Posts Tagged ‘Chengdu’
Saturday, August 8th, 2009
Read about the background to Guy Dru Drury’s epic trip here.
Guy Dru Drury, the CBI's Chief Representative in Beijing, has completed the gruelling 2009 JCCR challenge and deserves plenty of ice in delicate places and plenty of donations. Guy - we salute you.
Messages from Guy Dru Drury on the day of his mammoth pulsating pedal-pushing tour to raise funds for SQR:
- 14:34 “125km completed! Hot & tiring but still doing OK. Now in the mountains!”
- 15:12: “160km update: Have been cycling for 5:40 hrs according to my bike speedo. Chengde another 40-50km away…
- Still very hot and just had a series of killer hills but the downhill through a gully was awesome! Feeling fairly shattered but now not far to go!”
- 18:32: “I finished the challenge! 205km in 6hrs 58 mins. Now heading back to Beijing. Thanks for your support! Guy”
Tags:CBI, Chengdu, Confederation of British Industry, cycle, Guy Dru Drury, JCCR
Posted in Civil society, SQR Activities, SQR Donation Request | No Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
SQR SAME camps 2009
DOWNLOAD PDF INFO in English and Chinese.
We need volunteers! With schools out for the summer the kids living in temporary villages in the earthquake area have two months free and not a lot to do, so Sichuan Quake Relief is currently setting up several fun-based activity camps for them.
The SQR SAME Camps will focus on the four areas of Sports, Art, Music and English-language learning.
Camps will be run in 5-day modules from Monday to Friday, commencing Monday June 29, and running till the end of August.
SQR SAME Camps 2009 - 中文
We are asking volunteers to commit to at least one full week of teaching over the summer, leaving Chengdu on the Sunday, staying in the village teaching from Monday to Friday, and returning to Chengdu on the Friday evening. We are looking to build mixed teams to run each camp, so people of all ages, Chinese and non-Chinese, most welcome. And while teaching experience and some Chinese language skills would be great, they are not necessary. We just need flexible, enthusiastic people who have a sense of humour and are able to live and work under difficult conditions.
Transport costs to and from the camp, (very basic) accommodation, and food will be provided by SQR. We are currently building teams for the first seven SAME Camps:
- June 28 – July 3
- July 5 – July 10
- July 12 – July 17
- July 19 – July 24
- July 26 – July 31
- August 2 – August 7
- August 9 – August 14
If you would like to volunteer for one or more of these camps, or if you would like additional information, email volunteer@sichuan-quake-relief.org or call (86) 136 7121 2235.
Tags:art, Chengdu, English, music, sports, SQR SAME, summer camp, village, volunteer
Posted in Arts, Childcare, Civil society, Education, SQR, SQR Activities | 2 Comments »
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
On 14th May 2009, SQR volunteers visited villages in the Wenchuan area.
Villagers setting up tents for the migrant workers they hired
The students in town were relocated to Luzhou and Chengdu, their new school will be put to use in September.
Caopo Central Primary School under construction
Matou Village and Longtan Village can be said to be better off than Lianghe. Using old Chinese wooden house structures, most houses in the village remained standing through the earthquake. There is a big mushroom-shaped plastic-covered greenhouse in Matou, and two white marble quarries in Longtan. As told by a villager of Longtan, if the road remains accessible, they won’t have to worry about buying rice or other things regarding to their basic needs. But again, they were also told not to grow too much.
On the way to Longtan Village; the houses downhill belong to Lianghe Village
Yang Kai yin, a 60-year-old resident of Longtan Village
She has four children: two sons work in Xichang, one son and a daughter stay at home, farming. Her house sustained itself in the earthquake, as did many houses in the village. After reinforcement, the house is now habitable. Though she owns a fairly large field and grow plenty of vegetables, it still concerns her that it is possible that she gets nothing back from it. “They say the village (government) is going to repair that road, and then I can’t get these vegetables and my goats out and sell.” Of the rice that government supplied her, she said, “we don’t have much left. What we have can sustain us through May to Mid-June. Then we’ll have to use a micro-loan to buy rice in town.”
