China’s Shanghai endures worst cold snap in 40 years
Shanghai, ChinaReuters China’s financial hub Shanghai was set to record its chilliest period in December in four decades, spurring authorities to issue warnings for low temperatures and wind, while northern cities battled icy conditions forecast to ease only next week. The city’s lowest temperatures on Thursday will be minus four to minus six degrees Celsius […]
StrangeSights: Miguel and Ruby offer a helping hand (and paw); Diana’s “black sheep” jumper headed for auction; and, a club for pets…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
No joke: China’s backlash against stand-up stirs fear of comedy clampdown
Beijing/Shanghai, China Reuters One joke by a Chinese comedian about the nation’s military has spurred online uproar, a $US2 million fine, a police probe, a sweep of cancelled shows and fears for the survival of Chinese stand-up comedy, a rare refuge for somewhat free speech. A person walks past a show venue of stand-up comedy […]
Vatican says China has unilaterally appointed bishop to Shanghai
Vatican CityReuters Chinese authorities have appointed a new bishop to Shanghai, the largest Roman Catholic diocese in China, the Vatican said on Tuesday, in an apparent violation of a bilateral pact between the two states. The Holy See was informed “a few days ago” of the decision by China to transfer Bishop Shen Bin from […]
Family members reunite in China after three-year COVID separation
Singapore/Shanghai, China Reuters Chu Wenhong would fly back to Shanghai and visit her parents at least once a year after she moved to Singapore in 1994. But she hasn’t been able to do so in the past three years due to China’s signature zero-COVID policy, which involved mass PCR testing, city-wide lockdowns and quarantining all […]
China’s vast countryside in rush to bolster COVID defences
Shanghai/Beijing, ChinaReuters China’s thinly resourced countryside is racing to beef up medical facilities before millions of factory workers return home for the Lunar New Year holiday next month from cities where COVID-19 is surging. Having imposed the world’s strictest COVID regime of lockdowns and relentless testing for three years, China reversed course this month towards […]
“We’re going to be free”: Chinese cheer as COVID curbs are loosened
Beijing, ChinaReuters China on Wednesday announced the most sweeping changes to its resolute anti-COVID regime since the pandemic began three years ago, loosening rules that curbed the spread of the virus but sparked protests and hobbled the world’s second-largest economy. The relaxation of rules, which includes allowing infected people with mild symptoms to quarantine at […]
Black newspapers, piles of bouquets as China mourns late leader Jiang Zemin
Beijing, ChinaReuters Chinese newspapers turned their front pages black on Thursday and flags were put at half mast in mourning for the death of former President Jiang Zemin, while well-wishers laid piles of bouquets outside his childhood home. Jiang died in his home city of Shanghai just after noon on Wednesday of leukaemia and multiple […]
Clashes in Shanghai as COVID protests flare across China
Shanghai/Beijing, ChinaReuters Hundreds of demonstrators and police clashed in Shanghai on Sunday night as protests over China’s stringent COVID restrictions flared for a third day and spread to several cities in the wake of a deadly fire in the country’s far west. The wave of civil disobedience is unprecedented in mainland China since President Xi […]
China urges “patience” as COVID cases rebound ahead of key congress
Beijing, China Reuters China called for “patience” with its tough COVID policies and warned against any “war-weariness” as local cases soared to their highest since August, days ahead of a pivotal Communist Party congress. Many countries are learning to co-exist with COVID-19, but China has repeatedly quashed any speculation of a let-up in its policies, […]