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HEN discussing the coming F1 Chinese Grand Prix, to be held in Shanghai in 2004, and its prospects, Yu Zhifei, vice president of the Shanghai International Circuit Corp appeared very talkative and confident.
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| Focus |
- Beautiful year to come
FOR 19-year-old Chen Naliangzi, the festive season really started on November 22. On that big night, she was crowned "Miss Shanghai".
- New life, new experience
JANUARY 1, Western New Year's Day, is called "Yuan Dan" in Chinese. However, not all Chinese know what it means. For example, Li Shuying, 52, who comes from a village in North China's Hebei Province, only knows the Chinese Spring Festival as the beginning of the new year, an exciting time for her.
- Shanghai 'babies on the menu
EDUARDO Vargas, 33, hopes that his new business, the Azul Tapas Lounge & Viva New World Cuisine, will be successful in the coming year and he can lose some weight.
- Revving up for Shanghai F1
WHEN discussing the coming F1 Chinese Grand Prix, to be held in Shanghai in 2004, and its prospects, Yu Zhifei, vice president of the Shanghai International Circuit Corp appeared very talkative and confident.
- Sad New Year's resolution
ZHU Wenqing was in a desperate state as the new year approached, due to the verdict on compensation for his disabled daughter, announced the week before.
- Uncertain prospects
TO Zhang Xini, a third year senior school student, the coming New Year holiday won't bring any relaxation.
- Why choose Belgium?
LAST October, I went to study in Brussels. Since I had studied English literature at university, many of my friends wondered why I chose Belgium. My answer was very simple - I think Brussels hosts the headquarter of many international institutions, including, of course, the EU and NATO; it is closer to most of Europe than Britain, and it costs less to live there.
- A year of tumult
AS Guangdong reports another suspected SARS case, many of us have been praying that the epidemic that forced many to live in fear for half of 2003 will not return.
- SARS - test of character
ONE suspected SARS case in South China's Guangdong Province and another SARS case confirmed in Taiwan have put hospitals and officials around the country on high alert. Masked doctors appeared on TV again and reminded people of the horror they felt last Spring when the disease appeared to be sweeping over China.
- Relocation friction
RELOCATION problems in urban cities have gained much attention in the past year, especially after two residents, one from Nanjing, of Jiangsu Province, another from Anhui Province, set themselves on fire to protest against being "unfairly" moved out of their old houses (Pages 4-6, January 23-29, written by Pan Haixia and Hu Yan, and Pages 6-7, October 9-15, written by Lu Chang and Yao Lan).
- The human side of a catastrophe
WHAT can be described as the most serious accident to happen in the city in recent years occurred when buildings collapsed due to an urban infrastructure construction problem.
- Changing landscape of sexuality
OFFICIALS from China's Women's Federation and Chinese feminists used to oppose beauty contests, saying they were products of a male-dominated society. Last year, the 54-year ban on beauty pageants was lifted and China hosted the 2003 Miss World pageant.
- Not all's fair at the job fair
WHO is the big winner in the job-seeking market? The answer is not the employer and certainly not the employee - it is the job fair organizer which has become a red-hot business in the city.
- Graduate's murder changed law
IF there were a list of the most memorable people of 2003, Sun Zhigang's name would be near the top, if not in first place.
- Marriage dilemma
THE freedom to get married is one of the basic rights that citizens are endowed with. However, the former complicated marriage registration process in China sometimes used to make this freedom less than easy to achieve.
- Second thoughts on skyscraper zeal
MAYOR Han Zheng's advocacy of a limit being placed on the number of high-rise buildings in Shanghai received wide coverage in the local media in the past year.
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- Relief after catastrophe
BAM, Iran - Iran, backed by a massive international aid effort, has turned its full attention to the plight of tens of thousands left bereaved and homeless by last Friday's devastating earthquake that killed up to 30,000 people.
- Mad cow case speeds up US livestock tracking system
WASHINGTON - US farmers and ranchers will take the first step toward a nationwide animal tracking system in mid-2004, a programme intended to swiftly pinpoint the history of livestock suspected of mad cow disease or other dangerous diseases.
- Saddam giving info on weapons
and funds
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| Voice of people |
- In the crystal ball
Opinion writers should occasionally go out on a limb, so here are a few of my predictions for the new year:
- Fruitless search for fresh food
When I moved to Shanghai three years ago (to Huashan Lu) I bought my vegetables and fruit in front of the house from people selling out of baskets. It was great.
- Glistening pebbles of memory
Being nostalgic is a typical state of mind among elderly people. The mottled walls of old houses, mom's palm-leaf fans, grandma's kerosene lamps and strains of old melodies are all things that warm the cockles of my heart and fill my dreams.
- All work and no pay ...
If we start to think about the plight of young people seeking jobs today, maybe we will stop complaining about what our bosses have been doing to us for the past week. At least they are paying us. Those who aren't as lucky as us and who can't find work (mainly fresh college graduates) are begging for a job by making a "zero salary" concession to employers (China Youth Daily, December 12).
- Holiday battle coming
My friend Joe Li started calling ticket agents two weeks ago. During the coming Spring Festival, he and his girlfriend are planning to go to see his parents in Xi'an, the capital of West China's Shaanxi Province.
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- Cooking up a miracle
IF She hadn't opened the 26-square-metre restaurant with her husband on Huanghe Lu 17 years ago, Miao Fuzhen may have ended up in the same position as most of the other laid-off workers from a State-owned department store in the city.
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- Back to the future
TUCKED among the graceful architecture of Shanghai's former foreign concessions, 40 Huqiu Lu is, indeed, a "visually" unnoticeable lane, whose low and dilapidated brown buildings seem especially gloomy on cold, wintry days.
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