Ni Qiulan, who lives in the same village, is in a similar situation
To repair the house, Ni’s family spent 20-30 thousand RMB, which is almost all the money they got from the government and micro-credit. Ni’s 3 grandchildren now go to school in Luzhou and Chengdu. Although the government takes care of the tuition fees and basic living expenses, “they still need some allowance, you know, when they go out with friends. Things in Chengdu are really expensive,” she said. This family hasn’t bought any rice since the earthquake. The rice provided by the government, “is not enough if you use rice for every meal. We cook corn and rice together so that it lasts longer.” At the time of writing they have about 25kg rice left, and Ni thinks it can support them until mid-June.
One problem for Longtan villagers is traffic. The hill motorway connecting Matou and Longtan is often damaged by rain and landslides, especially in the rainy season. We were told that this road has been repaired twice since it first opened after the earthquake, and the residents have to walk 2 hours to get to Lianghe to buy groceries if they can’t hitchhike.
Liu Sixiu (pink backpack) chatting with Lianghe villagers on her 2-hour walk back to Longtan
Collapsed Middle School at the memorial site of Yingxiu
The collapsed Middle School in Yingxiu, the township at the epicentre of the quake, has been turned into a 5.12 memorial. Nearly every building in Ying Xiu was destroyed and only 3,800 of the 16,000 residents survived, according to official figures.
It has taken a whole year to excavate the enormous piles of rubble that covered the valley where the town is located. The survivors, who are all now in prefabricated housing, hope that work will soon start on their new homes. Local government officials predict that Ying Xiu will become a big tourist attraction for Chinese who want to remember the May 12 disaster and visit the key sites.
The Remains of Yingxiu Middle School
Tags:Caopu, Caopu Central Primary School, Chengdu, food, hunger, Lianghe, Longtan village, Luzhou, Matou village, remains, rubble, school, students, subsidy, volunteers, Wenchuan, Yingxiu
Posted in Construction and infrastructure, Living conditions, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
The 2nd Chengdu Half Marathon, this time with a parallel/tandem/parallendem event of a 10K run, was completed this morning by a few dozen hardy individuals, in aid of Chengdu Sports Aid. Ben Fredman was on hand to capture photos of the day.
Tags:10K run, Chengdu, half marathon, photos, run, sport
Posted in Civil society, Donation, sport, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Friday, April 10th, 2009
The following is a journal entry from Becky Priebe, who, as Becky Hoops took part in the recent ‘Clown Trauma Tour.’
See also this blog entry for a report on Clowns Sans Frontieres’ tour of Sichuan.
Clown Trauma Tour, Part 1
Chengdu, Sichuan, China,
I am going to start with my impressions of the city. These are coming from a very honest, western point of view and I’m sure my impressions would alter and soften, if I were to spend more time here and have a better understanding of the language and culture. But for right now… I think that this is a city that needs clowns and it needs color, vibrancy… it also needs fresh air, clear skies, clean water, more living space, indoor heaters, insulation…. but the latter problems, that most major Chinese cities are grappling with, have no short term solutions. It took me the first couple of days here to accept the fact that buildings here, even schools, hospitals and circus schools, have no heating…. I am slowly getting over the constant chill, but still find myself daydreaming of warmth. It is amazing what human beings can adapt to, and if the 12 million inhabitants of this city can function in this brain-numbing chill… surely so can I. The excessively spicy food and my even more excessive green tea drinking are helping. I do have to say that the Chinese are among the hardiest, resourceful, determined people I have ever seen.
Performances: Our 4 person show including: David Fiset, Becky Priebe (Canada) , David Bernbaum (USA) & Pipat Suwapat (Thailand) is comprised of contact juggling, juggling, hula hoops, clowning and duo acro. We are also blessed to have David Bernbaum here as he speaks Chinese and is our link to verbal communication with the children.
Each show we have done and will do are drastically different from one site to the next. This keeps us on our toes and very sensitive and attentive to the needs and limits of each school, hospital or orphanage. The first show we performed was about 1.5 hours outside of Chengdu in one of the hardest hit areas of the earthquake at the Xinxing Compulsory School in Pengzhou. The school was quite literally reduced to rubble and the kids now attend classes in temporary blue, corrugated metal boxes. There were about 700 children waiting for our performance when we pulled up. The were really excited to see foreigners in their remote village and just our presence caused a fury. We performed outdoors with huge piles of mangled school desks and tables for a backdrop. The children loved the show, proving once again that laughter can transverse cultural and language barriers. During this hour of our performance we hope that the kids forgot for an instant the trauma that they have lived through, the hardship they will inevitably have to endure and that the smiles will stay with them, spreading to their families and villages. For me… I forgot, for that hour, that I was freezing and upon greater reflection … I am beginning to realize the reasons we have come so far.
