beneath contempt".    A spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the UK has slammed it as being " insulting and show a woeful disrespect of decency and moral standards".

As usual in the aftermath of all his gaffes, Clarkson will be made to apologise, but what is the point? He has made so many crude and incredibly objectionable statements at people's expense, one wonders if the man has any empathy for anyone apart from himself, or feels any real remorse.

One also wonders if the man is actually unwell.

See also: Morecambe bay tragedy (Wikipedia)

China, a nation of stone cold hearts

I recently read an article in The Guardian relating to the terrible incident in Foshan: How can I be proud of my China if we are a nation of 1.4 bn cold hearts?.  As recorded by CCTV camera, a total of 18 people walked by as Yue Yue, a two year old toddler, lay dying in the middle of the road.  She had been hit by a truck and could be seen still alive, writhing in agony. And yet, yards away from their feet, her presence and distress did not even seem to register as these 18 people went about their own business.  Seven minutes later a second vehicle ran over Yue Yue, crushing her to death.

The footage of this incident has since gone viral and has made national and international headlines.  Grief, outrage and condemnation has been expressed by netizens all over the world and protests and vigils were held all over China in honour of Yue Yue's short life.  But there is no denying the fact that this incident graphically exposes a terrible side to Chinese society; its moral fabric rotten to the core.  For what happened on that day, although shocking and tragic, is just one incident of many.  The author, Lijia Zhang, does not hold back.  She defines with pin point accuracy the short comings and problems that engulf Chinese mentality.  She is observant of the spiritual vacuum left behind now that the ideology of communism has been displaced.  A new and frighteningly dark China is now fast emerging where morality, tradition and principle have been cast aside in favour for greed, selfishness and indifference.   

After reading this article, I felt so sad - and embarrassed and angry.  Here the British press like to run with the theme of a "Broken Britain" - a reference to the failings of British society -  but I can honestly say that if a similar situation to Yue Yue's occurred on any street here, there would have been no hesitation whatsoever.  If there were 18 people present at this scenario, 18 people would have rushed over to help or at least would have done something.  It is innate, it is inbuilt in the culture.  It is unthinkable to do anything else!         

"We Chinese have every reason to feel proud about what we've achieved. Now we demand respect. But how can we possibly win respect and play the role of a world leader if this is a nation with 1.4 billion cold hearts?" That is a good question.  Lijia Zhang refers to the existence of a law in parts of Europe in which its citizens must come to the aid of another in distress.  This could only be a good thing.  But such behaviours should not require a law - as people in general, all over the world have the natural capacity to care and look out for one another.  It should not need this, or the tragic death of a child caught on CCTV to convince us to act like decent human beings.   

Source: The Guardian

Also see: 

Lijia Zhang                


                            


    

Northampton murders

Police in Northampton UK are still searching for Anxiang Du, the main suspect in the brutal murder of an entire Chinese family in Northampton, UK.

Jifeng Ding, his wife Helen and their two daughters Xing and Alice

The suspect Anxiang Du, seen at Northampton station on April 29th

Another picture of Anxiang Du

Dr. Jifeng Ding, his wife and their two teenage daughters were found at their home on May 1st of this year. Post mortem analysis found that all four had been stabbed to death. According to the BBC, police have released new CCTV footage of Anxiang Du on April 29th at Coventry railway station on 10.00 am, Birmingham New Street station at 10.50 am and at Northampton bus station at 12.50 pm. Since then he has gone missing. A Vauxhall Corsa that the family had rented and had gone missing after the murder has since been found on Venables street in North London.  The investigation is now focused there.

It is reported that Anxiang Du, a business man, recently lost a court case against the Dings on their joint herbal remedy business.  The police think that despite what appears to be a  suicide note left to his family Du is still alive and is on the run with a large amount of cash.  It is also possible that he has already left the country.  There is now a reward of £10,000 for information that will lead to his capture.

Dr. Jifeng Ding was reported to be a well respected lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, his two daughters Xing and Alice were talented, popular and had bright futures ahead of them.  If anyone has any information on his whereabouts please contact Crimestoppers UK on +0044 (0) 800 555 111.



Source: BBC News Northampton