The website of Mengniu hacked

Mengniu, one of the largest dairy product companies in China, has yet been involved in a scandal. Mengniu has had a batch of milk from  with M1 bacteria level 1.4times over the authorised limit being sold. That bacteria is highly cancerogenic. In Shanghai, they are saying the Mengniu milk sold are from different supplying area, therefore safe for consumption.

However, more damaging is the reaction of the company to the scandal. A bare official apology was posted on its website following the discovery of the batch of spoiled milk. Worse, when asked about it, Mengniu said that it came from mold in cow’s fodder, which they cannot control, trying to make similarities with the law not allowing people to kill, but people still do kill others, and saying there is no farm where the fodder can’t get moldy, just like if you are not careful your bun (baozi) at home can get moldy.

This has angered the people more due to their lack of pro-active response and responsibility, with questions being asked such as: why only one batch got moldy? Why the cows affected by aflatoxin only produced one day of tainted milk? How come it’s only one day’s production? If one cannot trace it to the farm that produced the tainted milk, how can one ascertain that it was the fodder that caused it?

A small interview of buyers in supermarkets on TV revealed that the people no longer trust the brand and do not plan to buy its products in the near future. Unsurprisingly, this has caused harm to other local producers also, as buyers are more willing to buy imported milk these days.

It’s a hard thing to decide on how much that will affect me. On the one hand, at home I have been using milk powder imported from Australia (thanks mum and dad for bringing these last time) during the last couple of years or so. On the other hand, when I go and have HK-style milk in restaurants or have the milk bubble/pearl tea that are sold at almost every corner of the street, I have no control over what milk is being used. And those pearl tea are so delicious. Dang!

As I said before, food hygiene sucks big time in China. It will probably play a big role in my health and lifespan here. Nothing else to add to this.

As a natural stage of our life, most of us will end up being married. And as practically all girls dream of a white wedding dress and big dinner and cake, the cost of wedding can be higher than we expected.

According to a recent survey by Dongfang Daily, the cost of a wedding banquet in China is highest in Shanghai. A wedding banquet would cost on average RMB63,800, which is for 19  tables of about RMB3,360 each. This far exceeds the average cost of a table in Beijing (RMB2,200), Hangzhou (RMB2,500) and other cities.

Of course, due to the obsession of the Chinese with the number 8, there are wedding packages for the cost of RMB88,888 which would include the protocols, the decorations, the MC, make-up, photographer, cameraman, etc. (The package cost 1,000 less last year)

50% of wedding banquets were held in hotels, 25% in foreign villas, and only 10% in wedding halls. I knew that hotels were more popular, but had never known the percentage thereof. In fact, I’m trying to think of where the wedding halls are. Every time someone held their marriage, it was either in a hotel or a villa.

What is slightly interesting is the fact that the number of tables are going down. In fact, this is the first time the average number of tables have gone down below 20. Not so long ago, it was pretty common to have 40/50 tables banquets. The reduction in number of tables is probably because the younger generation (80s and after) prefer to have a more personalized wedding. A recent adoption, a wedding cruise, which accounted for 15% of the weddings is finding favour among the newly weds. They could go on a cruise to the gulf of Mexico (av. cost of RMB30,000 per person) while enjoying a romantic wedding over the ocean.

This said, the costs of weddings next year (2012) is expected to rise by some 10%, to around RMB72,200. In effect, that would make the total wedding costs about the RMB88,000 mark. 72,000 for wedding banquet,  8-10,000 for other expenses associated (thinking cigarettes, alcohol etc), 5,000 for dresses to be worn during the banquet.

Oh yeah, I need to add a comment on that. In China, the bride is expected to wear several gowns during the wedding banquet. Unlike in Mauritius where the bride usually just wear the wedding gown all night, or maybe change into a simpler gown later, in China it’s expected for the bride to change attire a few times. You would have the white wedding gown, a qipao, evening gown, etc…. I think it’s usually about 4 or 5 dresses, although someone told me the number could go up to 8 during the evening. Shocked!

Reservations for peak holidays (the May and October holidays) require on average 2 years’ advance. That is how hard it is to find hotels to book for your weddings. If you want to find a slot for some other time, one should try getting married during the working days (Mon-Thu) where there is a lesser demand for wedding bookings. Requests for weekend ceremonies (Fri-Sun) always exceed supply.

When I look at the figures, I just keep thinking, bloody hell, it’s a good thing it’s not that expensive in Mauritius. Over MUR300,000 for your 19-table wedding banquet? And here we were bitching about the costs back home.

For those who want to know a bit more about what might be in the food bought from the stall across the street, let’s continue.