The next day of performances included a hospital and an orphanage. Although it was not heated, the hospital was an impressively clean and modern building. We perform for about 120 handicapped children. The children really enjoyed the show and we were happy to perform indoors with a real sound system. Following the hospital we pulled up to an orphanage where about 150 kids were waiting for us. They were between the ages of about 2 to 17. Most of the children’s parents were dead (in a country with a one child policy… most families do their absolute best to look after their only child… the children of the orphanage were therefore for the most part parentless…. they are also ironically among the rare children in China to live a “sibling experience”). The kids were tough and weren’t afraid to yell and attempt to steal our material. In the end they enjoyed the show and were very quick learners in the workshop afterwards.
Tomorrow we are off to Mianzhu, north of Chengdu, a more remote, mountain city. I will send a new update when we return.“
Tags:Add new tag, Becky Hoops, Becky Priebe, Chengdu, children, clown, Clowns Sans Frontieres, Clowns Without Borders, cold, David Bernbaum, David Fiset, handicap, heating, hospital, Jerry Snell, Mianzhu, orphanage, Pipat Suwapat, sibling, workshop
Posted in Arts, Civil society, Education, NGO news, SQR Activities | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 6th, 2009
Official, expert explain plans for controversial quake museum
www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-01 20:17:26
Special Report: Reconstruction After Earthquake
CHENGDU, April 1 (Xinhua) — A public controversy over spending on a proposed earthquake museum in southwest China’s Sichuan Province has prompted officials to come forward and defend the plans.
The 2.3-billion-yuan (338 million-U.S.-dollar) plan reported by local media comprised costs of other projects in addition to the Beichuan County Earthquake Museum, near the epicenter of last year’s May 12 quake, said Lin Jizhong, deputy director of the county’s Culture and Tourism Bureau Wednesday.
The museum itself would only cost 135 million yuan (20 million U.S. dollars), said Lin.
The news of the plan provoked a public outcry on the Internet after local newspapers reported in late March.
Many people contended that a museum was necessary, but as the province was in dire need of money for reconstruction, investing such a huge amount in the museum was unwise.
Wu Changfu, head of the Shanghai-based project planning expert group which outlined the budget, said, “The money was not used solely for construction of the museum building. The environmental protection work and road construction will also be included in the plan.”
“The feasibility report of the museum is being drafted,” Wu said.
Lin said the planned museum was not just an exhibition building, but encompassed the remnants of the old county seat, and traces left by secondary disasters such as mud-rock flows and quake lakes.
The natural scenery of the Tangjiashan quake lake area and culture of the Qiang ethnic minority would also feature in the attraction.
The entire project covered 8 square kilometers, with the Beichuan Middle School at the center, Lin said.
More than 80,000 people were confirmed dead or missing after the quake.
Premier Wen Jiabao suggested when he was in Beichuan after the quake that a museum should be erected.
Lin said construction was scheduled to start later this year in fall went smoothly.
“We hope the museum can bring more revenue to local people,” he said. “The dead are dead, but we hope the living can live better lives.”
Tags:Beichuan County Earthquake Museum, Beichuan Culture and Tourism Bureau, Beichuan Middle School, Chengdu, controversy, death, environmental protection, epicentre, mud-rock flow, museum, Qiang, quake lake, revenue, Sichuan, Tangjiashan
Posted in Arts, Environment, Facilities reconstruction, Government, Infrastructure, Investment, Local government, National government, Official news source | No Comments »
Monday, April 6th, 2009
China’s quake-hit Sichuan aims to finish most rebuilding by 2010
www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-03 10:57:58
Special Report: Reconstruction After Earthquake
CHENGDU, April 3 (Xinhua) — Southwest China’s Sichuan Province said it would accelerate post-quake rebuilding in an effort to finish most of the work by September 2010, a year ahead of schedule.
The goal is to complete 85 percent of the reconstruction projects and ensure “housing and employment for each family,” according to a provincial meeting for accelerating reconstruction held Thursday.
The completion targets cover more than 90 percent of transport projects, 98 percent of power grids and 99 percent of public service projects such as medical care.
