It would be fair to say that recruit Jang-Chi was disappointed when the Honor Cadet promotion went to his best friend Xi-Lao. The determination and original thought the he displayed in dealing with the situation resulted in him being awarded the vacated position and his appointment as leader in the full military honours that were granted for Xi-Lao’s funeral.
In training the new airborne division it was realised, too late, that there were not going to be enough parachutes available to complete the programme, but a “gung-ho” attitude and the use of underperforming cadets to assist in the landings meant that all turned-out well in the end.
President Xi’s decision to reduce the size of the People’s Liberation Army resulted in some hard choices when it came to dishing-out jobs to the less successful recruits, but the desired 10% reduction was achieved on the very first day of the annual marksmanship competition. The new “moving targets” element in the competition proved very popular, especially amongst the drill sergeants.
In the PRC (Peoples Republic of China) city of Chongqing, the municipal government has designated a 30 metre “cellphone lane” for people who use their phones while walking. “The number 1 mobile phone sidewalk in China,” says a painted slogan at each end.
The Chongqing phone lane is similar to one that was painted on 18th Street in Washington DC, in July by a TV station.
It’s not clear how people so distracted by their phones that they are facing imminent death, will be able to walk within the lines of the lane or why will they not bump into each other all the time, or walk straight into the road when the lane finishes.
Casual observers of the Washington experiment suggested that many phone-users either did not see the lane or just ignored it, but perhaps the chattering Chongqing citizens will prove a little more aware than the distracted denizens of DC.
Absurdly the idea that “distracted walking”, as it is known, is a real problem seems to be spreading, presumably for those not too worried about taking shelter from floods, earthquakes or snipers.
A city in Xinjiang province in the PRC (Peoples’ Republic of China) has banned matches & burned-up more than 20,000 boxes of them as part of their own “war against terror”, a state-run newspaper said.
In Fukang, which sits near regional capital Urumqi, the authorities decided to remove all matches from circulation to ensure they are not used by “terrorist groups or individual extremists to carry out criminal activities”, the People’s Daily said on its website.
Police destroyed 20,223 boxes of matches, which will ensure that the city maintains its current peaceful environment, the newspaper claimed, citing an unnamed local government official.
The Fukang mayor’s office made the original announcement last week but it was only picked up by national media yesterday. The statement didn’t explain how the matches have been used for “criminal activities.”
This brave, new experiment in crime prevention comes after a spate of bloody incidents nationwide allegedly centered on Xinjiang, the traditional home of the Muslim Uighurs. The government of the PRC has blamed attacks on Islamist separatists in the region, who, it says, want to establish an independent state there called East Turkestan.
Since there have also been a number of car bomb attacks recently expect to see the internal combustion engine banned soon.
ThursdayAgain 
You must be logged in to post a comment.