10 Street snacks that might possibly be contaminated:

1. Pungent tofu 臭豆腐 — iron sulphate
2.  Hot Pot 麻辣烫 — recycled dirty/heavy oil (as in recollected and recycled from washing pots and pans, or engines!!!)
3.  ’Fetus’ egg 毛鸡蛋 — parasites [sorry, no English term for that snack, it's egg that during incubation suffered a change in temperature]
4.  Kebab 烤肉串 — dead sick pork meat
5.  Deep-fried dough cakes and sticks 油饼油条 — excessive Aluminium, recycled dirty oil
6.  Seafood stalls海鲜排挡 — parasites, mercury formaldehyde
7.  Fruit/jelly pancake 煎饼果子 – recycled dirty oil, expired ham [snack is a thin pancake where you put other food or dough sticks within it as fillings]
8.  Baked sweet potato 烤红薯 – chemical barrels, black spot germs
9.  Fried chicken wings 炸鸡翅 – potato starch pills, stinky wings
10.  Steamed buns 包子 – dead sick pork meat, neck meat (since it’s the place where the blood is drained, if not properly washed and may contain lots of germs and viruses)

It is not an exhaustive list of food or possible contaminated items. I remember stories of buns being made out of carton, ingredients kept in really unhygienic conditions (think broken down factory, bogged toilets, water from rusted leaking pipes, etc together), kebab meat being supposedly from rats, pork/beef meat being faked as the other (I forgot which was fake), fake sauce, ….  It’s like playing Russian roulette everyday when buying food here in China.

Even the vegetables are subject to excessive pesticides, pets walking around the food, etc. Only the high members of the Party can escape this as they buy their rice and organic vegetables from exclusive and carefully screened suppliers. The rice/vegs cost more but are definitely of good quality and untainted. The common people basically do not have access to these.

We can try to reduce the risk somewhat by buying at ‘expat’ supermarkets like Carrefour and City Shop, but in this country, you cannot be too careful. I am sure I’m being slowly poisoned from the junk I buy on the street almost everyday. But I can live with it.

Chinese New Year：
January 22-28. However, need to work on Saturday 21st and Sunday 29th

Tomb-sweeping Day (Qingming Festival)：
April 2-4. However, need to work on Saturday 31st of March and on Sunday April 1st

Labour Day：
April 29 – May 1. However need to work on Saturday 28th

Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu festival)：
June 22-24

Mid-autumn Festival and National Day：
September 30th – October 7th. However, need to work on Saturday September 29th

As you can see, the holidays seem to be a lot because you have a minimum of 3 consecutive days each time. However, for normal office workers (Mon-Fri 9-5 group) it’s just an eyewash as you need to work at least on the previous Saturday, thereby making the real holiday being the equivalent of weekend+1day.

I have never really been supportive of the govt’s persistence in keeping this arrangement. 3 day holidays are too short for the workers to go on holidays or for going back to their hometown to pay visit to their folks. I guess the govt doesn’t want to encourage the people to ‘faire pont’ as we say back home should the holiday fall on a Tuesday or a Thursday. These days the Chinese people are more and more willing to take local leaves to lengthen their holidays. This can especially be seen during the Chinese new year and National day holidays when the people will take 2-3 additional day offs so as to avoid the rush that accompanies these holidays.

As for me, it’s taking these annoying holiday arrangements on the chin and waddle through the weekend working hours.

[I wanted to insert an image of BMW and Mercedes logos but somehow I can't upload pictures even if I create the directory for saving pictures manually through the site's CPanel]

Traffic is dense in Shanghai. In fact, the number of new vehicles being authorised to be on the road every year is regulated, in a Singapore-style measure, through the restriction of issue of car plates. Of course, you can have cars with non-Shanghai plates, but these have certain restrictions as to where you can drive it during the day (eg the elevated highways during peak hours) and they are perceived as “lower-class” by the haughty locals.

Those who have been in China would know how aggressive the Chinese drivers can be, especially as many aspects of the traffic laws don’t seem to be enforced. And as in India, it’s the bigger your car, the more rights you have towards the other road users / pedestrians.

Anyway, these incidents are becoming more frequent as the people’s tempers are more easily frayed with the development of the country and the wealth that comes with it. I won’t mention here the cases involving children of high personalities or army personnel. That’s for another time.

As for us mere mortals who use the public transport when we go out, let’s hope they don’t crash into us.

My first thoughts when seeing this were: WTF? One of those crazy English tests with crappy answers that failed the American?  A stunt by the University?

Then I thought a bit more about it and wondered, what if it was one of those, say, Vietnamese people who just got their green papers, or, one of those first descendants of Chinese immigrants who refuse to integrate in the society and barely learnt the English language? It wouldn’t be such a surprising outcome when taking the English language test in China, would it?

Anyway, if it could bring Chinese parents to blindly believe anyone from America (especially Caucasians in their minds) would automatically be proficient at the language and be a good teacher, it would be a good thing. Unfortunately, knowing how narrow-minded they are regarding this, it’s never going to happen.