The meeting said 85 percent of the rebuilding work in worst-hit areas, and all work except for some major projects in less-affected areas, would be completed by September 2010.
Reconstruction of rural housing will be completed at the end of this year, with that in townships and cities to be finished before May 2010.
Students who now attend classes in temporary building are to be back in permanent structures by next spring.
The magnitude-8.0 quake that hit southwest China, centered in Wenchuan, Sichuan, on May 12 last year, killed more than 69,000 people. It also left nearly 18,000 missing, more than 374,000 injured and millions homeless.
The Sichuan government estimated post-quake rebuilding will cost about 1.6 trillion yuan (235 billion U.S. dollars)
Tags:Chengdu, Employment, housing, power grid, Sichuan, students, Transport, Wenchuan
Posted in Construction and infrastructure, Employment, Facilities reconstruction, Governance and social policy, Home rebuilding, Infrastructure, Investment, Living conditions, Local government, Official news source, Transport | No Comments »
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Hope Project to invest 400mln Yuan in Sichuan quake zones
Xinhua 2009-01-07 18:43:25
More than 410 million Yuan (about 60 million U.S. dollars) will be invested by the Hope Project in quake zones in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, according to the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF).
Some 254 primary schools in 33 counties will be built with the money, said Tu Meng, deputy general secretary of CYDF. A construction timeline had not been decided yet, Tu said.
The foundation will also provide computer rooms, libraries, movies, sports grounds, teacher training and scholarships.
The money will be used in eight quake affected areas in Sichuan, including Chengdu, Mianyang, Deyang and Aba Autonomous Prefecture of Tibetan and Qiang nationalities.
Donations helped raise the 410 million Yuan, said Tu.
Hope Project, started in 1989, is a Chinese public service project organized by CYDF and the Communist Youth League (CYL). Its goal is to help children in poverty-stricken areas to go to school.
Tags:Aba Autonomous Prefecture of Tibetan and Qiang nationalities, Chengdu, China Youth Development Foundation, Communist Youth League, CYDF, CYL, DeYang, Hope Project, Mianyang, primary school, Tu Meng
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Education, Ethnic minorities, Facilities reconstruction, Governance and social policy, Investment, National government, Official news source | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
Intel moving assembly operations from Shanghai to Sichuan
The economic downturn has had an enormous impact on the semiconductor sector, forcing companies to take measures to cut costs, said Liu Liang, an analyst at Industrial Securities Co. Ltd. Moving operations from Shanghai, a high-cost city, to a cheaper place like Sichuan might be an effective way to cope with the financial crisis, he said.
In addition, such a move could stimulate the economy in Sichuan, which was still trying to recover from last year’s catastrophic 8.0-magnitude earthquake, Liu said.
The quake uprooted millions of people, leaving many without homes or jobs.
U.S.-based Intel announced the move in a notice posted on its website. The notice said the company would move a Shanghai-based assembly and test factory to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, within 12 months.
The move will mean increased activity in Chengdu and a corresponding workforce reduction in Shanghai, which will affect about 2,000 employees, it said.
The company said it would offer positions to the employees either in the Chengdu factory, a plant in Dalian that is under construction, or other Intel China locations that need experienced staff.
Intel also intends to increase investment in the Dalian factory, to equip it with the latest available advanced microprocessor technology.
The notice said Shanghai would remain its core research and development base in China, as well as its regional headquarters. Other Intel factories and projects would proceed as planned.
The company also said it would increase its registered capital by 110 million U.S. dollars in Intel China Ltd., the company’s investment holding firm in Shanghai.
“The plans are expected to enhance the capacity of the Chengdu plant, optimize manufacturing resources and consolidate Intel’s operations in China,” said Nancy Zhang, director of the public relations group.
“Intel has been very prudent in making decisions. The proposed policy changes demonstrate Intel’s deep-rooted confidence in the Chinese market,” she said.
She said she could not give further details about the planned changes.
Shanghai municipal commission of commerce said Intel has submitted an application to the Ministry of Commerce for recognizing Intel China Ltd. as a national-level headquarters. The company had been ratified by the Shanghai authority as Intel China’s regional headquarters before.
However, Nancy Zhang said she had no information about this.
According to Shanghai’s preferential policy taking effect last December, a foreign company could get a 5-million-yuan (over 731,000 U.S. dollars) subsidy for opening regional headquarters in the city and more than 2.6 million yuan for renting offices in three years. The opening subsidy could rise to 10 million yuan if the headquarters get recognition from the Ministry of Commerce.
Tags:Chengdu, factory, Intel, Ministry of Commerce, Shanghai
Posted in Employment, Enterprise, Finance, work and business, Government, Investment, Labour and migration, Local government, National government, Official news source | No Comments »
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
As one of the most influential local NGOs, Ye Cao focuses on environmental protection. After the May 12th earthquake, they began to do some projects combining environmental protection and quake relief.
SQR visited them last Thursday to get more information about what Chinese NGOs or Chengdu local NGOs are doing and to search for some opportunities to cooperate with them.
What have they done in the past few months?
In the past few months, they were doing a project called ecological W.C. for public use in villages in Mianzhu, Jiu Zhai Gou and Pengzhou.
What are they doing now?
Project one: Ecological washroom for family use
Recently they have begun another related project, still about toilets but for family use. They are doing this project for 108 families in Guang Han.
They will hold a forum about ecological washrooms on 18th September 2008. Some specialists, organizations, NGOs and the media will attend this forum. They hope a representative of SQR can attend the forum.
Project two: Organic crop
The other project they are working on is organic crops project. They plan to use a piece of land for a demonstration to local people. When the idea attracts any local farmer, they will teach the methods to plant organic crops.
Now they have finished project design and location collection.
Because full preparation work for a project usually take an NGO three months. So now they are prioritising the ecological washroom. When they finish this, they will get down to work on the second project.
Ye Cao culture is a Chengdu native NGO. It has good network with Chinese NGOs or some Chinese branches of foreign NGO. They go to affected areas regularly, and develop good relationships with local government. They are also familiar with some other NGOs’ regular project sites. Their members are all Sichuanese natives, so they perhaps have a better understanding with people and situations in the affected area. They have almost no contact with foreign NGOs. They are lacking in resources in this field.
Tags:Chengdu, demonstration, Jiu Zhai Gou, Mianzhu, organic crops, Pengzhou, toilet, Ye Cao
Posted in Environment, Infrastructure, Local government, Media, NGO news, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Monday, May 19th, 2008
From the People’s Daily:
The Chengdu expat community is rallying to support locals in relief and recovery efforts to overcome this disaster. Foreigners want to give and want to personally help the victims of this natural disaster in anyway they can. Under the auspices of local expat businesses, appeals have begun for donations.
Peter Goff, in partnership with Chengdu residents and through the cooperation of The Bookworm, is leading one of these appeals. The Bookworm is a bustling expat online community on book and culture-related activity and has branches in Beijing, Chengdu, and in Suzhou of East China’s Jiangsu province.
The Bookworm Chengdu has become a focal point in assisting expat support for quake victims. Smaller groups, such as Heart to Heart and Morning Tears, are also providing food, water, shelter and medicines.
Expat music acts, including the Bossma Band, Mark on the Piano, Proximity Butterfly and Red Water performed to raise funds at a Bookworm event last Thursday. Heart to Heart also gave a short presentation on their current operations in the affected areas. From the successful one night, more than 33,000 yuan ($4,700) was raised in funds from about 100 members of the local expat community to be directly used by local groups in the relief effort.
Further donations, especially cash, are still welcomed by the groups. Much needed items include: non-perishable food, basic medicines, tents, blankets, sleeping bags, stretchers, small power-generators, small water sanitation equipment, and simple housing materials. The local expat community is also committed to helping fellow residents in the medium to longer-term community recovery efforts. This community recovery process is held together by communication of information which enables people to know what is needed, co-ordinate their activities and avoid creating additional problems.
Sichuan expats centered on the activities of The Bookworm are moving forward to helping interpret the information on all current relief operations and exactly where and when people can help to make a difference to those affected by the disastrous earthquake. For more information regarding donations and recovery efforts, contact the Bookworm on (+86) 028 8552-0177.
The author is Australian Youth Ambassador for Development with the Chengdu Urban Rivers Association.
Tags:Beijing, blanket, Bookworm, business, Chengdu, China Daily, community, coordinate, Donation, earthquake, foreigner, fundraiser, generator, Goff, Heart to Heart, housing, Morning Tears, music, recovery, Relief, sanitation, sleeping bag, stretcher, Suzhou, tent, victim
Posted in Media | No Comments »
